HeyJaredA Zookeeper's Memoir
I'm Amanda, animal care-giver, artist and writer, sharing the lessons animals have taught me while spreading dopamine far and wide.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 11
- Latest publication
- Sep 30, 2026
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- Aug 5, 2026
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The Sentience of Bees (opens the original)
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What the Heck is Animanity? (opens the original)
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Hello my fabulous followers. It’s a lovely fall day here in the VIrginia mountains. I am just coming off a hard weekend of packing up all the family china to sell it at the estate auction coming up in a month. I had a dear friend here with me to help, which was great. I didn’t know how much the act of packing these things that have lived in our dining room for generations would just flay me wide open. I cried a lot for the past twenty four hours, but the biggest job of the house is done and read
A Close Shave with a Long Tail (opens the original)
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This week, I am sharing a bit of a funny story about my last trip to the beach. You just never know what my friends and I will get up to, but since most of us are zookeepers or retired zookeepers, you can bet there will be non-human animals involved. Thanks for stopping by for a read. Stick around to the end to find out what exciting things are going on over in my art studio this month. <a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!X3Nb!,f_auto,q_auto
Snow White and the Fur Seal (opens the original)
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A few years back, I spent two and a half months on a life-changing adventure to New Zealand to visit a friend, who ultimately became the love of my life. I cannot even find the words yet to say how much that summer changed my life. I wouldn’t change a minute of it, even knowing Tegan would be gone just a little over two years later. The memory of her and her country lives on in me. Though I’m still not ready to talk much about Tegan’s loss, I am ready to talk about some of the best parts of that
The Practice of Remembrance (opens the original)
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Hello everyone and welcome back to the Lay it On the Line Collective letter writing exchange. This year, we have been doing things a bit differently. Each author pens a letter responding to the author before’s questions about nature, environment, and place. And then, the latest author poses a question of their own to the next author in line to write a letter. This week, I am responding to Bee’s question about the heft of a place. My letter is addressed to Julie Snider, who will be tasked with an
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