Amanda De George chats to Maritza Gaete at Symbio
Maritza Gaete has the best left shoulder in the business. Or at least that’s how it seems with many of this Primate and Carnivore Keeper’s charges, from meerkats to pygmy marmosets, jostling for time on that shoulder, taking advantage of the view and the snacks on offer.
As far as zoo keepers go, Maritza was a bit of a late bloomer, not getting into the industry until she was in her 40s. And even that was due to a bit of bad luck. Like a lot of people, she kept her love of animals to the side, pouring it into keeping her own menagerie healthy and happy. (And I do mean menagerie. Think dogs, cats, a princess parrot, bearded dragon, stick insects AND a pony!) But a car accident – which left her unable to work for a couple of months – got her mind ticking over and maybe, just maybe, she thought, that love of animals didn’t have to be confined to home.
Once Maritza started studying with the Taronga Training Institute, she spent time in the primate and carnivore sections and realised her passion was working with those species, thinking, “Wow. That would be such a dream working with those animals.” And during the next couple of years she learned, among other things, two very valuable skills. “I learnt how to use a whipper-snipper and how to train a baboon,” she explains.
Maritza has been working with the monkeys, lemurs, cheetahs, meerkats, red pandas and dingos at Symbio now for about 10 years. When she’s not at work, she’s busy with her family of four boys and husband at their home in the Western Suburbs of Sydney. She’s hand-raised a few joeys during that time and so they’ve got to experience all the highs and lows (and around-the-clock feeds) of zoo keeper life alongside her.
As she walks to the back of the pygmy marmoset enclosure, a mixture of high squeals and chirping calls start up and eager little faces press against the glass. Ten years of hard work in the same organisation means that the animals have really gotten to know her. And Maritza has really gotten to know them, too. As they bounce around her and up onto that much-loved shoulder, the marmosets looking for a taste of sweet acacia gum, all I see is a blur of fur and a flash of tail. But Maritza can tell them apart, easily.
“Hi Jo, my beautiful girl," she coos. “Oh look, that’s Noah. He’s such a shy little man.”
And then I make a mistake. I ask, without malice and without thinking, “So, which is your favourite animal here?”
“YOU CAN’T ASK ME THAT!” she exclaims over the ruckus of marmoset calls. “I love all of them. It’s like asking who’s your favourite child! They’re all so different in personalities. I could never choose!”
See Maritza in action at her Symbio keeper presentations
Weekdays: 10:30 Meerkats; 12:30 Cheetahs
Weekends: 10:30 Meerkats; 12:00 Cheetahs; 1:15 Dingoes
Thanks to Symbio for sponsoring this article in the September 2022 edition of the Flame.
The zoo is open daily 9.30am-5pm at 7-11 Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Helensburgh. Phone (02) 4294 1244 or visit symbiozoo.com.au
