Heads Up! Lola Spencer   © Copyright 2026 by Lola Spencer

Photo by Tumwinekenneth at Wikimedia Commons.

Many people think that zoo animals are pets; let me say right here, such thinking is a serious mistake. Unfortunately, some of the zoo animals have been treated that way, even by staff who should know better. Exotic animals that have been hand raised or treated as pets often do not learn how to interact with their own kind. If you are trying to save endangered species by breeding them, you need them to learn correct species behaviors. That is the reason most zoos don’t want the animals tamed. However, most people have watched a lot of tv shows and videos that give them the opposite impression.

On Saturdays and Sundays, when crowds were the heaviest, we zookeepers did “crowd control”. You would go in, care for your animals and exhibits in the morning, change into your Class A uniform (khaki-colored button-down shirt with zoo patches and chocolate brown pants or khaki shorts) then walk around the zoo. You would answer questions, give directions, give educational presentations, and try to keep zoo guests from doing stupid things.

New Orleans has massive live oak trees. They are enormous, ever-green, and can live 300+ years. The Audubon Zoo was full of them. Just past the sea lion exhibit was a specimen with massive branches that had bowed down through the centuries. The branches sat on the ground and had been worn flat on top, making this grand old oak a great climbing tree. I had mentally nicknamed it the “immature Homo sapiens” tree (that is, young humans tree) because there were always kids on it. Doting parents let them climb, and make imitation monkey sounds, while they took pictures. The zoo walkway curved to the right past this tree leading to an overlook of an African exhibit containing Ankole cattle (Bos taurus), waterbuck (Kobus ellipsiprymnus), and Thomson’s gazelles (Eudorcas thomsonii).

Between the tree and the overlook was a fence line that was densely planted as a ‘visual barrier’. Visual barriers have two jobs. First, they are there to protect the animals. If hoofstock animals can see through a fence, when they are frightened (by dogs, loud unexpected noises, etc.) they will try to leap through it and can injure themselves. Secondly, visual barriers are designed to protect the public by keeping them away from the chain link fence and the WILD animals.

On this particular day I walked past the ”immature Homo sapiens tree” which was absolutely packed with kids; watching parents lined the walk. I smiled because all our guests were enjoying themselves. I noticed one man facing the fence line, not the tree itself, hands clasped behind his back, rocking back and forth on his feet. I rounded the bend headed past the Ankole exhibit. Very clearly God told me ‘Go back, look again’. I did as I was told but this time, I saw what I had missed the first time. The rocking man was watching a little girl, about 3 years old. She was in a small gap in the bushes, her little body pressed against the chain link fence. But why I had to turn back was on the other side of that fence; it was CJ, our bull waterbuck.

CJ had horns. Waterbuck horns are carried straight above the head and are 2 ½ to 3 feet (55-99cm) long. They are strong horns with ribbing on the front. They curve outward and then back in and end in very sharp tips. CJ had a habit of spearing objects, like our 10 gallon, black, water tubs made of tire-like rubber, and carrying them around on his horn. He did this regularly. I had learned from Fritz Walther’s book “Communication and Expression in Hoofed Mammals” that different horn carriage and positions meant different things. A high presentation of horns was a warning. A low presentation of horns meant the warning stage was past and the charge was coming.

As I looked at the situation, I saw CJ’s stance was a low-presentation of horns! Dear God in heaven! One of his horns would easily fit through the chain link fence. He was well practiced using his horns and his aim was always accurate. He was going to spear that child! I had to act NOW! My goal was to turn CJ at ANY cost. I needed to frighten him, to spook him. I ran toward the child and CJ, who had begun his charge. I started screaming like a banshee! The father had no idea what went screaming past him. The screaming wasn’t working!

I have light-sensitive eyes and wore a hard pith-helmet, that had a brim all the way around, to protect them. CJ was still coming! I took off my pith-helmet and heaved it as hard as I could in a frisbee-style throw at the fence. The helmet crashed into the fence clattering loudly! CJ’s head went up and he planted his feet, startled, skidding to a stop. I continued running and screaming, I grabbed a very frightened little girl with both hands and swung her away from the fence. I spun and ran, tucking her under my arm and carrying her like an over-sized football.

Oh my gosh, she was safe! WE were safe!

After she was crying in her dad’s arms, I explained the situation to him and how it could have ended and chewed him out for letting her get into harm’s way. I warned him that zoo animals are WILD animals and to keep her on the public path! Then, and only then, did the emotions kick in, I started shaking, hard, uncontrollably hard. That is often my response to an emergency, I deal with it but once it is over I react. I had one other response though and it lasted longer than the shaking; I thanked Jehovah Jireh, the one who sees and provides, for sending me back to save that little girl.

It occurred to me as I wrote that last paragraph, that the incident happened 37-40 years ago. She is probably a mom. I wonder if her dad ever told her about her close call with a Waterbuck at the zoo? I wonder if she takes her own kids to the zoo? Does she make sure they stay on the public path and out of harm’s way?