By Hannah Citron / Full360 Reporter

Behind the scenes of most zoos in the country, you can find a team of wildlife nutritionists, the unsung heroes that keep the animals fed and healthy. If you were wondering how to get into such a niche field, Dr. Keith Ou can explain just how he did it.

Finishing up his first semester teaching here at DelVal, Dr. Ou has always had a passion for animals. 

“My parents used to take me to the zoo practically every weekend as a kid,” Ou said. “Like everyone who aspires to work with animals, I thought that I wanted to be a veterinarian.”

His journey began at the California Polytechnic State University, where he graduated with an undergraduate degree in Animal Science. He also acquired his Ph.D. in Animal Science from Cornell University, which is no small feat. When speaking with his academic advisor, Ou soon figured out that there were other options outside being a vet that could allow him to work in a zoo.

His first experience in a zoo setting was actually as a hoofstock zookeeper with the Oakland Zoo. There, he realized that maybe the taxing setting of working as a keeper might not be the career for him. 

“I can see how rewarding the experience is, but also how taxing it could be if something were to happen to one of your animals.”

This was when the door to zoo nutrition was first opened. Dr. Ou had the opportunity to work as a Nutrition Intern with Disney’s Animal Kingdom. After first turning down the opportunity with the hopes of acquiring an internship with San Diego Zoo, Dr. Ou tried and succeeded once again, now taking the Animal Kingdom Internship. 

“It was a six month program working four, ten hour days a week.” 

It’s a typical schedule for most zoo internships.

“The interns got 75% of the time working out on the kitchen floor, like a commissary keeper. They have stations for most everything at the zoo, and we rotated throughout the stations daily. The other day of the week, we’d work with the nutritionist to update diet information on Excel, input nutrient profiles into a program called ZooTrition, and I was fortunate enough to help with rhino research.” Dr. Ou said.

All these experiences cemented Dr. Ou’s love of zoo nutrition, which would soon bring him to DelVal.

“I wanted to have a graduate degree to make me look more competitive when looking for a zoo nutrition position,” Ou said “I applied for a program with my advisor at Cornell, thinking I would finish my masters degree and then continue into my Ph.D. after that, but he must have had a lot of faith in me because he offered for me to go straight into my Ph.D.”

And that’s exactly what Ou did. 

While obtaining his doctorate, Dr. Ou discovered his love of teaching.

“One of my friends that was at Disney with me actually graduated from DelVal. I think from the Zoo Science program,” he said.

When the position opened up last year, Dr. Ou was immediately drawn in. He did some extra research on the department and then applied for the position, which originally was just to teach the Intro to Small Animal Management course. After sharing his love of nutrition, he offered to teach the Wildlife Nutrition course as well, and the rest is history.

When asked what he hopes students get out of taking Wildlife Nutrition, Dr. Ou spoke about how he hopes that others may love the niche career just as much as him.

“I want people to know that, even though it is small, it is a career. After finishing the course, I want people to know that there is a career out there and for those who wish to pursue that career to have the knowledge they need to obtain it.”

And while it might not be the case for everyone, Dr. Ou hopes that everyone may find a passion for Zoo Nutrition.

“Regardless, as long as you are in a zoo career, I think understanding general principles of nutrition is very beneficial and important for carrying out daily routines. A lot of the things we talk about are applicable across all species, including us.”

He wants to use the class to emphasize the importance of nutrition in general.

“You are essentially what you eat, for both us and animals.”