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Zoology Staff Spotlight, AJ Smith, Animal Care Specialist and Team Lead

AJ has been many things for ZoFo; intern, volunteer, animal care specialist and now AJ can add Team Lead to her resume!

A Castle Rock native, AJ’s family has deep roots in Douglas County, some of her relatives have lived in the area for over 100 years.  After graduating from University of Colorado Colorado Springs with a BS in Biology, AJ worked at Camp Bow Wow, honing her knowledge of canine behavior.  Soon though, after completing an internship and being a long-term volunteer for Zoology, we scooped her up and she has been a full-time employee for the last 4 years.

While AJ loves and cares for all of the zoo residents, her passion and interests definitely draw her to our ectotherms.  As a proud “ecto mom” to a corn snake, gecko and one newly acquired bearded dragon named Flash, AJ brings a knowledge-base with ectotherms that we regularly tap into.  This past year she has shown particular excitement in the creation and success of the “roach farm” that is used as feeder bugs for many of our ectotherms – it takes a very special person to be so dedicated to such a project!

Since the first of the year, AJ has happily accepted more responsibilities and she is now responsible for many administrative tasks as well as staff training and management. To have such a dedicated, knowledgeable, compassionate, long-term staff member is so very valuable to the success of ZoFo!

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