People Profiles 

He Talks to Animals (excerpt)
© copyright Deborah Carr 2001
~Head Zookeeper, Bernie Gallant, is Magnetic Hill Zoo's version of Dr. Doolittle~
published in Moncton Times & Transcript, May 24, 2001.

<Note:  On Dec. 7, 2007, Tomar, the beloved Siberian Tiger of Moncton's Magnetic Hill Zoo, was euthanized today as a result of renal failure.  Tomar lived an amazing 19 years at the zoo.>

 "Arruhr-r-r-r-r. Arruhr-r-r-r-r."

Tomar’s ears perk up and rousing himself from his mid-morning snooze, the 500 lb. Siberian Tiger raises his massive striped head at the soft greeting from a familiar voice.

"Arruhr-r-r-r," he responds, tilting his head sideways, and with a playful growl displays an impressive set of piercing incisors.

The spectacular cat raises himself on paws that look more like fuzzy novelty slippers and pads over to the fence for his daily rub.

His buddy on the other side of the fence is not really Dr. Doolittle, but Bernie Gallant, head zookeeper at the Magnetic Hill Zoo.

Looking for all the world like a big game hunter, the affable zookeeper, in his Tilly hat and khakis, affectionately rubs and scratches the massive animal through the chain-link fence. "It’s really important for me to spend time with each of my animals every day," he explains. "I like to keep us personal and close so I can easily see any changes in their personalities and behavior."

"It is also a way to monitor his weight," he adds. "You see? You can feel his backbone through the fur."

The thick coat of the large cat is surprisingly as soft as rabbit fur and he groans with pleasure at the deep scratching.

At the next cage, Bernie again stops to have a short visit with Miss Kito, the resident African lioness. She ambles over at the sound of his voice and acting more like a playful kitten than a 250 lb. lion, she rubs her face against the side of the fence anxious for her share of attention.

"Kito is Swahili for ‘Jewel’," explains Bernie. "My boss has a good sense of humour, so added Miss to the name. Get it? Miss Kito?" he laughs. "The hardest part sometimes is to find names for the animals that aptly reflect their personalities and character."

Kito seems accurately named as rumbles her contentment and leans against the fence in an attempt to snuggle closer.

This is just one small way that Bernie Gallant shows his affection and concern for the animals under his care. As a young boy raised on a hobby farm, the zookeeper knew from an early age that he wanted to work with animals.

He began studying for his degree in animal science, with a minor in pre-vet science, intending to enter veterinarian school. For four years, the young college student worked at the Moncton zoo during the summer months, doing a sampling of everything. His plans to attend veterinary college did not pan out, but a permanent position at the Magnetic Hill Zoo did.

Bernie’s degree and experience working at the facility helped him land him the job in 1990. Since then, he participated in many seminars, conferences and courses, among them a four-month course in England on management of endangered species.

But it is also networking with other facilities and experts that helped him improve on his knowledge and skills, thereby enabling him to build a much improved environment for the animals within the zoo.

"Through connections I had made while taking these courses, I was invited to Brazil for a month to study and do field research." It was a fabulous experience in that it afforded him the opportunity to see South American species within their own environment, knowledge that would help him build improved habitats for his charges back home.

While working with a group of biologists on a field research project, Bernie not only learned jungle survival skills, but one very important first aid procedure.

The group’s assignment was to capture a howler monkey and attach a radio collar in order to track migration habits. "It took us three days to find a group of monkeys. The nice thing about howlers is that when you get close to where they spent the night, it stinks really bad."

Using olfactory guidance, they located the monkeys’ resting area and the group fanned out until the animals were spotted. In order to attach the collar, one monkey was tranquilized, but an error was made and the animal was over-tranquilized.

One member of the team quickly performed chest compressions while Bernie monitored the pulse for 30 minutes until the monkey began breathing on its own again. It was a very valuable lesson…one he would have the opportunity to use again.

His trip also raised an awareness of the needs of animals in captivity and the responsibility of the zookeeper to attempt to meet those needs.

"Behavior enrichment is an up and coming thing," says Bernie. "Right now we care for 90% of their physical needs, but what about mentally? In the wild a bear will spend 8-12 hours a day searching for food. In the zoo, they don’t have to search, so what do they do with the rest of their day?

"They begin to develop bad habits that are detrimental to their health. They need to keep their minds active, so now we will sometimes hide the food so they have to search for it, like shove it in a log or put trout in the pond so they can fish for themselves."

Years ago, the resident black bears, Thelma, Louise, and Gary, were kept in a concrete bear pit, but today they enjoy an open outdoor area with trees and a trout pond. Thelma adapted very well, and brings to the new environment her acquired skills in performance.

"She loves Pepsi," laughs Bernie. "She found out very quickly that if she acted cute, she got treats. People used to pour pop down at her in the pit. She didn’t like the diet stuff though."

Now, a small electric wire fence keeps the bears a distance from the public so food cannot be thrown in at them, but Thelma still likes to put on a show, sitting up and waving her paws.

Louise, on the other hand, has been unable to shake the frustrations that developed while she lived in the confined space of the pit and paces back and forth, each rotation marked by a shake of her head.