'Weighing the giraffes can be challenging: all nine giraffes want to get on the scales at once'

Zookeeper Hannah Sievewright on family inspiration, caring for rare species and the complicated process of weighing a giraffe

Hannah Sievewright with a babirusa at Chester zoo.
Hannah Sievewright with a babirusa at Chester zoo. Photograph: Steve Rawlins

I began volunteering with animals at the age of 13, which eventually led me to agricultural college to study animal care and a work placement at Dudley zoo with the giraffes.

In 2003 I went travelling to Australia and did more voluntary work at Australia zoo with native species. When I got back I worked at West Midlands safari park with giraffes, white rhino and numerous other hoofstock species. I left the safari park in 2010 and moved up north to work on the giraffe section at Chester zoo, working with 12 species which include the Rothschild’s giraffe, okapi, babirusa (one of the rarest pig species in the world, native to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi) and Asian short-clawed otters, among others.

My grandad inspired me to work with animals. He was a farmer in North Yorkshire so a lot of my childhood was spent up there on the farm surrounded by cows and sheep. I always used to say, “when I grow up I want to be a farmer like grandad”. Then I found zoo life and fell in love with giraffes.

It’s a great feeling to care for so many beautiful animals and, although many of them are threatened in the wild, it’s very satisfying when you see visitors share your excitement for wildlife. If someone leaves the zoo with a better understanding of our animals and, importantly, the threats they face in the wild and the work we’re doing to protect them, they may go on to help with conservation in the future.

My team has 12 species and 54 animals to look after, so a typical day involves lots of feeding and cleaning of animal enclosures. For example the babirusa and otters get fed four times a day, the giraffes and okapi get fed throughout the day and we clean them out each morning and afternoon. We provide a full trailer-load of browse (tree branches) for our animals each day, so a lot of the morning is taken going out to source browse locally and tying it up into bundles.

We weigh our animals regularly which can sometimes prove to be a little tricky. Weighing the giraffes, for example, can be challenging when all nine giraffes want to try and step on our one set of scales at once. We had a giraffe calf born on the 23 December 2014. Having a little one around made Christmas that year really special.

I recently spent six weeks crate-training the babirusa using positive reinforcement with food so that we could smoothly move them to different areas of the zoo to be paired with different breeding partners. They’re a very rare species that need a lot of special care and very few zoos have them, so our breeding programme is really important.

Although our approach is to be as hands-off as possible with the animals, there are sometimes exceptional circumstances. Working with babirusa can be very special as they need a lot of careful attention, largely owing to their really sensitive skin. In this instance, the babirusa seem to enjoy the interaction with us, particularly when we apply a moisturiser to their skin which is really important for their health. Occasionally though, they just want a fuss and a belly rub.

The most common misconception is that zookeepers shovel poo all day. We certainly have to clean up a lot, but it’s definitely not something we have to do all day long. Having said that, the worst part of my job has got to be the amount of time I spend out in the rain. Sometimes I can be out and about working in the rain all day and end up totally soaked.

After attending a conference on giraffes in America, I have been inspired to start a new project focused on our herd of Rothschild’s giraffes which will keep me busy over the next few years. It involves taking photos of the giraffes’ feet using a thermography camera to assess the condition of their hooves, looking for any heat spots which could indicate inflammation and early signs of arthritis. Although our herd is young and very healthy, we are working with the veterinary team and doing it as a monitoring and preventative healthcare exercise to make sure we are giving our animals the best possible care.

The Secret Life of the Zoo continues on Tuesday at 8pm on Channel 4.