Eloise Ogden/MDN Three of the five Nigerian dwarf goats at Roosevelt Park Zoo enjoy attention from Brandi Clark, zoo general curator.

Brandi Clark, general curator of Minot’s Roosevelt Park Zoo, said she still can’t believe she’s working there.

“It’s so exciting,” said Clark during an interview this past week, adding, “It’s pretty amazing, that’s for sure.”

Clark, of Minot, has been with the zoo since 1992. “I got lucky enough to be hired on as a zookeeper,” Clark said, reminiscing about her years at North Dakota’s oldest zoo.

Clark worked as a zookeeper for about six years before becoming general curator. When she applied for the zookeeper job she said she didn’t think she would be hired because she didn’t go to school for that type of work. With a degree in veterinary technology, she was working as a veterinary technician at a veterinary clinic. She applied for the zookeeper position, was interviewed and got the job.

She was hired a month after Ron Merritt, now director of Minot Parks. Initially, both were hired as zookeepers. Later Merritt became zoo director and then park director. Now Clark is the longest serving Roosevelt Park Zoo staff member.

As general curator, Clark oversees animal transactions and the animal collections. For example, when an animal leaves the zoo and goes to another zoo, Clark is in charge of making sure all the paperwork gets done. She also works with the veterinarian who has to write a health certificate plus complete pre-shipment testings. The zoo receiving an animal also requires tests that must be done.

“We also communicate back and forth with other zoos to make sure the animal will be safe during the shipment. Once they get there, like just the other day, we sent off a dik-dik to Chicago.” As soon as the dik-dik arrived at the Chicago facility, Clark received a text with a picture of the animal, saying, ‘she made it here OK,’ ” Clark said.

Clark said zoo animals are transported in many different ways – truck and trailer, airlines… “It just depends on the animal,” she said.

She said there are different regulations for every animal that must be followed, indicating a book listing the regulations (i.e. crate and temperature requirements, food and water, etc.). “You have to basically follow this word for word,” she said. She said they also have to check with the requirements of each state when an animal or bird is crossing state lines.

Currently, Clark is working on several shipments, including the acquisition of prairie dogs, snakes, a kangaroo and birds along with local zoo inhabitants who will be leaving for other facilities.

“I have all those on the list but they take anywhere from a month to six months,” Clark said. She said the shipments depend on various conditions such as if it is an African bird, it can only be shipped when it’s warm outside so they have to wait for the right conditions. Due to the changing weather conditions, she said when a giraffe was going to be shipped to another facility, the transporter had to come to Minot twice until conditions were favorable for picking up the animals to transport it.

Clark said one of the best parts of her job is interacting with people. “It’s the fact that you see people – the visitors that come back, the wonderful people you get to work with and our patrons that come here,” she said.

Even when she’s away from the zoo, Clark is associated with the facility from being at the grocery store to being introduced to students she coaches in swimming during her off hours.

The zoo has changed considerably since Clark joined the staff there. She noted the Visitor Center where she has her office used to be a parking lot and the north side of the zoo has expanded. “There were houses where the Discovery Barn is,” she recalled.

Clark has gone through a major flood at the zoo – the 2011 flood – and also its comeback. “We wouldn’t have been able to do that if we didn’t have all those volunteers and working every day, day and night, to make it work. It was amazing,” she said.

Now the zoo is making plans for its centennial in 2021 and a committee is working on the plans she said.

As part of her work as general curator, Clark is also in charge of the zookeepers. “They’re an amazing group of people,” she said. Now she’s getting ready for the seasonal staff. She said some who worked at the zoo last year will be returning here to work again this summer.

Clark’s also the registrar who keeps records of all the inhabitants of the zoo. Currently, she said the zoo has 193 inhabitants of various species including one tarantula, two amphibians, 12 reptiles, 87 birds and 91 mammals but that number goes up and down.

When about 3,000 honey bees arrive from a local beekeeper on loan to the zoo for a display in the Discovery Barn for the summer, the zoo’s inventory climbs quickly. An area ranch also provides bison for the zoo.

Some animals at the zoo are on loan but will stay at this facility for most of their life, depending on the programs those animals are managed by, Clark said.

Last month Clark received a new recognition as a certified OSHA HAZWOPER. OSHA stands for Occupational Health and Safety Administration and HAZWOPER stands for Hazardous Waste and Emergency Response.

If an oil spill or a hazardous chemical spill would occur, trained professionals are needed to help if the animals are involved, Clark said. She completed the certification at the Association of Zoos & Aquariums Conference in Jacksonville, Fla. Clark and Erin Teravskis of the Red River Zoo in Fargo are the only two people in North Dakota with the certification and among 175 people certified in the U.S.

A trip to the Nigerian dwarf goats exhibit area took place before the interview was over last week. Clark tells their names: Bon Bon, Erik, Andy, Spelch and Bickel. Inside the pen with three of the goats, they vie for Clark’s attention.

“I’m lucky, I’m privileged and lucky to work here – that’s for sure,” Clark said, adding, “The people are the best.”

(Prairie Profile is a weekly feature profiling interesting people in our region. We welcome suggestions from our readers. Call Editor Mike Sasser at 857-1959 or Regional Editor Eloise Ogden at 857-1944. Either can be reached at 1-800-735-3229. You also can send e-mail suggestions to msasser@minotdailynews.com.)