“We need you to go help Santa.”

It was the last thing I wanted to hear as I strolled into the volunteer office of Brookfield Zoo the Sunday before Christmas. I’d been employed there back in the late ‘90s but, after a few years of discovering the elephants weren’t the only ones working for peanuts, decided to seek a job elsewhere. This should not, however, imply that I have any ill feelings towards the place, in fact it’s quite the opposite. I’ve loved animals since I was a kid and, growing up in Chicago, this was the place that helped cultivate that. I believe in the zoo’s message as well as its conservation work which is why it was only a matter of months before I’d return as a docent and remain one ever since. Usually volunteering entails talking to the zoo’s visitors about animals but, every once in awhile, you’re asked to do something different. Helping out with their Santa Claus event would be a prime example of that.

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