His protégés have feathers or thick fur. Mathias Kendlbacher is an apprentice keeper at Hellbrunn Zoo.
He learned the mason trade. “Our whole family are bricklayers,” says Mathias Kendlbacher. After a year in this job, he had to give it up for health reasons.
At first he was looking for a job, and after retraining through the labor market service, the Grossarler spent two days in a pet shop. “That wasn’t my thing,” he says. He then worked on a rehearsal at Salzburg Zoo and stayed. Today he has been an apprentice at Hellbrunn Zoo for three and a half years – currently the only one.
Dealing with animals is in his blood
Dealing with animals is in the blood of the 24-year-old. “Even as a small child, I was often out and about on his farm with my grandpa,” he says. Grandfather Peter Kendlbacher kept sheep, chickens and pigs. There he helped with mucking out and “experimented with the chicken” when it came to breeding.
The hatching of the black broiler chickens is now also one of the many tasks of the animal lover. Together with his colleague Christopher Köppl, he is responsible for the bird park in the Africa area, which includes a total of 500 animals.
The zoo is divided into continents according to the geo-zoo principle. In “Africa” Mathias Kendlbacher feeds and tends 19 pelicans, striped geese, domestic geese, barnacle geese, red-crowned cranes, chickens and many more. Sitatungas, which are African antelopes, jump through the enclosure underneath.
Furthermore, rhinos, lions, penguins, antelopes, ring-tailed lemurs, Diana cats, brush-eared pigs, Watussi cattle, Boer goats, donkeys and cheetahs belong to “Africa”. In the enclosure next to the bird park, district manager Andreas Gfrerer observes his protégés, the cheetahs. The little woman “Terra” and the cat “Kani” have spring fever. Some of the big cats are fed with the lift, “that’s a kind of occupation, and that’s what we’re responsible for,” he says.
Visitors walked away from the pair during lockdown, although they often have to point out that feeding is prohibited. “Every now and then things end up in the water that absolutely don’t belong there, such as cell phones or pacifiers.” Under certain circumstances, this can be life-threatening for animals. The food that the animals receive from the keepers is eagerly awaited by everyone.
A total of nine people will take care of the needs of their protégés from 7.30 a.m. The feed that the feed master delivers is divided, meat is cut. “The three Diana amers in the lion house look forward to eating the most,” says Kendlbacher. And he serves the pelicans 20 kg of fish a day.
Feeding, mucking out and making sure everything is in order
After feeding, he checks the fences and makes sure that everything is in order in the enclosures. It is mucked out and everything is kept in good shape. “We are a good team here. What I like about the job is that you have the freedom, you can do things on your own and the whole group stays together,” he says. If someone fails, “anyone can replace anyone anywhere in Africa”.
In March the apprentice has his final exam, then he is a trained zoo keeper. And in the future? “In any case, I want to stay here and that everything stays as it is.”
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