Philadelphia is the city of firsts — the first public school, the first scientific institution in America, the first penny newspaper (ours was free of course) and the first zoo.
Last weekend, said zoo had its annual Gay Day celebration. Furry friends, fun and face-painting were all a part of the day. In between helping my friend corral her oh-so-cute twins, I took a moment to speak to one of the zoo keepers, the very-knowledgeable Kristen Farley-Rambo. PGN: Are you a Philly gal? KFR: No, I’m originally from Maryland. And now I live with my wife in South Jersey.
PGN: What were you like as a kid? KFR: I was always busy with something, especially sports. Swimming was my biggest sport, and I played soccer and lacrosse. I was a good student, in fact a bit of a nerd.
PGN: Did you have pets growing up? KFR: We had hamsters and cats … a bird I think. I’m not a big bird person.
PGN: What’s your role at the zoo? KFR: I’m the gorilla keeper.
PGN: How long have you been at it? KFR: I’ve been here for over five years. I started out as an imbedded relief keeper in primate reserves, which meant that I was trained for all of the primates. I was everybody’s second-hand man. And then, after a few years, the gorilla position became available and I stepped into that role.
PGN: How does one train to be a gorilla keeper? KFR: First and foremost, you need a degree. With the zoo field, it’s pretty wide open; you can get it in biology, animal science, even psychology majors are now starting to get looked at because of the animal-behavior aspect of zoo keeping. My degree is in biology. Once you have a degree, it’s more about what you do with it, finding internships and getting experience with animals. Even something like volunteering at a dog shelter or animal rescue helps. I interned at the Pittsburgh Zoo for a while before I came here.
PGN: Were you always into animals? KFR: You know what, honestly I wasn’t until I became a zoo keeper. I’m sort of an anomaly. My experience with my coworkers is that most of them knew that they wanted to work with animals from a very young age. I liked animals, but didn’t realize it as a true passion until I moved to Pittsburgh after college for a relationship. I was looking for a job and my girlfriend at the time told me they were having a job fair at the zoo. I thought, That sounds like fun. I thought I’d be more into the research aspect of it, but then one of the primate keepers got into a motorcycle accident and they needed someone to fill in temporarily. I stepped in and soon realized that it was something I wanted to do for the rest of my life.
PGN: What research were you doing? KFR: I was working with a breed and release program with barn owls. We were breeding them off premises and then teaching them how to survive in the wild in an attempt to re-establish the dwindling population. And then I started a real interesting study with male mandrills. As a general rule, male mandrills can’t live together — they’re too aggressive. They were using a drug which essentially chemically castrates them; it doesn’t physically do anything so it’s reversible, but it allowed us to see if we could suppress the hormones to rein in some of the aggression.
PGN: I can think of a few humans that would be good for. [Coughs] Donald Trump [coughs]. So, I bet most people don’t realize that zoos are so much more than a place to see animals. KFR: Yes, zoos are a great place for people to see and learn about animals, but the animals are representations of their wild cousins. Most zoos have embraced that and have begun to get involved in conservation and education. It’s entertaining and fun to see animals, but we want to teach you about them and what you can do to help their cousins in the wild. And like you said, we’re so much more. We do research and health care and preservation and observation. Keeping animals is an ever-evolving field. Right now there’s a lot of research revolving around nutrition.
PGN: What’s a favorite animal experience? KFR: I left for a few months to have a baby and when I came back, as I came in the building the girls [gorillas] heard my voice and all came down to greet me. That was really cool. Then a few weeks later my wife brought our son, Brody, to come visit and my dominant female Nne came over to the glass. We can’t bring any visitors behind the scenes because of disease transmission, but she came right up to the glass and looked at my son. Then she looked at me and turned her back to the glass and gestured as if she wanted me to put him on her back, which is how they carry their babies. It was so neat that she noticed and recognized that it was my son.
PGN: So you’re married. When did that happen? KFR: We had a civil union in New Jersey in 2009. We’d been together for about five years. Amanda works evenings, which is great for raising a child; we don’t have to do day care.
PGN: How did you meet? KFR: Through a mutual friend. I was living in Maryland at the time and she was there for the college summer break. We got to be friends and one thing led to another.
PGN: A favorite romantic moment? KFR: Our honeymoon, we went to Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic. At first, we were a little concerned about how we would be accepted but people couldn’t have been nicer. We were given the pink honeymoon wristbands and everyone was over-the-moon excited for us. The whole week was incredibly romantic. We had the über-intimate room on the beach front with a jacuzzi and everything. It was amazing and romantic and … amazing!
PGN: And the zoo seems like a very gay-friendly place, even before Gay Day. KFR: Oh yes. There are some who say you have to be gay or crazy to work with animals, especially in a zoo setting. I’d say there is some truth to that.
PGN: What was coming out like? KFR: You know for me it wasn’t a struggle at all. I didn’t date at all through high school. I was too busy with school and sports. Then in college, I started hanging out with Amanda and was really intrigued by her. At the same time, there was this guy who was perfect in every sense of the word. He was amazing and he was super into me and I was really into him but for whatever reason, I kept being drawn to Amanda. Finally it hit me, “You know what, I think I like women!” It was that simple. I went from believing I was straight to realizing I was gay and that was that.
PGN: Family? KFR: We both have parents who are still married and wholly supportive of us. And I have a sister, 23 months younger than me. She moved here from Boston when she found out I was going to have a baby. She wanted to be close to her (now) nephew.
PGN: What did your parents do? KFR: Growing up, my mom worked for a law firm. She worked nights, which was awesome because my sister and I were both into sports and she was able to come to every single one of our athletic events. We always felt very loved and supported and all of that. My dad is an economist, specializing in the health-care industry. At one point, he was working with President Clinton when he was trying to get a health-care reform bill passed.
PGN: That’s cool. Your dad must be ecstatic after this election. KFR: Yes, yes. We all were.
PGN: At the Amsterdam Zoo, they have special tours where they feature gay animals. Any action here? KFR: Well, we have seen some homosexual behavior in our bachelor gorilla troop. There are some theories that since it’s all boys hanging out, if they want sex they just get it wherever they can or that it’s mostly a dominance display. Like my older male, Louis, showing his dominance over a younger male, Kuchimba, in a social hierarchy way through sex. Homosexual behavior has been very well-documented in the animal kingdom. I’ve read a lot about penguins.
PGN: What do you do away from the zoo? KFR: We like to be outdoors a lot. I kept up with soccer for a while after college and I practice with the Philadelphia Fins.
PGN: Okay, one random question: If you had your own talk show, who would your first three guests be? KFR: First, I would host Missy Franklin — she’s an Olympic gold medalist in swimming — because she is A) adorable and B) an amazing athlete. She’s only a high-school senior and as a young female athlete, she’s a role model for girls to look up to. After the Olympics, she turned down prize money and endorsements so that she could remain eligible to swim in college and get a college education, which is a great example for others to follow. Next would be our best friends, Samantha Nestor and Andrew Haneiko, for an episode on sperm donation and surrogacy. Andrew gave us the gift of sperm donation so that Amanda and I could start our own family. Sam is his wife, so it was a joint decision on their part. I would love the opportunity to be able to open people’s eyes to the possibilities that are out there for gay and lesbian couples (as well as those with fertility troubles) to start families. My third guest would be Ricki Lake and I would talk about her work to raise awareness and educate women about natural childbirth and midwifery. All too often, childbirth is viewed as a strictly hospital-based experience requiring drugs and medical intervention, and Ricki has done a wonderful job of bringing to light the various options available to women, and making us realize just how special and empowering childbirth can be.
PGN: Something your son’s done to make you laugh? KFR: Well, a few weeks ago he was having a difficult time. He’s not talking yet so he gets frustrated because he can’t communicate what he wants. So for a few weeks he was just yelling — nonstop — for no reason. Then all of a sudden, he did a 180 and now he finds everything funny. The other night, my wife and I were having dinner. We were just quietly talking and he just started cracking up, he sat there and laughed for almost a half-hour. It was hysterical; I love to hear his laugh.
PGN: What was the hardest part of being a new mommy? KFR: Coming back to work. I don’t love being a working mom. I miss my son every minute of the day. I rush home as fast as I can to get some snuggles in before he has to go to bed. I thought I’d be fine with it. You’re not in zoo-keeping for the money or fame, you’re here because you love it. I mean these are my kids, too. To choose between my two families would have been hard, so I always thought coming back to work would be a breeze. Boy was I wrong. It’s so hard to tear myself away from my son.
PGN: You spoke of your love of the animals but do you enjoy the people interaction as well? KFR: Yes, I really love talking to people who are interested in learning about the animals. I enjoy educating people. I especially love talking about the individual gorillas because they each have such distinct personalities. If I have work to do, I have to stop myself from coming out in the public areas because once I get started, I could talk about them for hours.
PGN: What’s a favorite zoo story? KFR: They all eat food differently. Kivu, she’s a character, I don’t think she realizes that she’s a gorilla. She much prefers to spend time with us downstairs than interacting with the other gorillas. She’s quirky and does everything different. You know how everyone has their own way of eating Oreos? She’s like that with carrots. When we give her round carrot slices, she takes a bite out of each one, leaving these half-moon carrot rinds everywhere. And she doesn’t like peanut shells, so if you give her a peanut, she breaks it open and takes the skin off and then she takes the skin and the shell and pushes it out of her room. She doesn’t want it anywhere near her. Oh, another funny guy is Louis, he’s our biggest gorilla. He’s huge and handsome, but he hates getting his hands or feet dirty. Unfortunately, the area where they shift from inside to out is always muddy. If it’s too muddy, he won’t come out and if he does cross over it, he immediately goes to the nearest dry spot and OCD-style proceeds to clean off his hands and feet until they’re immaculate. He also will clean his own room. He hates having poop in there.
PGN: Well, doesn’t everybody? KFR: [Laughs.] You’d be surprised. Some of them love rolling around in it. But not Louis. It’s hilarious to see this humongous gorilla act like such a baby.
PGN: How close do you get to them? KFR: We work with what’s called protected contact. We never go in with them but I get to physically interact with them through a mesh barrier. They’re just too big and strong for anything else. You’re not going to be dominant over a 450-pound silverback gorilla, plus they’re very territorial so we want to respect their space. But we do tons of training every single day. We do a lot of body presentation, which is training them to come to the mesh and present different parts for me to touch. I’ll ask them to open their mouths and other things that will help if they need to be seen by a vet. I also get to scratch their backs and give them tummy rubs. But they call the shots; if they’re not in the mood for something, we don’t push it. But they generally love interacting with people.
PGN: I’ve seen a few of the gorillas sit quietly and then suddenly turn around and scare people by the glass. KFR: Yeah, they can be really funny that way. I think they get a kick out of it. Louis in particular, he’s a 13-year-old boy full of testosterone and he loves getting a rise out of people. Sometimes, I’ll hear a big thump and then screams, and I know he’s suddenly banged the glass and startled everyone standing there. The more reaction he gets, the more fun he has. If he does it and no one reacts, he’ll stop until new people come around. Having different people there every day is like watching TV for them. They’re just as interested in us as we are in them.
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