My name is Annelies Hillewaere, married and housed in the Flemish part of Belgium.
As a young girl I was always ready to make my visit to the zoo and farms to be close with animals.
“I have a dream”; i said (while looking at the elephants at the zoo);
“I want to work with animals like these when I grow up!”
I was 5 years old when I spoke those words.
I studied art and soon grew out to be an animaldrawer, wich I still perform in my free time.
In my free time I worked for 8 years long in the animal sanctuary nearby my house, which included rehabilitation and socializing the dogs and cats staying at the sanctuary.
But still I needed more, I wanted to work with wildlife and wanted to mean something for animals in captivity, so in between my study biology at the university Gent, I applied for a job as a zookeeper in an amusement park, and I was lucky. I've managed to work there for 7 years as an all-round keeper with all sorts of species such as monkeys, wild cats, birds, small mammels and big mammels including my favorites, the elephant bulls.
Next to my job I was also bussy with horses and still am.
I have to say that the love I already had for elephants only grew while working with them. I was so dedicated that I wanted to learn and explore as much as possible about elephants. Therefore I also visited other zoos to see how they worked with their elephants, especially their elephant bulls. Over the years I collected as much information as possible to learn more about elephant bulls and started a network for elephant keepers so they are able to discuss and lay contact with eachother.
Elephant bulls make you feel small when you even look at them, they are very intriguing and in a way I’m attracted to them by their way of living and interaction with other elephants, the so called “musth”, the solitary behavior,...
I started the “elephant bull husbandry - advising center” to help zoos in the training of their bull(s) and staff.
For me it is a challenge which I perform with all my dedication and love to this job and your elephants.
