Growing Confidence
My success with Dumbo changed everything about my job—and about me. I went from being the shy newbie who barely spoke up in meetings to someone colleagues came to for advice.
“How do you read animals so well?” other keepers would ask.
“You just have to listen,” I’d tell them. “Not just with your ears, but with your heart. Every animal is trying to communicate something. You just have to be patient enough to hear it.”
The elephant team became like family to me, and Mike watched my transformation with obvious pride. “You’ve found your calling,” he told me one day as we watched Dumbo splash playfully in his pool.
“I think Dumbo found it for me,” I replied.
