Zoo staff

1,600 animals weighing from 150g (Pigmy Marmoset) to more than 4 tonnes (Asian Elephant), 55 year-round employees and around 110 in summer, 18 hectares and 4.2km of shady walkways: La Palmyre is a little town in itself, with various trades busy ensuring the best quality of care for the animals and strict maintenance of the site. Almost €20,000 is needed every day of the year to keep the zoo running.
The vet

Thierry’s mornings are spent on ‘on-the-ground’ care – administering medical treatments, overseeing the healing of a wound or recovery from an injury, and carrying out anaesthetics (either planned or, when an incident is reported by a keeper, emergency).
Afternoons tend to be taken up with administrative work: upkeeping registers, responding to emails, updating individual treatment files…
The zoo has a surgery building, digital radiography equipment, an autopsy room and a quarantine centre.
Keepers

A lot of zookeepers learn ‘on the job’, being recruited without any specific qualifications. However, there are specialist training centres in Gramat, Carquefou and Vendôme.
The nursery

Each building is fitted with couveuses, incubators and terrariums with heat lamps.
Baby animals with a disease or who are not being raised by their mother (because of a lack of milk or maternal instinct) are taken in by the nursery carers at the vet’s request. Nursery carers act as substitute mothers yet must at the same time restrict their contact with animals they take care of to minimise the phenomenon of imprinting and ease the future reintroduction of the individual to its original group or to others of its kind.
Technical manager
