Turtle Back Zoo Lives Through Pandemic

While most humans are quarantining all over the world due to the COVID-19 outbreak, some are still showing up to work every day to help those in need. In this case, though, those in need are not patients of the virus, but others who are unable to care for themselves and would die if left alone.

The Turtle Back Zoo in West Orange, New Jersey, houses over 20 exhibits of animals across its 20 acres of land in the South Mountain Recreation Complex.

Erin Mowatt, the director of animal operations, oversees the zoo’s animal collection, and since the spread of the virus closed the park down on March 14 has been working with limited staff to care for all the animals in their own “exotic” way.

“We cut back on our seasonal staff. We’re really just operating on our full time and our part time keepers,” Mowatt said. “We have a Team A and a Team B who do 10-hour days. Team A works three days straight and B works four days straight and then the next week they switch.”

Life at the zoo has changed on a daily basis, and Mowatt said a few of the animals are starting to notice the lack of foot traffic outside their enclosures.

“We definitely do have a few [animals] that are loving not having people here, especially our shy ones,” Mowatt said. “I walked around the other day and I saw our maned wolves laying right in the front of their exhibit, which is something they never do.”

The staff’s care for the animals is something that has not changed, however. According to the zoo’s website, “Our animals are doing well and we continue to provide them with professional care.”

If anything, Mowatt laughed, the zookeepers tending to the animals have upped the attention they give towards their furry residents.

“We have some social animals like our gibbons, our grey wolves, we have an older cougar who loves people,” Mowatt said. “Those kinds of animals are like ‘where are all the people, we really like seeing them.’ I told the keepers the other day that if they had a minute to go walk around the zoo and visit the animals like Sage the cougar who really miss people visiting them.”

Financially, the zoo has had to adjust with no income from guests or visitors paying to enter the facility. A budget has been set for the staff to spend on strictly “bare necessities,” as Mowatt phrased it, which includes animal food and produce.

“Being town run, we operate on a budget,” Mowatt said. “We just took a look at what was a necessity and what we could wait on.”

As one of the fastest growing zoos in the nation, Turtle Back has found a way to engage with the public even though the gates are closed. Every Tuesday and Thursday at 2 p.m. keepers within the facility go live on Facebook with a variety of animal shows for guests all over the country. The zoo may be closed, but the staff has made it a priority to take care of each inhabitant: from the smallest spider to the biggest elephant in their exhibits.

“We wanted to make sure that we kept our guests engaged,” Mowatt said. “We do it to show them ‘Hey look, We’re still here. The animals are still being well cared for by our awesome keeper staff.’”