Photos: Hagen Hopkins
For most people, the only thing stopping life from being an adventure is themselves. Or so reckons Lisa Ridley, 53, who made a drastic career change when her fiancé was diagnosed with cancer. Australian-born Lisa is now a senior primate keeper, who’s been working at Wellington Zoo for six years.
In her own words, she tells of her greatest experiences.
“My path to becoming a zookeeper is a unique one. I was 32 and working as a secretary when life threw a curveball. I had become engaged to the love of my life, Adam, who a few months later went to have a wisdom tooth out at the dentist.
But several weeks after surgery, his mouth just wasn’t healing. Doctors referred him to a specialist, who quickly identified it as mouth cancer.
You always think the worst: ‘What happens if I lose him?’ And it made me really think about my life and realise that if something awful did happen, I wanted to at least have a job that I enjoyed.
Adam encouraged me to study zookeeping, because my passion has always been the animal world. Growing up, people had said to me, ‘It’s a very hard industry to get into.’ So I never thought I would get in.
But where there’s a will, there’s a way. So in 2003, after we got married, I started volunteering with a rescue rehabilitation organisation for native animals. Every Sunday I also volunteered at Taronga Zoo in Sydney.
I applied to do a certificate in animal management and got a casual job at Taronga doing some work in the Australian fauna and primates divisions.
I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t easy being a mature student in the class. Passing with honours is something I’m very proud of.
Conservationist Diane Fossey is one of my heroes. When I was 40, my husband and I trekked up into the Virunga Mountains in Rwanda, where Diane did all her work with the mountain gorillas. It was the highlight of my life apart from getting married.
We decided to also spend a month in Cameroon volunteering with Ape Action Africa. The organisation has a sanctuary for orphan gorillas and chimpanzees, whose mums have sadly been killed in the illegal bushmeat trade. That experience was amazing.
I moved to New Zealand in 2017 after I got a job at Hamilton Zoo, which I loved. Then in 2018, we moved to Porirua, where I got a job with Wellington Zoo.
I have always had a passion for gorillas. And now I get to work daily with the fabulous great apes. Do they outsmart me? All the time!
Chimpanzees have 98.7 percent of the same genetic DNA as us. So they are thinking similarly, are extremely intelligent and are very social. When it comes to training and conditioning them – because it helps with their welfare and the health procedures that we do – they just get it.
We’re not supposed to say we have favourites – but ssh! – mine is a chimp called Kitwe. Now he’s nearly 10, he’s going through that adolescent stage and trying to work out where he fits in. So, unfortunately, for him, he’s getting in trouble all the time. But he’s got my heart and is just such a character.
My other fave would be Jess, our oldest chimp at 46. She and Kitwe have been an inspiration to me because I’ve been able to train both of them for hand injection.
We also have our white-cheeked gibbons, Robyn and Vilson, who are like a married couple. Sometimes I look at him and think, ‘Yeah, I see that behaviour at home too!’ Robyn wears the pants and laid-back Vilson, being the male, just goes, ‘Okay, I’ll just go with what you want.’
The most challenging part of the job is when you have to say goodbye to the animals that you’ve worked with for such a long time. Whether they’re being transacted out or whether their quality of life is coming to an end, it’s never easy.
When we do a lot of training with them, you form such a strong bond, where they trust you to do what you do with them.
Now it’s been 21 years since Adam went through cancer. He’s still here and I feel very lucky that he’s cancer-free. It really was a traumatic time. But you know what? It also changed my life for the better. I didn’t want to stay a secretary; I wasn’t happy. It took a bit of sadness to make me realise, ‘Just do it. Pursue your passion.’
I do believe if something bad happens, something good comes from it. Look where we are! We’re in New Zealand and loving our life.”
Quick fire questions
What’s been an unforgettable moment in your career?
Seeing my first gorilla born in 2007 at Taronga Zoo. It was so magnificent. And that little gorilla, Fuzu, has stolen my heart for many years, even though I now watch him grow up from afar.
You recently met legendary environmentalist Dr Jane Goodall. What was that like?
It was surreal. The zoo put on a morning tea for Jane and I must have looked like the most excited person there. If I can still travel around the world doing conservation awareness like her at 90 years old, I’ll feel thrilled.
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
