Power of Three

Swimming with the belugas

Here, Shannon is cleaning fish buckets at the end of a tiring day. When I volunteered as a zookeeper's aide in the marine mammal section--something that particular zoo no longer allows--those fish buckets with fish scales stuck tenaciously to them were the bane of my job. But most of the job brought me pure joy. One time, three of us were allowed in the pool with the three beluga whales to hand feed them during a "show." We dressed in ill fitting wetsuits off the biologist staff's rack and slid into the water with our buckets of fish. The staff put the belugas through their behaviors, "waving," arching out of the water simultaneously, and so forth. When the whales completed a behavior, they swam to us for their rewards, up close and personal! When the show finished, we stayed in the water to play. My favorite beluga swam up for rubs--the belugas have sensitive skin and they loved a good rub--I rubbed under her flippers, along her sides and fluke, around her nostrum, on her lips. Even her tongue! She liked nothing so much as a good tongue rub. The water temperature was 55 degrees, so my lips eventually turned blue and they made me get out. But what a way to spend a sunny afternoon!