MIAMI – Fred Cohen loves to introduce folks to his favorite animals with exclusive near encounters, like demonstrating company at Zoo Miami the right way to feed the giraffes.
He started off out in the 1960s at Crandon Park Zoo as a zookeeper. Now at age 86, he has had a lot of ‘encounters’ of his very own and loves to retell them.
“We employed to clearly show them how we would sheer sheep,” Cohen explained chatting about the children’s zoo at Crandon and how it would get him about 50 % an hour.
“In Australia, they can do a sheep in a few minutes. I ain’t that excellent!” he chuckled.
He also spoke about handling all those, as effectively as some wild cats as well.
“You could walk in and talk to the lions, you know, and just about scratch them underneath the chin,” he recalled. “These are accurate tales.”
Then there was the unforgettable minute of serving to the veterinarian produce a newborn giraffe at Crandon.
Cohen mentioned he’s had just about every work at the zoo, he worked in the kitchen area for over 30 several years. In 1989, his govt chef job even landed him on countrywide television.
“Ron Magill came to me and mentioned, ‘Come to my business, any person would like to chat to you on the cell phone.’ So I went, the cell phone rang, I reply the mobile phone and it is a young woman from the David Letterman demonstrate in New York,” claimed Cohen.
They wanted to have him display the foods they make for the animals. So he and Magill went to New York with two ring tailed lemurs and a parrot for the experience.
Hardly ever the shy style, Cohen has also been a qualified clown named ‘Gogo’ and dressed up for the zoo Halloween bash.
He retired in 1998, but returned not lengthy following and worked the carousel, the giraffe feeding station, and then the transportation division exactly where he is been ever considering the fact that.
He is very the celebrity. Just check with Henry Gomez, he’s Cohen’s supervisor and has regarded him for about twenty years.
“You have individuals that have been listed here before, achieved him, relished the time with him, and then brought their small children, and their children’s young children appear to fulfill him,” stated Gomez.
Cohen’s love for all creatures, like the two-legged kinds, is obvious.
“I have had men and women occur in and pay out admission to expend 10 minutes with me just to say hello and stroll out. And I say, ‘you arrived and compensated to go see the animals! What animals do you want to see?!’,” he explained.
The employees cherishes him, they say it is really like having your grandfather all-around full with the pearls of wisdom.
“If you locate a occupation that you like, regardless of how much it pays keep with it,” explained Cohen.
