Gator aid - trurodaily.com

20 August 2008
If travelling around Canada in a van with a bunch of crocodilians riding shotgun is your idea of a good time, Geoff Battrum has your dream job.
The 21-year-old Ontario resident works for Little Ray’s Reptile Zoo, based in Ottawa. Along with fellow zookeeper Lyndsey Russell, Battrum travels to events educating people about reptiles by giving them hands-on learning experience. They had a crocodile, an alligator and two caimans with them at the Nova Scotia Provincial Exhibition Wednesday.
So what’s the best part of the job?
“Working with the animals and you get to play with kids,” said Russell.
Battrum got a job at the zoo after finishing a job placement there during high school, while Russell went to school for the position. They both work with Little Ray’s animals, which are mostly all rescued or dropped-off reptiles.
“We don’t like using the word rescued because people think the animal wasn’t well looked after, where most of the ones we get are very well looked after. Mostly the person just realizes or something clicks that they shouldn’t have it (the crocodilian),” said Battrum.
The reptile show is visiting the exhibition for the rest of the week and will be giving educational shows roughly every two hours at the raceway. During the show the zookeepers talk to the crowd about all the different kinds of crocodilians and throw in some interesting facts.
For example, there is actually only one kind of crocodilian that sees people as a source of food and that is the Nile crocodile in Africa. About 300 people a year are eaten by that species, said Battrum.
This little factoid drew some worried looks toward the Nile crocodile he was holding in front of a small crowd. However, after the show spectators are usually invited up to touch the crocks and curiosity mostly overcomes fear.
Both Battrum and Russell have come to care for their scaled travelling companions and hope to continue educating people for a long time because as far as Battrum is concerned, he has one of the best jobs in the world.
“I get to travel and play with crocodiles,” he laughed.