So THIS Happened...
“So THIS Happened…” is the podcast version of catching up with your most unfiltered friend over wine. Each week, Jen and Rachel dive into personal mishaps, past memories, local happenings, weird habits, and whatever else pops up — including the occasional celebrity headline we just have to talk about. It’s casual, it’s chaotic, and it’s all real.
So THIS Happened...
Episode 53 : A Fighter Named Milani
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
So THIS Happened is Wichita's podcast for real talk, local culture, and the occasional Taylor Swift spiral — and this week, Jen Cole and Rachel Chappelle headed out to Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard, Kansas, just outside Wichita, to sit down with LynnLee Schmidt, COO of Tanganyika, for one of the most emotional episodes yet.
By now, most of the Sip Squad has seen the videos: a newborn giraffe calf, born fighting for her life, now off oxygen and walking on her own. Her name is Milani. This episode is the story behind those clips — the decisions, the team, and the twenty-hour sprint that gave her a chance.
🦘 This or That: Wildlife Edition
LynnLee jumped right into This or That with Jen and Rachel — kangaroo over sloth (“they're overrated,” she said, and she's not wrong), and a whole tangent on sloth toe counts none of us expected to learn.
🦒 Meet Milani
Milani's story didn't start the night she was born — it started about a month and a half earlier, when her mom stopped eating. LynnLee walks us through the diagnosis, the impossible choice the team faced (there was never a “save the mom or save the calf” — it was lose them both, or try to save the calf), and the moment Milani took her first breath.
📞 The Phone Tree That Saves Giraffes
What happened next was a twenty-hour sprint: an emergency call to the International Center for Giraffe Conservation, a colleague driving four hours with a cooler of banked giraffe plasma just in case, and Tanganyika's own director driving to a medical supply store to buy an oxygen machine — for a giraffe. LynnLee calls it a phone tree. It's really more of a “get in the car and go” tree.
💪 Holding Both
The team spent two weeks on round-the-clock shifts — over 150 hours of overtime in the first week alone — helping Milani learn to hold her own head up, and eventually, to stand. LynnLee's description of that process (all the confidence, none of the coordination) had the whole room laughing through tears. As of this week, Milani is off oxygen and walking on her own.
🌍 Why Tanganyika Exists
LynnLee unpacked her philosophy on conservation — what she calls “the conservation funnel.” Awareness, interest, action. It's why Tanganyika leans so heavily into hands-on animal encounters: people protect what they've actually touched.
🐜 What's Next at Tanganyika
A brand-new baby giant anteater is now out on exhibit (gender still unknown), and Tanganyika's documentary Take Me to Mars — the story of Mars the pygmy hippo and the team behind him — premieres in person on August 19th before eventually heading to streaming.
📍 Find LynnLee & Tanganyika Wildlife Park
- Tanganyika Wildlife Park — Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and twpark.com
- LynnLee Schmidt — Animals Amplified (her leadership and culture coaching for zoo professionals) and LynnLee Writes (updates on her upcoming historical fiction novel about okapis)
🥂 Before You Go
- Merch is live — Uncorked & Slightly Unhinged and Pairs Well with Champagne & Caviar Bumps (10% of profits go to Ballet Wichita). Code STHANNIVERSARY gets you 15% off through July 31.
- Want to be a guest on the pod? We're always open — reach out!
- Follow along for more from Tanganyika, including the baby anteater and the Take Me to Mars premiere
So THIS Happened is proudly sponsored by Vu Events and Backspace Media, Jen's own company.
And as always...
🦒 Milani is a fighter
🥂 Cheers to the whole team behind her
💖 And we'll see you next time
So THIS happened.
So THIS Happened is Wichita's podcast for real talk, local culture, and the occasional Taylor Swift spiral. Hosted by Jen Cole and Rachel Chappelle. New episodes drop weekly — find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube.
So here we are.
SPEAKER_01So this happened. So this happened. We're on big ol' episode 53, the third episode of season two. Woo woohoo! Woohoo! We are happy to be here with Lynn Lee Schmidt of Tanganika. Hi! Hello. Before we get too far into anything, we need to make sure we're shouting out our lovely sponsors, Vu events. It had to be Vuo. We love you guys. I love you. And my own company, Backspace Media. Woo! Yay! This is the first time we had that on this show. Yeah. Very exciting. Uh so tonight we are out at Tanganika Wildlife Park, and we have to start with the story that's had all of us glued to our phones. The giraffe cat, Milani, who is just newly named like this weekend. She was born fighting for her life, and as of this week, she's off oxygen. She's walking on her own, holding her neck up. And we're going to hear what actually went into all of that. The decisions, the team, sleepless nights from someone who was right there for it. Lynn Lee Schmidt, COO of Tanganico Wildlife Park, is here. And honestly, this one's going to hit different. But first, we have to dive straight into this or that. Here we go. We gotta get to know you from this. Yeah, yeah, let's do it. So the way this goes is I will give two prompts, this thing or that thing. You will answer and give an explanation of why. Then Rachel will answer, and then I will answer, and then we'll move on to the next prompt. Perfect. Just keep on going. I have not looked at these this time. I printed it off and came to came to play. So I don't have anything in my brain yet. Okay. But uh, okay, all right. Let's start with Meet a sloth or meet a kangaroo. Which one would have been most exciting for you? That rhymed. Watch for my album. Okay.
SPEAKER_02Um kangaroo, because sloths they're overrated.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah. Tell us how they're overrated. I've heard they stink. Like literally.
SPEAKER_02I mean, like every animal has a smell. Yeah. Um, but yeah, sloths. Can relate. Sloths that are stinky. And they're just I everybody like is so fascinated with them. Everyone loves them. They're like the it thing. They've been the it thing for like 10 years. And they just sleep 20 hours out of the day, grow mold on themselves, have their own like little ecosystem of bugs. Like, and there's not, I mean, like, I don't ever like to put animals on smart or stupid, you know, like continuum, but there's not a lot going on out there.
SPEAKER_00It does seem like the survival skill just isn't there. I mean, you're so slow.
SPEAKER_02That is the survival skill. I guess all you need.
SPEAKER_00Wow. See, okay. I don't really know what to do. I wish, I wish a lot of people felt that way when I have slow days. Like, that's her survival skill. That's her survival skill.
SPEAKER_02I think that's why everyone loves them so much, is because they're envious. They're like, I wish I could sleep 20 hours a day and do nothing, and everyone would just love me. Aren't they endangered though? They're listed as threatened. Threatened. The three-toed sloth is, I think, listed as endangered, and then there's a pygmy three-toed sloth that is critically endangered. Okay.
SPEAKER_00How many toes do the others have?
SPEAKER_02So everyone has three on their back feet, and then the two species, one has two on their front feet, and one has three on their front feet. Oh. But they look completely different. So like the three-toed sloth is smaller, they have like the black mask. Oh. They look at you kind of like smiling like this. And the three-toed sloth or the two-toed sloth has a little pig nose, and he looks at you like upside down.
SPEAKER_00Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And the three-toed one's the one that's threatened. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And difficult to find. Only one place in the United States has them in human care.
SPEAKER_00You would think that less toes would give them less grip and less likely to survive and stay in trees.
SPEAKER_02I don't think that has anything to do with anything.
SPEAKER_00Maybe that third toe just takes up too much energy. Yeah, maybe so. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02I mean, they don't have a lot to go around. Wow.
SPEAKER_00Oh man.
SPEAKER_02So kangaroo all day, every day.
SPEAKER_00Okay. And me. Oh man. That's a tough one because I mean I guess I just kind of like took a lot of information out of you, but I always do always say both. You're right. I'm not, I don't know much about either of them. Okay. So I feel like I would rather meet a giraffe because sloths, I don't really want to hold a creature with bugs and mold all over it. And like I knew that happened. Giraffe, giraffe wasn't an option.
SPEAKER_01What was the call out?
SPEAKER_00Kangaroo! Sorry, I have giraffes on my mind. Yes, I mean people talk about her. But what about the kangaroos? Okay, so yeah, so I think Kingaroo, because I've always found I've always found them so kind of creepy because they're like in a little bit of a way, but so cute. What are the miniature kangaroos? They're not actually kangaroos, they're wallabies. Wallabies. You're annoyed by that question. Not at all. It's like, so yeah, I think that it's super cool that they're not really in that many areas for one. So I feel like they're more rare in a different way, unless you're they're in a we would have to Google how many species there are of wallabies because there are like tons. Is wallaby under kangaroo?
SPEAKER_02They're different, different species. That's what I thought. But there's like Bennett's wallabies and swamp wallabies and all sorts of different types of wallabies.
SPEAKER_00But even just talking about the kangaroo, like have you seen those videos of the big kangaroos just flexing? Oh, yeah, those are gold, like they would destroy you. Like I feel like they could rip you out of a car. Like, I feel like if we like recruited kangaroos to and put like SWAT uniforms on them, like we'd be unstoppable. Like, I'm not saying weaponized animals, but um, I'm not saying that at all. But like that's how intimidating and crazy creepy they are. Yeah, and because they can walk on two, I don't know, they walk on two feet, but you know, they could stand like that and do human-esque things. I find them so interesting. Yeah. And I really don't know that much about them, uh except for like all the pouch information, but I don't really know all that either. So I feel like I know more about sloths because they are overrated. So I'd like to learn more about kangaroos. Yeah, we could kick out for a long time.
SPEAKER_02I know one of my first jobs was at a place called Ruse and Moore. Oh my gosh. I know a few things about kangaroos. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Kangaroos are wild. I remember the first time I saw a sloth, and it was your sloth. I was we were at a networking event for Alice Analytics back in the day, and they brought the sloth out, and that was the coolest thing. I just I don't know, I just love I'm so fascinated by the weird just how weird it is. And the smile thing, I just I could not believe that that was a real thing until I saw it. And I I think that was my I love kangaroos too. I think they are insane and funny and very fascinating, but I just like the I remember meeting the sloth for the first time, and yeah, I'm smiling just from thinking about it.
SPEAKER_00I don't I don't know that I think that I've ever known a sloth to smile. It's hiding permanently. Yeah, like they're literally their mouth doesn't do much else. I guess that's how they get their dopamine because they don't smile and gives you dopamine, should that make sense. Yeah, another evolutionary trait. I'm gonna add that to my rest.
SPEAKER_02Probably have to re research that one a little bit, I'm sure we're right.
SPEAKER_00I doubt that anyone has. I could be the new probably not study.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so the next one is baby animal cam or Livekeeper QA.
SPEAKER_02Livekeeper QA, but that's because I know so many of these keepers, so like I know the stories they could tell and how much they want to share about their animals. I have like five kangaroo facts in my head right now that I'm trying to just be like moving. No, I want to hear them.
SPEAKER_00Say them all the time. It's totally fine.
SPEAKER_02Okay, the coolest one is that they do embryonic diapause, which means that if they get pregnant and things change, right? Either there's a new male that takes over the mob, or there's a drought, or there's a food shortage, they can actually pause that pregnancy for up to a year and then restart the pregnancy. So they could be pregnant for like a year and a half.
SPEAKER_00That's so cool. I've heard of marine life that can do that.
SPEAKER_02Yes, yeah, there's other species for sure.
SPEAKER_00I didn't know they could do that, though. That's so cool. So two years, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I wish humans could do that. It's like a Jerry Springer episode for me, right? Like new male takes over because he goes over to like take all the babies out, and so she pauses her pregnancy and then she's like, It's yours. Oh my god. There's no Jerry Springer to be like, you are not the father.
SPEAKER_00That's hilarious. Okay, I didn't realize that was why well in the drought situation, I understand that because she wants to wait until there's time for food and everything nursing. Do they nurse? Yes, inside the pouch. Okay, that's what okay. And it's right after the baby kangaroo is born, they put it in there, right? Like tiny tiny.
SPEAKER_02They are not even developed, they look like a little embryo, like their eyes aren't open, their ears are still attached to their head, they don't even have back legs, and they climb up the pouch. She likes licks a trail for them to follow, and they go in there and then they attach to the nipple in the pouch, and they actually their skin grows around it. So they're like permanently affixed for the first part of their development.
SPEAKER_00So that's kind of like so you don't have to like cut umbilical cords that that just like naturally will she lick it away or whatnot. That's cool. Yeah. See, so I think their whole mating process is just super cool. Who else does that?
SPEAKER_02I don't know though, if I would rather give birth to something the size of a jelly bean, but then have to carry it in a pouch on my body for the next year, or if I'm just okay with the watermelon birth, you know, like because then I can put the baby down. Yeah. It's like constant back. There's a this or that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, that's a your own there's that. I guess we're gonna go to the body. Let's go off with the kangaroos. Would you rather give birth like a human or like you do? Yeah, you know what? I think it is kind of nice though, because that I'm sure that they're stronger than us. Yeah. Yeah. So, like, and that empowers them, I bet. They're like, you don't get to touch me. And that also means that that little jelly bean is getting stronger too. Because it's in there like secured next to mom, fighting. Yeah. And when you say then a new male comes in and takes all of it, does he like reach in their pouches and go, Oh, yeah, it's see, it's pretty scary. The animal world's pretty, pretty awful. I don't know of many human anyways. Next up, real dark up in here. Sorry. Okay. Well, I think that it's super cool. I don't know. I think the jelly bean thing maybe it makes them more primal. Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, they are, but you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So I die, I derailed us. Oh, yeah, but we're hearing other facts. Live we'll stop there, but live cam, live baby cam or keeper QA. Yeah. And I said keeper QA so that we can share random stuff like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think that is so cool. I think that is good too. And then you know the personality or the keeper does. So when you say keeper QA, like whoever is that animal's keeper just asking questions versus just watching it yourself live cam.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I think why not both? Live cam with the keeper and then commenting on why they're doing stuff. Yeah, that would be cool. But that's why we have you here. So I feel like I would rather ask specific questions, especially if it's like if I'm watching like a new live cam of a new animal. Sure, it's cute and it might be relaxing to have one in the background, but I don't know that little baby story. Yeah, you want to do that. I don't I don't I don't know where they came from. I don't know why they're acting this way or what their goals are or what the keepers' goals are for them. Yeah, you know, and like their vitals or whatever it is you measure and stuff, how they're eating. We don't really get to see that as with the context. So I definitely would like the QA.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I'm I'm right there with you on the QA. I would I I love a story and I love to know why all the time about everything. And so I mean, I I can come out here and see the babies, or I can, you know, yeah, watch a baby cam anytime. But I I if there's a if there's an opportunity to hear stories and hear context, that's what I'm gonna get.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but not all saying that the the cams aren't really cool and resourceful because then you I imagine it helps donations for places. I imagine it helps like a lot of support, and I I think it I think that's super cool. Also, you you guys always need cameras on them just to watch them, anyways. Why not share that with the public, especially if they're donating?
SPEAKER_02We have a live cam on Mars, and so you can get like the best of both worlds because if you tune in at 1 30 every day, that's when the keeper demo is. So you can like hear the keeper QA and you can see Mars at the same time.
SPEAKER_00So that's perfect. I'm like, so for all the people that are into outer space, can you specify who Mars is? He's a hippo, okay, not a planet. I mean, he's like round like a planet.
SPEAKER_02Mars.
SPEAKER_00So Mars the hippo has one. Yeah. Oh my gosh, where do they find that? Where do they find the it's on our YouTube. Okay, on their YouTube. Okay. Yeah. I'm gonna have to put that on. Yeah. Oh, you need to you need some Mars in your lunch at like 1.30. Okay. Yeah, 1.30. Tune in. I love it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, okay, so let's see. Okay, I like this rainforest exhibit or savanna exhibit.
SPEAKER_02Oh. Rainforest. I think I love plants and trees and feeling like you're super immersed in something. And I like all the different birds and butterflies and mammals that you can see in a rainforest. So I think rainforest exhibit. They're my favorite thing. Like if you've ever been to Omaha's lead jungle.
SPEAKER_01No, even in Nebraska, yes.
SPEAKER_02Omaha Zoo is one of the coolest, and their lead jungle is so awesome. Really? Um, and they have pygmy hippos there too.
SPEAKER_00And bats are awesome. Two of my favorite things. Okay. Ma'am. Does Tanika have a ring for us?
SPEAKER_02We don't have a rainforest exhibit, no. No, they're rather expensive. Yeah. Like a whole dome and glass building.
SPEAKER_00Birds in general, I imagine, are a whole different. I mean, I guess everything is expensive. But yeah, I think maybe that's why you crave it a little bit too, because you're not around it. So you're like, oh, I want the different things.
SPEAKER_02I walk in and see giraffe in a savannah every day. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So you're like, I love it, but you crave that that other stuff too. I'm the same way. I think I do like the rainforesty effect because uh based off the animals. Like, so I'm like, based off of like if I were gonna live there, still probably rainforest. I don't know. Yeah. Because but they're both like humid or dry heat. I don't know. I know. Kansas, I have both. I don't know what I like better.
SPEAKER_02But today both are awful.
SPEAKER_00Yes, today, so it's really hard to talk about heat-related things right now.
SPEAKER_02Like, what about Antarctica? Was that an option? That option.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01I'd be like swimming with penguins.
SPEAKER_00Yes. Like not the summery ones or island ones. Yeah, the cold ones. So yeah, probably probably rainforest. Or because I really enjoy colorful things and like and greenery, and I'm a plant person. I have a lot of plants. I like I like seeing all of those different colors, and I think it's more inspirational for me personally to paint stuff like that. It just feels like it's brighter and everything, and there's so many layers to the rainforest, yeah. Versus in the like what did you say, Savannah Safari-esque. Yeah. You know, I just fairly spread out. I may just kind of I mainly just see like the plane with of course you have the lizards and the spiders and the snakes, but it really all just comes down to food chain. Yeah, I feel like there. Whereas the rainforest is it's like this whole diverse thing, even with the plants itself. And so I think that's what I love a lot about it is the plant aspect and how the plants affect the creatures, and that's why they're so bright and colorful or whatnot. Yeah, so I think that definitely because it just sh opens up a whole lot of other territory to look into and study and yeah, get excited about. And I think we're still finding new stuff in the rainforest. Yeah, we don't know. Like we don't know what's out there so second to the ocean. So I'm gonna take that back. I might want to live in the desert. I don't know. In like a tree house or something. A tree house, yeah. I don't know if they have tree spiders out there in the savannah, but I don't know what I'm pretty sure big cats can climb trees, but it's fine.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. Yeah, Jen, where would you I am very I am very much on board with the rainforest idea for for colors, for sounds, for smells, for shade. I love that. There's just so much to it. I love that you went to the senses, yeah. Like you know, I I when I think of a rainforest, my brain goes to the sounds first and then the colors, and yeah, I don't know why it's so I've never been to one. I don't know why to a rainforest exhibit. I mean, I've probably been to a rainforest exhibit before, but I've never been to like the rainforest. Yeah, me neither. But it sounds amazing, yeah. And terrible, except for the bugs, yeah. Oh, I'm not a bug person.
SPEAKER_00There's a lot of bugs there and crazy bugs. They're probably juicy. I bet they make a nice dinner. Probably. Sorry, I'm still picturing living exhibiting.
SPEAKER_01Oh my gosh. All right, so we are going to move into talking about our little why am I blame? Milani. Milani. Moving to talking about Milani now. I'm so excited. So everyone has fallen in love with our sweet little giraffe. So can you take us back to kind of the beginning and what what the first hours of this whole yeah, maybe just start from the beginning and what that was like. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, I think it started really honestly about a month and a half before she was actually born. Her mom started going off food, and you know, so that's everyday discussions about like, well, what could we try today? What could we do different today? What type of medicine could we offer to see if it would make a change, right? Yeah. And we weren't getting like nothing we were doing was working. She had all the signs of what's called pre pregnancy toxemia, which I'm not a veterinarian, but to my under yeah, to my understanding, humans can get that too. And it's essentially where the energy required for the pregnancy is taking more than what the body can offer. And whether that's because the body is sick or just it's more energy than what the body has, I don't know that we'll ever really know that. But um, and so we did a s what's called a standing sedation in giraffe. It's very rare to like do a full sedation, it's not completely impossible, but it's a long way down and a long way up. And to be like woozy and drugged when you go up and down is super dangerous for a giraffe. Plus, just you have to have a different kind of ventilator and all of these things anyway. So we did a standing sedation, we took blood from her, and a few factors that we look at in the blood, one of them is lactase, and that was really high. And that's like when lactic acid is building up in your muscles. Like so, like after you run a marathon, your lactase is super high. Yeah, but she's not running a marathon, she's just doing normal life. Yeah, and so we knew she was super sick and in the in the end stages of her life. So we consulted with all these different veterinarians about what we could do. We discussed doing an actual C-section where we would try to recover them both, but based on her blood values, it just didn't look like that was gonna be an option. So I think the important thing for people to know is that there was never a choice like save the mom or save the calf. Like we didn't have an option between the two. It was like lose them both or try to save the calf.
SPEAKER_00So that morning we that's tough though. That's tough to accept, I can imagine. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, because and the chances, you know, then you go, okay, how many calves have survived a C-section? Well, none. So then you're like, okay, so lose them both is where we're really at. Like, and that morning I remember before we started the procedure, I was like, I want everyone to understand, like, no matter what we do today, we're probably losing two animals. Like, we're like the chances are very slim.
SPEAKER_00God, I got chill bumps when you said that this is gonna I'm gonna cry. No, I'm not trying to laugh it off, but yeah, that's terrible. I can only imagine your whole team behind you like that. Yeah, but but just trying to set up everyone and prepare the mind. I'm crying.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I think as the leader in the situation, you want to have some hope and you want people to try, but you also want people to be realistic about what the outcome is. And so we go into the sedation, her blood values are worse. So we we decide, okay, this is what we're doing. So we sedate mom, we pull baby out, we euthanize mom right away. So baby has to have the reversals from the sedation that mom got. She has to get some steroids because we know she's premature, but don't know exactly how premature she is. Giraffe gestation is anywhere between 14 and 15 months. And so we don't know if she's three weeks early or seven weeks early. And they're so big, how can you tell? Yeah, yeah. And there's no, you know, I mean, like ultrasound kind of works, but you have to remember how big of a belly you're looking through. So, like, so there's not a lot of options there. So, you know, we we euthanize mom, baby's still not breathing at this point. Yeah. And we're there's like five people. They usually fall like five feet from mom and hit the ground. And that's kind of what like gets Oh, I'm supposed to breathe, right?
SPEAKER_00Well, you'd imagine that, yeah, but like the dog.
SPEAKER_02And so we're like slapping her body, you know, trying to sim stimulate.
SPEAKER_00So I'm like, wake up, wake up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And everyone's drying her off. We have oxygen on, and she opens her eyes and she takes her first breath. And I breathe. Everybody just everyone was like, you know, all this joy. And then there's me. And I'm like, no. Not yet. We have a long way to go. You know. And I like looking back, I feel so terrible about that because like they needed some moment of hope. And but I like I still wanted that.
SPEAKER_00You still need that focus. You still need to be like, the game is not over. Right. You may have gotten a field goal, but that doesn't mean they can't get one in the last 10 minutes. Like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that is a great way to put that. It makes me feel a little better.
SPEAKER_00I feel like I would be the same way. I'd be like, okay, well, let's keep this going. Let's keep this going. That's a good sign. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_01You're still incredibly locked in.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the overall goal. And that's impressive. So kudos to you. But of course to your team as well. Like, that's oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_02They're I mean, they're all doing amazing things. We our veterinarian is a freaking superhero. Like, she is just the coolest woman I have ever met. Like, she works a lot in veterinary medicine in the field, like cattle and horse, uh, especially dairy.
SPEAKER_00Um you want to give her a shout out?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, her name's Liz Alinger, Dr. Liz Allinger. She's over at Heartland Veterinary Clinic. She's amazing. Lovely. Um, but you can't have her, she's mine.
SPEAKER_01So okay, we can leap it out if we want. Yeah, that's a hell of a testimony.
SPEAKER_02See if she's taking time. Um but she's doing such a great job of balancing these two very large things, you know. Yeah. But yeah, she took her first breath, and then that that kind of kicked off another, quite honestly, like 20-hour sprint after that. I imagine to keep it going.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02All the next things, you know. Wow.
SPEAKER_01So I've heard you call her a fighter. Um tell me why, tell me what about her really, really drives that title of a fighter.
SPEAKER_02Well, I mean, she took her first breath, which for me was I like going into that, I thought we had zero chances. So, you know, I was already like, okay. So I immediately like we got they got her moved. They like stretched her out on a human stretcher and moved her to this other stall so that we could continue to provide care and recover and all of that in a smaller space so we have closer access to her, and she can't like run long distance and hurt herself. But she couldn't even lift her head up or stand, or like we didn't have to worry about that at that time either. And I immediately got on the phone with the International Center for Giraffe Conservation at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, and I was like, okay, she's breathing. Here's what we're doing. Yeah, what else? Yeah, now what? Now we need to activate the phone tree, you know? Yes, I love that. And so I don't know why you have a phone tree. Yes, yes, always. Yeah. And so they immediately got me on a text message with two other veterinarians and with a curator at Dickerson Park Zoo who was also like a superhero in this moment. And I envision it a little A-team-like because they have been banking plasma from their giraffe for the last like eight plus years. Wow. So that means taking blood, spinning it down, taking like the immune supportive part of the blood and freezing it. And they haven't had to use it. Yeah. So here he gets the call. It's like the call, Charlie's Angel's call, maybe. And he texts me and he's like, I'm getting the cooler ready, I'm jumping in the car, I'm driving your way. He's four hours away. And he's like, if somebody can meet me, cool. If not, I'll be ready to drive all the way to you. Wow. And I'm like, Are you sure you should get in the car? Like, is she really gonna keep breathing? Like, is this like are we? You know, like um and Dr. Priya over at Columbus was like, No, you you want the plasma. So that's amazing. And Matt was like, if I have to drive and there's no like she we lose her in the next four hours, whatever. We tried. And so that was like just super cool. All of these people like spraying into action, you know. While our team was our director, Matt, he drove to Broadway Home Medical and picked up an oxygen machine. Wow. I can't imagine. I still have to ask him, like, what was that exchange like? I'm here to pick up my oxygen machine for my giraffe. You know?
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. Hey, who freaking cares? I love that. Like, you don't get like this the A team, exactly. Like people that go into this field and actually mean it, yeah, that have been in it for years. That's a good phone tree. Because it's not just a phone tree, that's a freaking get in the car and go tree. Yeah, yeah. I love that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I got in the car with my son. We drove to get the plasma, and I was like, You're gonna have to come with me, he's 12. And I was like, Because there's so many text messages flying, and I don't want to be doing that while I'm driving. So you're gonna be my assistant.
SPEAKER_00Love that.
SPEAKER_02So, and so he and I drove, you know, two hours there, two hours back to pick up the plasma. And by the time we got back, we had also coordinated with the Sedgwick County Zoo. Perfect. So there's a special kind of filter that you need when you deliver plasma through an IV. Yeah, they had those on hand. We didn't. So we went, got oxygen machine, got this filter, we got x-rays, we got blood, we got, you know, like if you've ever seen a bear hugger, it's uh like this fluid, like uh air-filled blanket, essentially, that blows like hot air and keeps animals and people warm in surgery.
SPEAKER_00I've seen similar things, or I've seen cold ones for shoulder surgery. Okay, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Similar so this one is a warm one because she wasn't maintaining body temperature. She stopped breathing at one point. That was a scary yeah, yeah. So I mean, that that was just like 20 hours, and then we have our founders of the zoo like delivering food and drinks and water and going because it's also 90 freaking degrees in a big one.
SPEAKER_00Oh god, it says that hot that is, and it's not like you have an incubator to keep her in. Yeah, or there are no giraffe incubators, no, I don't even think there's adult-sized incubators out there at hospitals, not that I'm aware of.
SPEAKER_02No, I mean it's intensive care, like we essentially set up an intensive care unit in the barn, and it looked like a tornado at first.
SPEAKER_00But um the equipment. Messi is our polish. That's our exactly right. That's a movie in our merch line. I love that. Messy is our polish.
SPEAKER_02That's how we do that.
SPEAKER_00You know, it has to get messier before it gets better.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that is very true.
SPEAKER_00It's just true. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, and that's how you make all those moving parts come together. That's beautiful, though. That everybody just went all balls to the walls and like put in there all and showed up for her baby. Yeah. That's impressive.
SPEAKER_01So then what does like going into the round the clock monitoring, what does that kind of actually look like on the ground? Like who's there? Yeah. And what are people watching for?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I think at like 10:30 p.m. So we started this at like 6 30 a.m. on that Saturday, the 11th. And at 10:30 p.m., we're like, okay, she's on oxygen, she's gotten her fur her, she's gotten plasma, she's on fluids, we've tube fed her for the first time. Everything is we've done everything that requires all of these people. So we're like, okay, who's but she can't hold her head up. Right. And she's connected to all these wires. So now we're like, okay, who's going home to sleep first and who's staying? And I'm the kind of person that like when I go to sleep after a long day like that, like I'm not getting back up. Right. Yeah. So I was like, I'm staying. Yeah. I've got another four hours in me at least. You guys go home and sleep and come back. Yeah. So we kind of divided and conquered and started creating a schedule. And we have two people for four hours at a time rotating through. We're going now, we're down to one person. So like we're we're weaning off. So two weeks later, now we're down. But yeah, at first, and and then it's just like you kind of like the person who's there, we had to have some one like leadershipy person or person with more experience.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I was kind of wondering what are their qualifications to stay there and like revive.
SPEAKER_02Said we had people who have more veterin background, people who had more behavior background, people who had more decision-making backgrounds. So it was each one of us took on our strength. So that first shift, what we were trying to do was get her to figure out how to use her neck on her own. So I literally like sat crouched on the floor up in front of her and like got her body in like a baby giraffe sleeping position, right? At least, or how they would sit. And I was like holding her shoulder blades up like this because she wasn't strong enough to hold like her whole body up. Yeah. So I'm like sitting here like this with my head down. Oh my god. Four hours. And she's like, she'd lift her head up for a minute and then she'd plop it back down on my back. And you know, the other person sitting behind her, like making sure she doesn't go backwards. And we're just trying to kind of go through that physical therapy to get her because most draft calves stand up within an hour. Yeah. That was not gonna be our case.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, yeah. So, how many hours altogether do you think that you spent so far throughout the process of her being born to now with her overnight or within? Me personally, yeah, or just everybody. Yes.
SPEAKER_02I mean, like, we're at two weeks, 24 hours a day. I I don't do math well, but to do that.
SPEAKER_00That's good enough.
SPEAKER_02Do that math and uh two people each time. And so, like, I know that first week we spent over 150 hours on overtime.
SPEAKER_00Yes, but well worth it. Passion worth it, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well worth it. Yeah, man. And like you said, it's physical therapy, but do you feel more bonded with her now that you've gone through all of that? Or do you think she does with you? Yeah, I'm a little crusty in this. I don't know how I don't know how I would be able to resist.
SPEAKER_02I think like I've been in this, I say crusty because I've been in the industry for a while, and I'm not even that old.
SPEAKER_00A lot of people like crust.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I don't know if they like this kind of crust.
SPEAKER_00Old and jaded, right? I was talking about like pizza crust. That is delicious. Dump crust is cheese filled, garlic, garlic butter. Yeah, some is a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Well, this is old and stale. How about that? Hey, I like refrigerated leftover pizza, right? You're not selling yourself in my belly. Stop it. So here's the thing: like, I have a different relationship with the animals that I take care of at work than I do with my pets at home. Okay. Okay. So these animals are like my responsibility. They're my job. I have stewardship over them. Like I'm supposed to care for them and steward their lives well. I definitely bond with them to a certain level. Yeah. But for the most part, they're like, they're wild animals, and their job is to go bond with the rest of their group. Yeah. So through this whole process, it's like, yes, she lays on our lap and we sit with her and we have to hold her head up and she's licking us and all of those very cute things that make you like, oh God, I just want to squish you back. But my I don't have that like cute aggression with her like I might with like a puppy. Okay. Um, and I think that's because I understand she needs to grow up and be a giraffe and see me as a human and have a different boundary.
SPEAKER_00No, I think that's beautiful. I respect that. I guess okay, I guess let me alter my question. Not not do you feel more connected or bonded with her in that regard? Yeah. But do you feel like that this experience with her has made you stronger as a person in your role or as a leader?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I mean, I think that we did something that no one thought was possible. She did something that no one thought was possible. And so anytime you lead a team through that, yeah, you definitely get a little adrenaline hit.
SPEAKER_00Like a little ego boost, a little like did this. And I feel like I would just I feel like I would also, even though you and your team are like putting a lot of this in here, like you called her fighter. I like I feel like you have to have those landmark creatures in your life and in your profession. Like that one gained my respect because they were fighter. Yeah. And they gave me, and they gave me this experience, knock, knock, knock. This one, fighter, knock, knock, knock. Yeah. Even if they weren't a fighter, like beautiful creature, knocked out. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02There's a lot of respect for her. Yeah. And on the fighter note, the other thing, besides just all the milestones she's knocking off. The first night when Ellie and I were there, she started to try to stand up and we're like, okay, you can't even hold your head up. So like we help her get standing, and Ellie and I are looking at each other like okay, we're doing this, you know. But when she was standing, she kept trying to like move her kind of rear up with her front legs. And I was like, what is she doing? Like, does she just want to lay it back down? But doesn't she trying to put it like what? Yeah, what is going on? And so by night, too, I was like, I was there with one of our keepers named Zephyr, and I was like, Zephyrin, I have an idea. Can you move sideways and get out of her way? I think you have to like hold her like this still, but I think she wants to go forward. I think that's why she's trying to kick us. And sure enough, he moved out of the way, was holding her sideways, and she's like, Look, I can walk. She cannot walk. She's like, she can walk. She has all the confidence and no coordination whatsoever. But she's like, I'm get out of my way. Like she was literally trying to kick us, like, get out of my way. And we're like, you know, it's like the toddler who's like, I can walk on my own, and then who like falls down?
SPEAKER_00Or like a drunk woman or something. Drunk person. Sorry, then. Quite honestly, when you're a drunk person, you're like, dude, you are not in any sorts to go anywhere. You could not go home with that man.
SPEAKER_02Like we were making bad bad life choices. That's exactly what it's like. Here she's like 113 pounds, so it's like wrestling your drunk friend at the moment. That is a perfect example of what it was like. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_00You have to start making new TikToks.
SPEAKER_02I don't want to make light of an intense situation, but well, that's how we cope with things around. Sure. Yes. Yeah, we figure both that one out.
SPEAKER_00No, we do both.
SPEAKER_02Raising the baby giraffe is like wrestling your drunk friend at a bar.
SPEAKER_00I can imagine the headbutt.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I've loved like some of the content about like questions that people are questions and comments that she's getting from the internet, and she's like over there trying to lick everything and like look at the she's learning that you invested in it though. It was very precious. It was almost like she was reacting to the comments. It was very cool.
SPEAKER_02Well, I talked to a someone who specializes in raising baby hoofstock in Texas, and she was like, is she starting to like lick the wall or lick you guys yet? And I was like, everything. At this point, I was like, no, we're not seeing any of that. And then I go in the next day and she's like, right on the room.
SPEAKER_01And I was like, okay, so I guess you're ready for the bottle now. Yay, that's a good sign. It was a great sign, but it was really slippery. I can only imagine. Yeah, chin becomes a nipple. Like, gosh.
SPEAKER_02And you have to like.
SPEAKER_00I'm picturing the worst cartoon ever.
SPEAKER_02You have to like let she need to do it so she can figure it out. So you're just like, oh my gosh. It's so wet.
SPEAKER_00What is your preferred soap of choice?
SPEAKER_02I have gone through an entire bar of goat milk soap this week because it's soap. So bad. It's like a layer of slime. Anyway.
SPEAKER_00I can imagine.
SPEAKER_02Thank God we're not eating.
SPEAKER_00Hopefully you aren't. It's fine. I love, I love critters. I'm an animal lover. So that's why the choice between two critters was hard for me to pick. I'm like, I don't know, like all of them. I'd want to meet them all. Yeah. I'd want to meet them all.
SPEAKER_02Everyone, check the bucket list.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, except for the ones that don't eat me. Yeah. When the time is right, I'll use myself. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So what does it take logistically and emotionally to keep that many people aligned on one animal's care? Yeah. Because there's also a lot of other animals around here, too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, and that's I think that's the other part. We have other medical cases going on right now that we're not blasting all over social media, right? For whatever reason. But we had, and we'll I think we'll talk about it some at the end, but we had another addition to the zoo in the middle of this. Like and then we have, you know, seven salaried managers that have, you know, what I talked about, either the veterinary experience or the the actual experience or just decision making skills to be there with her. And then you have all these hourly people that you're like, okay, how much overtime are you gonna go into if you sign up for a shift? Because there's also the financial aspect of this, right? Yeah. We joke all the time here that we run an accidental nonprofit that we, you know, we're a for-profit business, but we don't have a profit. And so then you're facing all that overtime, all that medical expense. So yeah, it takes a village. Our chief of care, Jess Price, she's phenomenal, and she, you know, kind of set up a board in our communication software that was like, okay, here's where you're gonna sign up for shifts. We're gonna put our updates and what's going on. And then there at one point, we had some frustration, everybody got tired and exhausted, and like at shift changes, you were so excited to leave that you forgot to tell the next person what they needed to know. You know, and so then it's like, well, you didn't set me up for success, you know. So, like, especially during intense cases, yeah. So you've got everyone's heightened emotions and feelings, so it just requires a lot of grace and patience, and then over-communication.
SPEAKER_01Yep, over-communication. That's a big thing. That makes sense, yeah, especially in crisis mode. Yeah, I tell you what, yeah, yeah. Well, it sounds like you guys did an incredible job.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I really the team held it together really well. I will say, like the week leading up to this, uh, that particular team, the Hoofstock team, has another animal, our Indian rhino, who's been dealing with some health issues as well. And then they have this animal going off feed, and I was kind of anticipating what bad things could happen. And I said, you know, I sent out a message and I was like, hey, I just think it's a great time to remember that when our emotions are heightened, it's harder for us to assume best intent, to think positively about people, to slow down and communicate well. And we're all tired, we're exhausted, we're sad, we're mad, we're angry, you know, like dealing with all of the grief at the same time as like trying to proactively take care of things. So just everybody remember that about yourselves and have a little grace. And I think that helped, you know, kind of anticipating that and lots of forgiveness. Like, I are somebody, I can't remember who it was, but somebody had a moment left and was like, I'm gonna go home and I'm gonna sleep and I'm gonna come back and I'll be better, don't you guys?
SPEAKER_00Even those little comments in like team chats or team group chats or whatever are helpful. At least I find that too like it at least shows that you're putting forth the effort, like as like a leader and even as a member, to put in those little comments that, like, hey, we're all human. Yeah, yeah. We're all human and we're working with a bunch of animals that we love. Yeah, we want to love and care for, yeah. Uh, and get we all want the same goal, I think is the ultimate thing that they need to remember. So, yeah, I agree. I think that probably goes way further than it seems to, even if even for the people that don't respond, start responding to those messages. Okay, as a manager, as a manager, I send out a lot of those uplifting messages, and I get two thumbs ups, and maybe like maybe someone will call. Yeah, and I'm like, oh I feel this so deep. But I but I know you read it. Get on the soapbox, go. Like, just at least give me like a little emoji or like a heck yeah, stop that long of a sentence.
SPEAKER_02No, but it works. Like in our software, even there's an opportunity to boost. We use Basecamp. Okay. And so you can like uh give a thumbs up, you can give a smile, you can give a thumbs down, you can we just use Group Me. Yeah, it's easy, yeah. You just like it's like texting, just hold it down for a second, boom, your emoticons come up, pick one, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, at least give your manager some gratification if you're team. Like, guys, I'm sure that's oh, I want to know more. I don't know what our next topic is supposed to be realming towards, but I want to know. Like how you got into this and like where what other areas you've worked in. I know you mentioned mentioning another, so it was fun.
SPEAKER_02No, it's great. At five years old, I said, Mom, I want to be a primatologist. Oh, we're going, okay, we're going to five.
SPEAKER_01A primatologist. A primatologist.
SPEAKER_02And my parents are like, let's get the dictionary. You know? Oh, great. She wants to work with monkeys. We're going to start planning our own retirement. Right? Goodbye, fancy retirement home. So yeah, it started from a young age. I actually grew up about an hour south of here, so I volunteered at the Sedgwick County Zoo growing up. Oh, nice. Okay. Um, and then I went to zoo school. There's actually a school in California called America's Teaching Zoo where you take care of the animals at the zoo and take classes at the same time. That is amazing. Are you kidding me? No, my degree is in exotic animal training.
SPEAKER_00I have to send this to one of my best friends. Yes.
SPEAKER_02That is so.
SPEAKER_00She is so best two years of my life. About knowing all of the info.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And then I've worked at different facilities since then. Never wanted to come back to Kansas.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_02My husband and I used to actually have full-blown article arguments over where we would go in a zombie apocalypse. And he was like, Well, we would go to Kansas. And I was like, over my dead body. Never. And then here I am. So it's been only animal stuff for me. I've never had any other. I mean, like, I've worked retail to like support the animal job because you don't make much money. That's fair. So I've had side jobs always. I've sold, do you remember jamberries? They were like press-on nails. I sold jamberries. I've done my multi-level marketing stuff, you know. But it's always been animals for me.
SPEAKER_00I love that you've kept it alive even with the grind. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. A lot of people lose it and just go, well, not gonna do it. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02And it's never been about money for me. So like you figure out that part and then do what you like. I would much rather love what I do every day than be working for the weekend. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I love that.
SPEAKER_01So incredibly true. I feel that.
SPEAKER_00I love that so much. Well, hey, you know, even if you're in Kansas now, you know, you just hit me up if a zombie apocalypse is. You know, I've got at least I've got plan A through D. Perfect. I love that.
SPEAKER_01All right. So, so zooming out, um, you've said people protect what they care about and they care about what they have personal connections with. Yeah. So can you unpack that philosophy a bit?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I have always believed that you have to have an interaction with an animal to change your behavior in a positive way for that animal, right? So and so it's something I call the conservation funnel. And it's you guys are marketing girlies. So like a funnel. Yes. Yeah. It's a marketing funnel. You have awareness. If you don't know what a let's use something more misobscure, if you don't know what a binterong is, you're probably never gonna change your behavior to help save a binterong, right? Yeah. So once you know what a binterong is, then I can move you to the next stage of the funnel, which is interest. And I can be like, okay, binterongs have pre-inside soils and they smell like popcorn. And you're like, okay. I like popcorn. This sounds fun. I'm in, right? Um, and then I can call you to action and say, hey, where binterongs live, palm oil plantations are a big threat to their habitat. So you can download this fun app, scan the things in your closet, and figure out what is safe for binterongs in your closet. So I think that's super important. And most zoos, and this isn't throwing shade at any zoos because we need all of them, but most zoos, their goal is to get as many people into the top of the funnel as they possibly can, right? Like a local zoo wants numbers. Like what they go to city council with or county commission with is like, we had millions of people come through the door, right? That's what gets their funding. But they don't move very many people down the funnel. Like most of those people play Where's Waldo at a zoo? They walk around and they're like, oh, there's a rhino in there, there's a hippo in there, and they might go home and still not even really know the difference between a rhino and a hippo. Whereas that's yeah, there's a lot of people where they're at for sure. But here at Tanganika, we want to education. Almost in line everywhere. Did you almost we need, but we need them to at least get in and go, there are lions and tigers, right? And so but here at Tanganika, we're trying to move them down the funnel, so we want them to actually touch rhino horn and go, oh my gosh, I want to do something.
SPEAKER_00And they'll remember that because you have all the senses. Yeah like we talked about with the rainforest. Yes, you get so encapsulated in all the different senses, which is what you guys allow here with being able to actually semi-interact with them.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. We have now we just opened three new feeding stations or interactive stations, I'll call it jellyfish, archer fish, and doctor fish. So with that, we have 12 different encounters.
SPEAKER_00Encounter. I like that word better because interaction sounds a little too engaged, like you know, because we don't want to be messing up whatever they've got going on. Yeah, that's a good point.
SPEAKER_02We so we call them ethical animal experiences or ethical animal encounters, that's a good point. And they require a few tenants. One is that the animal has the choice to participate so it can get away if it wants to. Um, and then we try to incorporate natural behavior and make sure everybody's safe. So those are kind of our like tenants of what yeah, ethical animal experiences are.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. I I so I was out here in October for all the T-Bex fun. Oh, yes. And so that was the last time I was here, and I remember going in and hanging out with the kangaroos, speaking of kangaroos earlier, and then of course the lemurs, um, and uh and playing by those rules and making sure that they come to you.
SPEAKER_00They come to you, go to them, yeah, yeah, walk slow. I mean, if anyone's like a cat mom or anything, they should understand that, anyways. Like you can't just like force your cat to like love you, and you shouldn't do that with any of your pets, honestly. Yeah, I mean, I guess if you have a hamster, there's they're not gonna get there's not a lot of options. When I had rats, they'd come to me all the time. But hamsters, not so much.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I'm not sure hamsters should be in human care, but that's a whole I agree.
SPEAKER_00I have a whole yeah, I agree.
SPEAKER_02I do not thrive in our environments that we've provided for them.
SPEAKER_00Oh, they almost gave on me. They were little ninjas. That's a whole different oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02I think if you don't have childhood trauma from a hamster, then you haven't lived.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, I had engraved into my piano at one time. That was not fun.
SPEAKER_00Oh man. Yeah, I thought I could go on a tangent five. Those little mini dwarf hamsters, I love them. I'd always get them, right? But I have to tell you. So, yeah, trauma hamsters. Yeah. Well, first Teddy, he was my actual hamster. He was like a long-furred hamster. I don't know what happened to him. I think he was allergic to his stuffing and he got sick and he got a lot of allergies, and he ended up dying. But he lived a while, like probably like four years, which isn't like that long. That's impressive.
SPEAKER_02Is it?
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Very hamster? Okay.
SPEAKER_02They're like rats, they don't live very long. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00At least to my knowledge. Well, then my mini dwarf hamsters, they would escape. Yeah, because they're so weird. Which was awful because we also kept, we also had like ball pythons and other cages. We had cats. Oh my gosh. But these little things were ninjas, and even in the simplest I'm like, how did they? I don't know how they're. In the simplest cage, those like clear ones with only the little flip top on the top, yeah. They hit a wheel, right? I watched him one time jump on the wheel and write it up, and then jump on the ceiling, crawl over, pop it open, and crawl up, and he was a little spider hamster. And then he got out of there. So I started keeping my school books on top of it eventually. Good plan. I don't know. I don't know if it was before or after this. I got him one of those fun ones with all the tunnels and stuff. Oh, he won't want to get out of here. That's fine. Oh, he would squeeze through the bars and they were like this. They were so tiny. He would squeeze out of there. So, luckily, we had a really good bug man back in the day. It's the dad of our bug man now, and he would track them down for me. So he found them on multiple occasions. He found one behind the dishwasher and captured him and put him back in the cage, and he found one in the corner of my closet, and he didn't even find him there at first. He just saw that he had created it, he was like, There's a little nest back here. He'd been ripping up my carpet and making a nest in the back of the closet. He was like, That's his nest. Yeah. If you wait till nightfall, I bet you'll get. And so I waited there for nightfall. He gave flashlight. Yeah, I did. I didn't have it on until I heard the movement, and then I caught him. He was what do you know? He went to his nest. I put little snacks out there, and he went to his nest, little Cheerios, and I got him. So it was a brilliant bug man.
SPEAKER_02That's happier than my hamster trauma. I had two. One ate the other, and then the other ran itself to death on its wheel. What? Like suicidal. He ran for days and never ate, and then eventually just died. I don't have any idea. I was like in second grade tricks and I was done. I was so they were my birthday present. I was so thrilled. I've I have no idea how long they last. It was probably not very long. Yeah. And I'm still in this industry.
SPEAKER_00Well, then another thing my bug man found outside the back of my house was our ball python. Monty, the ball python. Yeah, he had escaped from his enclosure before. Because they would also like to use their muscle body to move it open, you know. I'm sure shed that skin somewhere. Never found. We were in our process of moving. He was nowhere to be found, couldn't find him. Bugman, our current bugman's dad, our old bug man from our old childhood, he calls my dad and he goes, Hey, you know that snake you lost. I was getting a couple complaints from your neighbors that live behind you and around you about missing cats and herds. No. Yes. Oh my god. They found five. He was like, I think it's Monty. Because he told us he thought he maybe got out through the sump pump or something. Yeah. And so he found a five and a half foot ball python in the tree behind our eight. No. Yes. And it had been eating birds and cats. No. Yes. And he took it to an enclosure. So Monty just lived his life in our backyard. I shouldn't be in the home. Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_01Terrifying.
SPEAKER_00And like, imagine like that's so bad. People shouldn't keep reptiles either.
SPEAKER_02No, yes, please do your research before you get an exotic pet. Seriously. So I was called So when I was in college, I was at this America's teaching zoo, and I got a call one day from my landlord, and she's like, hey, I had to evict someone and I need you to come over. And I'm like, why? And she's like, they had pets. And I was like, okay, elaborate in. And there's like six tanks, six like big, like I don't know how many gallons, but like big tanks. Two of them have snakes in them. Three of them are empty. And I'm like, there are three snakes somewhere in this apartment. Deuces. I am an animal person, but I am out. I do like it. You don't know what type of snakes they are. I have no idea what they are.
SPEAKER_00Like if it's upon, that's fine.
SPEAKER_02But you are missing three. And sure enough, they found them like they found one in the attic, they found one in the neighbor's house, and then they found one like behind the drawers. Like it had climbed up in the drawers and got behind the cabinets. And and she was like, You sure you can't take these? And I'm like, No, absolutely not. Eat him out. It's just not okay. No, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I don't know where the hell he ran off to. But I don't think they were eating cats. The bug man could have been exaggerating, but it was years late. So there was very well an opportunity. I don't know how large ball pythons get in the wild, but apparently like four to five feet. Yeah. Jeez. That is crazy. I mean, rat snakes get pretty big, so I'd imagine a ball python can get pretty big.
SPEAKER_02That was my high school biology project, and it got out of school and they found it in the auditorium. Xena warrior princess.
SPEAKER_00Oh, is Xena Warrior Princess okay? She was fine. Okay. They didn't have a chance to find out.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, she was taking a tour. No, they knew she was missing. And luckily, our janitor was not scared of snakes. That's good. Finally, I found your I found your biology project.
SPEAKER_00I still always find it weird when I'm like, oh, it's cuddling my arm. Like, no, it's trying to say that my arm. But it knows it can't keep my arm, so it's fine. When it was this big, but now I don't know how big Monty got, but Monty got big. Yeah. So we don't know what really happened to him, but apparently he got taken somewhere. Like tails and scales or something.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Hopefully he had a better secured cage.
SPEAKER_00I think the cats would always leave like open to let him out because they we also had a bunch of those little geckos, or not geckos, but the little lizards that were like really sticky. Do you know what I mean? Geckos. Yeah. Oh, I'm mixing up with chameleon. Yeah. Geckos. So we had a bunch of geckos and they'd always let them out and like eat their tails and their like arms and stuff, and we'd be having armless tailless. So they would open their cages to let them out to play with them. So we'd have to like capture them. It was happening. It was like a zoo. We had a little cemetery, unfortunately. Now I just sound brutal to the animal. We were learning. You are the reason why people shouldn't have exotic pets. I I don't know that now. I learned from experience we should not have exotic pets unless you like do a lot of research. Yeah. A lot of like not any cats. Yes. So, all right.
SPEAKER_01I have a snake story too. Oh. And so I used to I used to house it for this family, and they had many pets. They had a dog who was my dog's puppy. And they had two cats, Laurel and Hardy. And then they had this snake. How big was that? It was it was just a little it was just a little snake. A little snake. I don't know what kind it was because I'm not a snake person. And then I used to baby feeling.
SPEAKER_02This is where the story is going.
SPEAKER_01I'm not a snake person. Okay, these guys were gonna be gone for a month, and I'm house sitting them, I'm taking care of their pull, I'm giving their cats pills, I'm you know, taking care of the dog, and then they have a snake that is supposed to be the least of my problems. Okay, day one. Oh no, I go and defeat the snake and the snake's not in the damn cake. Okay, last day, the parent, like the family is coming home, and I've still never found the damn snake. Ever. So I think it got to be maybe five or six hours before the family was gonna get there. I had a couple of my friends coming over to help me find this snake.
SPEAKER_02No, you did not.
SPEAKER_01You never told me that. I did my ex-boyfriend and his friend, and they were coming over to help me find this snake. The snake was found, the snake was underneath the cage and had shed his skin, which is why I said that earlier. Go find somewhere to shed your skin. Yeah. So they got him and they put him back in the cage. It went under his own cage. It went under his own cage, just under his cage, and his skin was just there. Well, that's ideal that he was just right there.
SPEAKER_00What do you know?
SPEAKER_01And yeah, and so I did tell him. Oh, I was like, did you know? I told him as I I didn't see your snake the entire time. I don't know what he was eating, probably crickets, because I don't know how he got out, but you have a hole in your cage. You didn't need to know. Yeah, there was, yeah. Wow.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, thank goodness it was below its own cage. What a weird around. Yeah, he probably moved around a lot. If the heat lamp was on it, I bet it was still warm, so that's probably where he wanted to be. And he was like, How do I get back in here?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he cooled down in there and just chilled out. Chilled out, literally.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I don't know. It was the craziest thing. I was stressing out about it for a month. Yeah, that's a long time to pest it. Yeah, it's a long time. But I was getting to live there too.
SPEAKER_00So, you know, it was I can only imagine if it was a large enough snake for you, had to feed it mice. No, I would have not done that.
SPEAKER_01I would have had my ex-boyfriend come over and do it.
SPEAKER_02You wait, wait. You were staying there this whole time. I don't even know where the snake was? Oh, I didn't realize you were living there.
SPEAKER_01No, I was living there, I was sleeping there. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02So I always say, like, I there's not very many animals that I'm like scared of or nervous about, unless they're not where they're supposed to be, which is like in a cage. Um like a wildlife person, but like if a snake crawls by out here, I will probably jump scare. And if a mouse is loose in my house, you'll find me on the table.
SPEAKER_00No, I mean, it sounds smart, honestly, because not only are you worried about your safety, you're worried about its safety because you're like, why are you not in your space? Where are you? Like, you're not gonna have food here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Are you in the house? Also, it upsets me.
SPEAKER_00I'm like, I provide you food, I give you water, I give you housing, and it's free, and you're just escaping.
SPEAKER_01Why are you trying to leave me a pan like that with Olaf? My dog. He loves to escape. I'm just like breaks my freaking heart. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I have a rhino that is like she showed up at my house one day. We adopt her, we take care of her, we provide her food, we love her, and every chance she gets, she tries to bowl out the freaking door.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. Well, at least that's a little bit more like on brand for like a rhino, right? Yes. But like a snake, like there's no good harness for a snake.
SPEAKER_01There's just nothing you can do. There's no collarbone there. No want to. I don't know how you lived there for a month not knowing where it was. I just knew that he wasn't a bad snake. Okay, I'm pretty sure that that's why I just didn't hear like so. I was 19.
SPEAKER_02So you didn't know that it, that like the warmth of your body could have been where he was seeking refuge. Like they crawl up into bed with you and they're like, ooh, warm buddy. There's been a lady that's a dye that way.
SPEAKER_00Like large animals, like large snakes, like what's his face? Robert, what's his name? Erwin. Er is that who's the yellow snake that you just oh raw. Raw.
SPEAKER_02I was like, wait, are we talking about Robert Irwin's underwear commercial? What are we doing? Okay, you have something you have to Google me. I guess so. No. Insert that clip in here.
SPEAKER_00Now I'm talking about this.
SPEAKER_02It was all the internet rage for a while, but yes, that's raw, the the Burmese python.
SPEAKER_00The Burmese python. That guy is enormous. You could, yeah, he could easily size up an old woman, I'm sure.
unknownYes, he could.
SPEAKER_02Technically, they're really not supposed to eat anything that's not twice, like twice the size of their body, is as big as they go. So it's a it's like a pretty frail old woman.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, that would be more like a like a small volleyball or soccer body, maybe how derailed are we?
SPEAKER_01Sorry, you know, I think this has been great. It's fun. It's a little disarming, honestly. Yeah, perfect. But so I want to talk about a baby anteater, though. Okay. What can you share about this baby anteater?
SPEAKER_02So we have been trying to have baby anteaters here for two years straight and have like we really gave up. Armando has made lots of he's our male. Uh-huh. Armando and Amara. Armando has made lots of other problems, like he's ripped out the wall in his enclosure and that's his male ante adult male ante eater. And he's made all sorts of excitement in that way, but not sort of excitement in the you know, bounce a manwell kind of way.
SPEAKER_01Gotcha.
SPEAKER_02And so we had all but given up hope. But another animal that does embryonic diapause, so we won't ever know whether or not, like oh, maybe she's breeding for like a different but it finally happened, and we have a baby.
SPEAKER_00And it's so cute.
SPEAKER_02Wait, so how does that happen with anteaters?
SPEAKER_00Do they need a male and a female?
SPEAKER_02Yes, for sure. But like, so their gestation is supposed to be six months, and we saw breeding eight months ago. So did they breed six months and eight months ago, or did they breed eight months ago and there was embryonic diapositive? That is so wild. That's a fair question. We won't really know.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02But baby has arrived, super cute, riding around on mom's tail, nursing. They're they're just like miniature and have less hair. I always wanted one of those around art bars.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Don't even get freaked me out. But it's so much. They're like, they just they look so much skin. Like light colored pale skin. It's just so good. Yeah. Anyway, I guess I don't want one.
SPEAKER_00I'm never gonna have one. I'm not qualified for that.
SPEAKER_02But this baby anteater, yes, people just say things like I want it. Yeah, you don't have to make it.
SPEAKER_00I want to see it.
SPEAKER_02That's what I want. But the baby anteater is super cute and out on exhibit now, so it's not a big secret. So I think in the mornings, Amara and baby are out. And the baby will ride around on mom for six to twelve months, which is just so cute. As he he or she, we don't know yet. We don't know yet.
SPEAKER_01How long does it take to tell?
SPEAKER_02We would have to be able to get hands on baby to tell, and even then I'm not really sure. I've never sexed an anteater before. Wow. Though my my my success rate for sexing any animal is pretty terrible. So don't let me do that.
SPEAKER_00I mean it can vary, I imagine.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, not everything is obvious.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. And on the invisible.
SPEAKER_02I'm here for you. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00I try to sex humans sometimes. I don't know. At my last job.
SPEAKER_02I know. I mean, and fair, you don't always know. You can't assume. No. At my last job, you are doing fine. We had an otter named Oliver for six months until we realized I was like, that's a vagina. It's now Olivia.
SPEAKER_03Olivia. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And then our sloth was also a girl for many years until we sent her hair off for testing, and now she's a boy. Oh. Not a great track record.
SPEAKER_00Well, and with a lot of animals, too, like they can change, I've heard.
SPEAKER_02There are some species that can change none of these that I got wrong, but like otters are supposed to be super obvious. I just didn't look. Like somebody else said it's a boy. I said cool. I never looked. Okay. Lesson learned. Trust but verify.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's a good leadership lesson.
SPEAKER_02And an animal. So we'll jury's out. We can do a hair test at some point. We'll pluck a little hair from this baby and find out if it's a boy or a girl.
SPEAKER_00Go do the sound. That sounds good. Oh my bet it's so cute. How big is it? Right now it's like this big.
SPEAKER_02Like a watermelon kind of size? Yeah, yeah, like long though. You know, like long nose and long tail. Okay. And then parents are like seven or eight feet.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so the baby's probably like two feet.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, smaller. Like one and a half feet. Oh my gosh. Oh man. It's holdable.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_02You just have to fight mom for it.
SPEAKER_00I don't think so. I'll let her have all the baby.
SPEAKER_01So let's talk about. Okay, take me to Mars. Give us a setup. What's the story behind Mars the Pygmy Hippo that the documentary is gonna tell? Because I'm I'm a big Mars fan. I love Mars. Cutest little thing.
SPEAKER_02I know we haven't talked about him like almost at all, which is my little mention. So Mars is a pygmy hippo who was born here at the park, went nuts for his stubbornness about going inside at the end of the day and leaving the pool. Oh, yes. Yeah, yeah. And our and our porkeepers who had to airlift him in every day.
SPEAKER_00They were like, Are you gonna make me do it? Yeah, and his mom walks up and she's gets out.
SPEAKER_02She makes this little noise, she's like, meh, and he's like, I will do exactly what you say. It was so irritating. Um so yes, so Mars is rather famous. People traveling from all over the United States to come visit him. We have sent merchandise with his picture on it to every dang near every country, like all over the place. He's like, our owners went to Africa on safari, and like the people at the lodge were like, Wait, are you from where Mars is from? Oh my god! So he's he's a very famous little hippo, and so we did a documentary about him and the people who care for him, and so it's a three-part series, premieres in real life on August 19th, and there are a couple tickets left, but not many. It's mostly for our team, but then it will go live online eventually. We're kind of doc I'm learning so much about the process. Yeah, I thought so. Um you can't post it live online until you've shopped it to different film festivals and tried to like sell it to like YouTube TV and Netflix, and um sometimes it's not even like selling it, but they like won't carry it streaming if you've already posted it online. So the online premiere is still up in the air. Okay, but in person, August 19th, three three parts. First one is about the history of Tanganika, how we got to be here, the people who founded the zoo, and then the second is about the keepers that care for Mars every day and their dedication, which is my favorite story. And then the third is about two guests who traveled to come see him for the first time. Oh Leanne. I like the different perspective. Oh yeah, yeah. This 80-year-old woman who has been obsessed with pygmy hippos her whole life, she has like a massive collection of pygmy hippos, and her adorable little husband and her drive out from Oregon to see him, and it was just it's pretty magical. So if you're into documentaries or storytelling, I want to see it, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's a great event. Yeah, so we can like make sure to find it or help us. Yeah, and share it with our with our kids.
SPEAKER_02Watch our socials, I'm sure we'll be loud and proud about it when it goes out.
SPEAKER_00Excellent. That's good to know. That's exciting.
SPEAKER_01All right, well, this has been insane and amazing. I've learned so much and I've had the best time, I'm sure, Rachel, I too.
SPEAKER_00Yes, you know, I just love animals, animal lovers. We have so much in common. Yeah, yeah. We could keep talking for a while.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I honestly think that we could. Yeah. Um, so where can people find you and where can people find Tanganika Wildlife Park? Yeah.
SPEAKER_02TWPark.com is our website, but we're on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn. I'm on LinkedIn. I try to stay sort of active over there. I also have some of my own channels. So like I'm a leadership and culture coach for zoo professionals. So my company is called Animals Amplified.
SPEAKER_00Animal Five.
SPEAKER_02So if you just loved the hearing my voice for the last however long, uh, you can follow me there. And then I also have written a book that is currently due to my publisher in like T minus five days or something.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, congratulations! Huge! Oh my god! That's awesome.
SPEAKER_02Uh it's a historical fiction novel about a copy, which we didn't talk about at all today either. So many topics we get to cover. So we can do a book club. Yeah. Come to but I'm super excited.
SPEAKER_00Are you gonna be releasing updates about that on your social?
SPEAKER_02Yes, okay. So that's Lindley Wrights. So Animals Amplified, Lindley Wrights, TW Park. If you don't see me on your internet, you'll I'll be surprised. And also, I'm sorry for those of you who follow me because you see me so much.
SPEAKER_01I love the I've been loving the LinkedIn, like your specifically your LinkedIn updates lately have been amazing. Especially the what was the gift that they put together?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's my I screwed up, and so I have to like shake it out. I love that, and she put it on repeat for me. Oh, yeah. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Social media goal. It was yeah, nice.
SPEAKER_00And we'll link all of those in the show notes for everybody. Yes, we sure will. It's like 15 links. I know, but did you send them all over to us just so you don't miss? I will find you on that. Yeah, send them over.
SPEAKER_01Um, all right. So, wow, this has been a hell of an episode. I know. I'm so excited with how this has gone. We have a lot of you all, a lot of things for you all to learn, a lot of things for you guys. Just need to come out here and see the things. Like seriously, it is so much fun out here. This uh uh this podcast is sponsored by our lovely friends. We love you guys. Also sponsored. We love you. See, we're adding to your tagline. Hi boo boo, and we love you. Um, and backspace media, which is my own company. Yes um, all right, and so once again, this happened. Yes, this happened.
SPEAKER_00Thank you so much for joining us today.
SPEAKER_01I'm Rachel, I'm Jen, and we out. Bye. Bye.
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