Zoo Keeping Technology
Let Your Dreams Run Wild
Turn your love of animals into an exciting and rewarding career. With your degree in Zoo Keeping Technology, your new best friend just might be a black-footed ferret. Be at the frontlines of helping protect endangered species, replacing cages with new and humane habitats and studying animal behavior to ensure species continuation. Graduates of this program have gone on to work at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and other zoos nationwide.
Become part of an international movement. Zoos everywhere have been reinventing themselves and moving to the forefront of the effort to protect and reestablish endangered species. Through the Zoo Keeping Technology program, you can become a zoo keeping technician or animal care professional, and contribute to the growing knowledge and understanding necessary to maintain the world’s zoological diversity.
You might choose this career area if you love animals and are interested in their care and conservation. You will work at the technician level to apply your knowledge of science, animal husbandry, horticulture, exhibit design, and veterinary zoo keeping in a variety of animal care professions. Your patience, calm demeanor, and genuine concern for the well-being of animals combined with your ability to work well with others, understanding of animal behavior, alertness and attention to safety will make you a natural for this career.
Want to find out if this career is for you? Check it out on the web at http://www.acinet.org/, and select Occupation Information.
Program Description
Zoos are becoming a center for conservation, education and research. As a zoo keeping technician, a new and rewarding world will open up for the student who loves animals and appreciates a world that values wildlife and their habitats. Classes include training in science foundations, animal husbandry, career development, horticulture, exhibit design, and veterinary zoo keeping, and you’ll have a world-class zoo as your laboratory.
Pikes Peak Community College is one of two colleges in the United States that has an academic partnership with an American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, (AZA) accredited zoo. The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is one of the labs used by PPCC zoo keeping students, each of whom completes up to 700 hours of internships spread over three semesters. Through the internships, students become competent in the care of species in hoof stock, primates and carnivores, and birds and reptiles.
Career Path Notes
More advanced animal-related career such as Zoologist, Veterinarian, Wildlife Biologist, or Marine Biologist generally require at least a Bachelor’s degree (veterinarian, for example, requires a doctoral degree). If you are interested in pursuing one of these careers, you should enroll in an Associate of Science degree at Pikes Peak Community College, then continue on for a Bachelor’s degree at a four-year college or university.
Program Information
Click here for program specific information.
For More Information
Call the Division of Health, Environmental, Natural and Physical Sciences at 719-502-3400.
Employment Opportunities
Career opportunities include Zoo Keeping Technician, Apprentice Zoo Keeper, Zoo Keeper, Veterinary Assistant, Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Worker, Kennel Assistant , Lab Animal Care Worker, Ranch Assistant, and Animal Care Worker.
Earnings Outlook
In Colorado, the median hourly salary in 2005 for Animal Caretakers was $9.42, with a salary range of $6.79 – 15.27. From 2004 to 2014, there are expected to be an average of 200 job openings per year statewide. The median hourly salary for Veterinary Assistants and Laboratory Animal Caretakers was $9.48, with a salary range of $6.07 – $15.04. There are expected to be an average of 60 job openings per year statewide. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Financial Aid
Advising
Apply
Find Out More About Your Future Career
Contact Career Planning and Advising at (719) 502-3232
www.ppcc.edu/Advising
Associate of Applied Science Degree
1st Semester - Fall
BIO 148 Basic Ecology
ENV 101 Introduction to Environmental Science
ZOO 100 Safety/Zoonoses/Hazardous Materials
ZOO 101 Career Development for Zookeeping
ZOO 105 Reptile and Amphibian Husbandry
or
ZOO 125 Mammal Husbandry
Approved Elective
Semester 1 Credit Hours 16
2nd Semester - Spring
BIO 150 Animal Biology
ENG 131 Technical Writing I
NRE 236 Public Relations of Natural Resources
ZOO 115 Bird Husbandry
or
ZOO 135 Fish and Aquatic Invertebrate Husbandry
ZOO 205 Horticulture for the Zookeeper
Semester 2 Credit Hours 14
3rd Semester - Summer
ZOO 180 Zoo Keeping Internship I
ZOO 181 Zoo Keeping Internship II
ZOO 280 Zoo Keeping Internship III
Semester 3 Credit Hours 15
4th Semester - Fall
CIS 118 Introduction to PC Applications
or
CSC 105 Computer Literacy
COM 214 Natural Resource Interpretation
MAT 107 Career Math
ZOO 105 Reptile and Amphibian Husbandry
or
ZOO 125 Mammal Husbandry
Approved Elective
Semester 4 Credit Hours 16
5th Semester - Spring
EMS 115 First Responder
ZOO 115 Bird Husbandry
or
ZOO 135 Fish and Aquatic Invertebrate Husbandry
ZOO 206 Exhibit Design and Construction
ZOO 215 Veterinary Zookeeping
Semester 5 Credit Hours 14
Total Credit Hours 75
*ZOO 180, 181 and 280 (5 credits each) can be taken
in any semester, including the summer semester, after
completing an initial fall and spring semester.