D.C. zoo animal keeper had a stint in Arkansas

WASHINGTON -- As an animal keeper at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, Sara Hasenstab has cared for a variety of reptiles and amphibians, including Panamanian Golden Frogs, Gaboon vipers, Iranian fat-tailed geckos and a chubby Komodo dragon named Murphy.

The Reptile Discovery Center, where Hasenstab works, is one of the major attractions.

"I think we average about 450 animals in the collection, and there are five keepers, so we all share responsibilities," the former Arkansas resident said.

The job involves "lots of cleaning, feeding, some medicating [and] exhibit design. Every day is different. That's one of the reasons I like working in the reptile department," she said.

In a normal year, more than 2 million people visit the 163-acre zoo, which is roughly 2.5 miles north of the White House.

The frogs are harmless and allegedly even a source of good luck. The geckos sometimes hiss and bite.

In the wild, Komodo dragons occasionally kill people. The Gaboon viper's venom can be deadly.

In 1983, a teenager broke into the National Zoo's reptile house, grabbed two of the 4½-foot-long, snakes, tossed them into a plastic trash bag and then boarded a city bus, according to a contemporaneous Washington Post account.

The ride was uneventful. He was bitten by a Gaboon viper a few blocks from the White House, mere moments after stepping off the bus. He nearly died.

Hasenstab's zoological interests can be traced to her childhood in central New York.

"I've always loved animals, ever since I was little," she said.

The creatures she grew up with were benign.

"In my backyard, there were garter snakes, milk snakes, frogs and toads," she said. "We would always go camping in the Adirondacks every summer, and there was just wildlife everywhere."

Her parents, who were environmentalists, encouraged her love of the outdoors, she said.

After studying at the State University of New York College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry from 2000-04, Hasenstab headed to the Natural State.

Her sojourn was "not that long, but it was a hugely influential time of my life," she said. "I still have tons of friends in Arkansas. I try to go back and visit whenever I can."

From January to August 2005, she completed an internship at the Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge, a rescue sanctuary, Carroll County.

Melanie Lewis, a fellow intern at the time, says Hasenstab was passionate about the work.

"Most of us were there for the tigers. [Sara] started, I think, for the cats, but she had a growing love at the time for reptiles that a lot of the other interns didn't have," said Lewis, now a keeper at the Elmwood Park Zoo near Philadelphia.

When a rattlesnake turned up, Hasenstab was the one who volunteered to catch and release it, she recalled.

From September 2005 to September 2006, Hasenstab worked at the Little Rock Zoo.

After a stint at the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission from September 2006 to May 2007, she joined the staff at the Memphis Zoo.

Over the next decade, she performed a number of tasks. In addition to serving as a full-time herpetarium keeper, she cross-trained in the aquarium and nocturnal animals exhibits.

Along the way, Hasenstab was active in the American Association of Zoo Keepers.

Lewis, a former Memphis Zoo Cat Country keeper, says Hasenstab worked hard, networked extensively and built an impressive curriculum vitae.

"She has papers she's written and research she has done and conferences she has attended that she could list."

In Memphis, her research topics included Komodo dragons, Louisiana pinesnakes, and Mississippi (dusky) gopher frogs.

Her photography was also published by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

She even appeared in a documentary titled "See The Keepers: Inside the Zoo."

In 2018, Hasenstab headed East to be closer to family; later that year, she joined the Smithsonian.

Since then, she's experienced a federal government shutdown and a pandemic.

When lawmakers reach a budget impasse, the paychecks are sometimes delayed.

But the animals never miss a meal, and the cages are kept clean, she said.

Because of covid-19, the number of zoo visitors has been sharply curtailed.

Thus far, none of the animals in the Reptile Discovery Center have come down with covid, Hasenstab said.

Because of a pandemic-related hiring freeze, she has also worked in the National Zoo's Small Mammal House, helping to care for fennec foxes, southern two-toed sloths, white-nosed coatis and a pair of Goeldi's monkeys.

After all these years, she's still wild about wildlife.

"I love all of them. There's nothing I'm afraid of or don't like," she said.

Lewis said she's glad to see Hasenstab working at one of the nation's top zoos.

"Her move there doesn't surprise me. Not at all. And it's a perfect fit for her," Lewis said.

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