Icy Dip for Otter Specialist

The next time you're having fun watching our river otter, Thomas, frolic in his outdoor pond, you may appreciate it more after reading this. The glass that lets you see Thomas swim and flip-turn above and below water needs to be kept clean, even in winter. Ever wonder how we do it? You may not have guessed hip waders, a fly fishing float tube and a 10-foot-long squeegee, but that was the solution that Wildlife Specialist Jennifer Zalewski thought up.

Yesterday, after the Museum closed, Zalewski embarked on a frosty mission. Thomas was snug in his den as she walked through snow and entered the pond. After a few steps, she was afloat, the inflated ring about her wader-clad waist. Squeegee-paddling and moving her legs toward the window at the far edge of the pond, she wished she’d brought her flippers. Her walkie-talkie, on a rock beside the pond, crackled with a comment from Jim Dawson, curator of living collections. “It looks like a space walk,” he said, watching her through the window inside the exhibit viewing space.

“Brrrr!” said Zalewski, now with goose bumps on her wet arms in the 40-degree air.

“I owe you a beer for this,” Dawson said via radio. He pointed to spots on the glass for her to swipe with the squeegee. She scrubbed at a spot where Thomas had rubbed his nose. “I have such a great team,” he said. “They are all really dynamic.”

Zalewski has a master's degree in wildlife biology. She has done extensive field study of otters, but has never worked anywhere with a live otter exhibit – much less cleaned any of them. She made it look easy. The glass was sparkling, but not time to run for that beer just yet.

Next task: remove several coins visitors had thrown (against Museum policy) into the pond. Wielding an 18-inch grabbing device, Zalewski plunged her arm into the ice cold pond. It took a few tries. “Got it!” she exclaimed.

She emerged, smiling and triumphant, and changed into warm clothes. Just another day in the life of a Museum wildlife specialist.