Trunkline Magazine (Louisville Zoo) March 2019 | Page 8

The Stories
that Move Us...
Silvia
Zirkelbach
If you’ve been to the Zoo in
the last 35 years, you’ve probably
crossed paths with Zookeeper Silvia
Zirkelbach. You can usually find
her near the giraffe area with her
auburn hair tied back, wearing a
silver necklace featuring a woolly
monkey shaped pendant. It’s easy
to tell how much Silvia loves her
animals; when she talks about
them, her whole face lights up.
Silvia is a bit of a rarity to the
Louisville Zoo: she’s one of the few
keepers who has worked in one
area of the Zoo during her entire
career with us. First a Zoo volunteer
in the Africa/giraffe area, she then
moved to become a Zoo keeper in
the same area — and stayed there!
“I was happy where I was,” Silvia
said. “I had a degree in zoology; I
had worked on a farm with horses.
It just made sense that I would
move into taking care of zebras and
giraffes — they’re just a little wilder
than the animals I already worked
with and loved.”
Back when Silvia started, the
giraffe area was a bit different
than it is now. The Louisville Zoo
didn’t have an Islands exhibit or a
HerpAquarium yet. So, there were
a variety of animals under Silvia’s
watchful eye — hoofed animals,
some carnivores like big cats, birds,
reptiles and even some primates
like orangutans. Silvia spent a lot of
time caring for smaller primates and
her talent for their care was evi-
dent. It was so apparent that after
the woolly monkey main keeper
retired, the "woollies" were moved
(top, left to right)
Silvia, Dr. Bill Foster and Dr. Roy Burns
examine a newly born giraffe.
(right) Silvia feeds a
young woolly monkey.
under Silvia’s care. Of the approxi-
mately 25 animals born at the Zoo
that Silvia personally hand-raised,
7 of those were woolly monkeys.
“I believe I’ve raised more woollies
than any other human in the United
States,” Silvia said, laughing.
Silvia’s passion for animals has
certainly given her an exciting
career. She traveled to Columbia
near the border of Brazil for three
weeks with researchers and experts
in forest ecosystems to study the
wildlife. Staying in wood and tin
roof cabins at the conservation
center there, she observed the
wildlife and primates, learning
about the struggles they face in
the vanishing wild. “It helped
me to understand more about
their behavior and also made me
feel even more passionate about
8 • Louisville Zoo Trunkline • Spring 2019
protecting them,” she said.
Her passion has made a sig-
nificant impact on the care of
primates in managed systems.
Woolly monkeys, like people, can
develop hypertension. Silvia, along
with Louisville Zoo veterinarians,
were determined to find a way to
monitor the health more closely
to potentially treat these precious
primates. With Silvia’s urging, a
training method was developed to
train them to let keepers take their