The Drive For Stewardship: Trevor Zoo

I’ve always thought of the Trevor Park Zoo in Millbrook, New York as a wonder of my life. As a summer volunteer for the past four years, I have had the opportunity to encounter animals from far corners of the Earth that I have otherwise never stepped foot near. The zoo’s environment brings me a greater appreciation for nature and a drive to conserve not just the beautiful animals of our planet, but their natural environments as well. While sometimes I do feel a twinge of sadness seeing a great-horned owl that isn’t free to soar through the trees at night hunting for snakes and mice, I find reprieve in the knowledge that the zoo provides them a safe haven, and that its mission of educating people about these animals will aid in the effort to preserve their existence on our planet. 

Hailey Burton is the Husbandy Keeper at the Trevor Zoo in Millbrook. I’ve worked with Hailey for two summers now, and she has become a sort of role model for me. She is thoughtful, knowledgeable, and patient with questions and comments, while simultaneously sarcastic and funny. Hailey works tirelessly at the zoo to better its efforts in conservation and animal care. She feels a deep and abiding commitment to nature and animals, as she understands their irreplaceable role on the planet. 

Even at a young age, Hailey seemed clearly on the path to her current work. She described herself as “the animal kid, picking up snakes, always riding horses.” In high school she took a zoology class, which cemented her love for this particular branch of science. And while she wanted to study zoology in university, her adviser told her she wouldn’t be able to pass the math and chemistry requirements. Instead, she graduated with a degree in anthropology, and a corresponding listlessness. “My anthropology degree, while worth something, wasn’t worth anything,” Hailey told me. During the pandemic, she worked on horse farms and with other animals. 

Unable to deny that working with animals was what she most wanted to do, Hailey returned to school and received her master’s degree in primate conservation. (The idea was that anthropology blended with primatology nicely, and primatology would provide a gateway to zoology.) With this in mind, she found work at the Lemur Conservation Foundation in Myakka City, Florida, where she worked on a 130-acre reserve that protects lemurs and provides research opportunities. A year later, Hailey applied for a job at the Trevor Zoo and, before she knew it, she was moving to New York. She has now been with the zoo for over a year. 

As a Husbandry Keeper at the Trevor Zoo, Hailey spends her weeks caring for the animals and teaching the yearly high school keepers from Millbrook School across the road responsibility for the animals at the zoo, everything from how to feed them and clean their exhibits to how to weed viewing areas. At the zoo, it’s not just the high school volunteers that look to Hailey for answers—everyone does. Hailey always seems to have an answer for every obscure question and always remains calm in the face of mistakes or uncertainty. In this way, she has become someone I look up to at the zoo. Her knowledgeable and playful instruction makes my job even more fun than it already is. It is evident from Hailey’s attitude at the zoo and her knowledge of every animal, that she feels a high degree of biophilia in her work. Her love for the natural world is obvious in the care she takes with all of her work. Hailey is determined to be responsible for hundreds of lives at the zoo.

It is abundantly clear to me, having worked closely with Hailey for the past two summers, that she is driven by the love she harbors for the environment. And that biophilia is infectious. As she ropes high school students in to love the work as well, she passes that mindset on to the next generation. While she certainly inspires young people like me, she is of course committed above all else to the animals at the Trevor Zoo. “I want to make a difference in their lives,” she says. “Their lives are limited by what we can do in the space we have, so I want to be there to make sure that they are living as good of a life as they can.” The conservation efforts being enacted by the Trevor Zoo—like involving high school students in animal conservation—brings Hailey a deep sense of fulfillment. “A big part of animal conservation is that it feels rewarding,” she says. That sense of biophilia and our innate draw to the natural world is prevalent in the efforts made by Hailey and the Trevor Zoo.  

I think that one of the greatest expressions of biophilia is human stewardship and care for the planet. It’s easy to frequently discuss our love for the natural world, but if no steps towards conservation are taken, the situation will only worsen. There’s a reason Hailey’s efforts feel rewarding. When we do good for others—be they human or animal—that feeling is reciprocated in the knowledge that we have benefitted another individual’s life. And ultimately, people want to feel useful. We want to have a purpose. By taking action and applying one’s love for the natural world, our purpose lies in the safekeeping of the Earth.