Colleagues mourn Harshad, highlight perils in the job

The work is a labour of love for each one of them

Zookeepers are no strangers to injuries. Each time, they come near an animal to take care of them, feed them, or clean their enclosures, they risk their lives. Despite the time spent caring for the animals, even years, and becoming familiar with their habits and idiosyncrasies, caution remains the watchword. The animals may be in cages, but one should always remember they are wild, say zoo keepers. The death of A. Harshad, a keeper at the city zoo’s Reptile House, on Thursday, nearly two decades after a keeper last lost his life at the facility, has left his fellow animal keepers shaken. Harshad himself had been at the receiving end of the ire of alligator and monkeys earlier. A former keeper says Harshad was the first person he would summon in case any help was needed.