This 27-year-old woman is the keeper of lions at Night Safari: 'They are like house cats, but 30 times bigger'

Whenever people find out about Rajarajeishwary Mariappan’s job at the Night Safari, the first thing they say is: “Wow, you’re so brave, ah?”

This is because a large part of her job is caring for six Asiatic lionesses, one of the largest land predators.

“They think that because lions eat meat, if they see a zookeeper, they just want to eat them,” she laughed.

The 27-year-old said that this is far from the truth. Lions behave just like house cats, they’re just “30 times bigger”.

Mariappan told CNA Women: “They don’t look at us as food. When they see us, they greet us [in their own way] and go on with their day.

“The first perception [many people have of lions] is that they are angry all the time.

“On the first day [on the job], when you see them very up-close, you will be very intimidated,” she said. “But once you actually get to know their personalities, you will notice that they are actually gentle animals."

She describes her favourite lioness Shweta as an affectionate animal.

“She loves the keepers’ attention. Nine out of 10 times, she’s the first among the lions to approach us. She will rub her body against the metal meshing [which separates the zookeepers from the carnivores for safety] to get our attention,” Mariappan said.

Shweta is also affectionate with the other lionesses. Five of the six lionesses at the Night Safari, including Shweta, are sisters; the sixth is their mother. All five were born at the wildlife park, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in May. There are currently no lions at the Night Safari.

LOOKING AFTER THE BIG CATS

“Lions are pride animals [that live and hunt in groups]. They groom and rub against each other to show affection,” she said.

“But like any family, sometimes you get squabbles and disagreements. Like humans, they do get moody, and will scratch each other at times.”

Mariappan works in a team of 11 carnivore keepers. Between them, they care for all the Night Safari’s carnivores, including the white tigers and African white lions.

The zookeepers’ morning shift starts at 9am, and the afternoon shift starts at 3pm. In the mornings, one of the first things the zookeepers do is look out for small wounds the lions may have sustained during the night so that they can alert the vets, if necessary.

Zookeepers use a target stick – a stick with a ball at one end – for body checks.

“We put the target stick high on the mesh to get the lions on their hind legs. and check their paws and underbelly, rewarding them with food along the way,” she said.

Mariappan’s job also includes entertainment – for the animals, that is.

“Our lions love cardboard boxes. Sometimes, we hide the lions’ food in recycled cardboard boxes, and suspend it at a height. You can see the lions jumping, grabbing, shredding the boxes into pieces, and devouring the food in it.

“Sometimes, they make a bedding with the shredded boxes and sit on top,” she said.

A lot of this happens before the park opens, so in the evenings, the zookeepers work to engage the animals so that they are more visible to park guests.

“Lions are very lazy animals. They can sleep as much as 20 hours a day,” Mariappan said. “Because they can only be seen on the tram ride, we go to the tram route and throw chicken chunks into the exhibit at random times throughout the night.

Asiatic lionesses weigh between 115kg and 135kg. They eat about 4kg of meat each day – usually beef, chicken and kangaroo meat.

The meat arrives in bins from the Wildlife Nutrition Centre, the central kitchen of the Night Safari, Singapore Zoo and River Wonders, and Mariappan sorts out the food for each animal under her care, according to their dietary requirements. Geriatric animals may get supplements such as fish oil and senior vitamin premixes.

She said the feeding is sporadic. They throw 1kg in from the trail and the lions have the other 3kg in their dens at night after the park closes.

THE ANIMAL-KEEPER BOND

Over time, zookeepers like Mariappan develop a very close relationship with their charges. Besides the Asiatic lions, she also takes care of sloth bears, striped hyenas, owls and an aardvark.

“Zara, the sloth bear, is a keeper favourite,” Mariappan said.

Born in the Night Safari in 2018, she was abandoned by her mother and raised by keepers. Hence, she is very attached to the keepers, staff and any other human she encounters.

“Whenever she wants attention from us, she will start blowing raspberries at us. She just wants you to talk to her and say, ‘Hi, Zara, how are you?’”

There are five sloth bears at the Night Safari. One of Mariappan’s jobs is to train them for blood draws when necessary. 

To de-sensitise the bears, the zookeepers get the sloth bears to put their paw into an arm sleeve made with PVC pipe, and use a shaver or blunt needle to simulate the sensation of a blood draw, rewarding the bears with their favourite fruits, such as cherries, peaches and mangoes.

“Each bear has a different favourite fruit. Zara, like a true Singaporean, loves durians. So occasionally, we will give her the whole fruit and she just ‘whacks’ it,” Mariappan guffawed.

Like any conscientious parent – or paw-rent – the zookeepers also prepare enrichment activities for the animals.

“Bears are very smart, so we give them cognitive enrichments such as puzzle feeders. We put their food inside a puzzle box (a wooden box with acrylic inserts). They have to figure out how to get their food out,” she explained.

Mariappan and her team are creative about enrichment toys. They have even repurposed decommissioned fire hoses into enrichment cubes, placing food within for the bears to discover.

For safety, the zookeepers and carnivores are separated by a mesh or fencing. The aardvark is the only animal that Mariappan cares for that she interacts closely with without such protective barriers.

“If we’re too slow to give her food, she will get very impatient and jump on us. Because she is a 50kg animal, we have to get ourselves ready for her jump, otherwise we will fall down,” laughed Mariappan.

BECOMING A ZOOKEEPER

Mariappan never thought she would be a zookeeper even though, growing up, her parents would take her to the zoo almost every year.

“When I first came to work and they introduced me to all these big animals, I was taken aback but excited because as a young kid, I always looked at these animals and wondered how the keepers looked after them.

“To be able to finally have that insight now, it’s very nice,” she said.

When she was still a biotechnology student in polytechnic, she applied to be a part-time zookeeper on a whim in 2017. She expected to work with smaller mammals, maybe even rabbits, when she first joined, due to her lack of experience.

She was very surprised – and awed – when she was led into the den where Singapore-born polar bear Inuka was having breakfast.

After developing a bond with him, she was heartbroken when he passed away the next year, in 2018.

“I was there with the other keepers. We all cried,” she said. “Inuka had a special quality and everyone was very bonded with him.

“Inuka was the one who sparked my interest in animals and made me want to pursue this line.”

She then went on to pursue a degree in zoology and conservation biology at the University of Western Australia, in Perth.

“Many people believe that zookeeping is a man’s job and that a woman can’t do it because it is very physically demanding, and also seen as unglamorous.

“We are out in the sun most of the time, refurbishing and maintaining the exhibits, or clearing up the dens and doing routine husbandry work,” she said. “Nowadays the weather is getting crazy so we have to work through [the rain] as well.”

“But times have changed. There are a lot of female keepers at [the Night Safari] now. In my team, the majority of us are female keepers. We match up to men’s level of physical endurance and ability to care for the animals,” she added.

Her job brings Mariappan great fulfilment.

“The highlight of my day is when I first visit the animals in the morning when they’re just getting up. Shweta, for example, whenever we go to her and greet her ‘good morning’, you can see that she’s very happy.

“I feel comfortable working with animals. With animals, you can really be yourself – there is no judgement. Caring for them and helping them thrive in their environment is something that I get joy out of,” said Mariappan.