Miura Masaya, 33
Zoo Veterinarian from Akita
Could you describe a typical day at the zoo?
We all meet at 8:30 for a ten minute meeting to discuss tasks and problems from the previous day. After that we cut up the animal feed, put it in buckets, load it in a truck and distribute it to the appropriate animals. After feeding the animals are put into the outer portion of their cages, for zoo guests, while we clean the inner portion. I check to make sure the animals are healthy. If there’s an injury or problem we fix it together. In the afternoon, we do observations if time allows. The zoo closes at 4:30 so we take in the animals around 4 pm, and do paperwork until 5:30. If an animal is sick we might have to work into the evening.Why did you want to become a vet?
I wanted a job handling and healing animals, but our job is more than that. We also deal with public health. For example, we check beef for BSE or other problems. I am told that aspiring veterinarians in the States and Europe must study longer; in Japan it’s six years, which might not be enough. I can do surgery, treat problems, and post-mortem to determine the cause of death. Not only for animals, but insects (checking the health of a bee’s hive), fish, and birds. As a kid I lived in a cramped house so I didn’t have many pets, only a bird.Have you had any dangerous or interesting experiences?
A couple years ago a giraffe broke its leg, and we had to amputate. It apparently collided with a zebra. Giving anesthetic was very difficult. Giraffes have a long neck and four stomachs. Their head might crash onto the ground when becoming unconscious. Or, they might vomit into their lungs due to the anesthetic and die. In this particular case there was a great pouring of love from the community. Kids sent the giraffe cards and get-well letters. We made a prosthetic leg for the giraffe, which worked fine, but it unfortunately died shortly after the operation.Do you feel bad having to keep animals in cages?
Yes, I feel sorry for the animals. It’d be great to transfer animals in cramped conditions to more spacious cages, but there’s not enough money. We invent devices to amuse them. For example, with chimps we put honey or nuts in a box which is challenging for them to get, or put grass in a gondola for giraffe to eat, to simulate feeding leaves from high up trees.After our interview Mr. Miura later showed me a lemur which was badly injured in a fight in its cage; its ear was torn off. Another had had its arm amputated because another animal yanked it when it was very young. Similarly a Bengal cat was doing solitary because its mates had been bullying it. There were some star tortoises that had been confiscated at Narita International Airport because tourists had tried to smuggle them in which would violate a treaty Japan has signed. Finally, Mr. Miura showed me a blowpipe that they use to anesthetize dangerous animals such as tigers.
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This interview was originally published in Kansai Time Out magazine.