30 Sep Staff Spotlight – Miranda
This article is brought to you by Kathy, our Community Engagement Manager, as she sat down with one of our Behavioral Husbandry Manager and multi-talented Keepers, Miranda
“We just celebrated Zookeeper Week July 21-27, showing appreciation for all the hard work done by the Animal Care Staff at the Ross Park Zoo, but we wanted to shine a special spotlight this month on a unique multi-talented individual in that department, Miranda.
Miranda is not only the person who leads teaching the animals useful behaviors to assist in their own care, guides other keepers in conducting successful training sessions and provides safe enrichment items to keep Ross Park Zoo’s residents engaged and happy, she is also a very talented watercolor artist whose original works can be purchased in the Zoovenirs Gift Shop.
We followed Miranda one steamy summer morning as she had some “one-on- two” time with howler monkeys, Diego and Carlitta.
A Little This and That
As we watched the monkeys eagerly scurry down from the heights of their habitat to participate in their training, we asked Mirada a little about herself, how she got into this particular zookeeping specialty and how her art plays into the scheme of things.
Miranda quipped that, for a while, “it was a toss-up between being a starving artist or being a starving zookeeper.” She opted to go for her degree in Biology instead of Art while in college in Florida and, from there, it was a meandering path of volunteering and working at aquariums, aviaries and zoos up and down the east coast, landing in Binghamton, where she has stayed for nine years.
Are You Smarter than a Howler Monkey?
We laughed that sometimes the “pupil” gets the better of the teacher when it comes to training. There is a saying among some dog owners/trainers that you have to be smarter than your .. Border Collie… Jack Russell, etc. Miranda says it’s the same with the animals she works with here at the Ross Park Zoo.
Miranda not only uses “clicker training” as many of us have practiced with our own dogs and cats, but she also has to use her wits to come up with creative rewards to encourage a desired behavior, like getting Carlitta to open wide for a check of her teeth, mouth and palette for any signs of trouble. One day’s terrific treat of a juicy grape may not fly the next day in trying to coax a stubborn subject to step onto a scale or to swallow their medication.
The Ross Park Zoo only uses positive reinforcement when trying to achieve particular behaviors.
A Matter of Trust
As with the animals in our own lives, getting what you want and what they need starts and ends with trust.
Miranda says the monkeys, due to their intellegence, can be among the most challenging species she works with since they clearly know “what’s up” and can remember what has happened in the past. Meanwhile, the one-year-old pallas’s cat “kittens” are a challenge to get them to calm down and focus because, well, they’re still kind of kittens!
Miranda says you constantly “make deposits in the trust bank,” working to the day when you need to make a major withdrawal, like giving an injection or, an even larger withdrawal, administering anesthesia. She says after one perceived “harrowing” procedure, it can take over a year to get that bank balance back up to its previous level.
Artistic License
On to Miranda’s other passion: her art. She says it was always a hobby. She might do several paintings, then back away for a while before picking up the brushes again.
It was during Christmas of 2019 when Miranda decided to do some pet portraits as gifts for coworkers and was urged to paint animal portraits to sell in the Zoovenirs Gift Shop.
The poor timing of it all! Ms. Fink began selling her art days before the pandemic hit in the spring of 2020 and the zoo and everything else shut down.
In spite of that hiccup, Miranda’s original paintings and prints of penguins, pallas’ cats, snow leopards and more have been in high demand.
You can see and purchase Miranda Fink original artwork during your next trip to the Ross Park Zoo.
Miranda’s artwork and the artwork for sale in the gift shop that is created by the animals themselves helps support the care of the animals at the Ross Park Zoo.
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