This is a love story, a story about the love and devotion that a zookeeper has for an animal, and how that love and devotion is returned back to the human.
Mary Ellen Ostrander of Greece has worked at The Seneca Park Zoo for 29 years. Through the years she has cared for hundreds of animals including bison, cattle, toads, elephants, orangutans, polar bears and of course, sea lions. In all her years of working with animals she never quite met anyone like Puff, the sea lion. “I have loved every animal that I have cared for. When you are the caretaker of a human or a non-human animal, over time a bond grows and, if you are willing to go out of your comfort zone, love grows,” Mary Ellen says.
The bond Mary Ellen formed with Puff and what she learned by knowing, trusting, caring for, and training him is the subject of her book, Puff the Sea Lion – A Love Story.
The book is a tribute to Puff who lived a short life, he died at age 6 from complications during an examination to determine the cause of a bloody nasal discharge. “I wrote the book so that Puff will always be remembered, but there are also many messages in this small story,” Mary Ellen says.
The messages are about trust, and understanding others that are not the same as you, about hard work and the most important message that Mary Ellen hopes will get across, is to young animal trainers, “I want young trainers to know that my experience has taught me that when you treat animals with love and respect as you train them, you will achieve your desired results. I feel it is true for humans too. When I learned to meet new animals and humans by first looking for the good instead of the bad, it changed my life. I want everyone to approach life with that knowledge, it makes you look at the whole world in a different way,” she says.
That is exactly why she has been so happy working at Seneca Park Zoo. “Our zoo cares for the animals as individuals. Each one is unique with their specific needs and ways to live their lives. We talk and think about them as individuals, for example, ‘There’s Anastasia, the tiger, she prefers this type of food, and loves to play with this toy or game, she likes to be spoken to in this tone of voice’. We know them each as individuals,” Mary Ellen says.
The Seneca Park Zoo mission is stated as “Through the exhibition of animals in naturalistic settings, the Seneca Park Zoo will provide engaging and educational experiences to give our community the motivation and skills to act as stewards of the environment.” Their Vision is stated as “Education. Conservation leadership. Commitment to our community.”
The main story in the book is about the relationship between Mary Ellen and Puff. How this relationship grew and how trust was formed, and how it evolved. “Some people will never know what I found in Puff. There are no words for it. I wanted to write this book to help people feel the way that I felt knowing Puff. As Puff grew I could always tell how he would behave and he always knew he was safe with me. I really needed him as much as I felt he needed me and my companionship,” Mary Ellen says.
The book contains the stories about the other sea lions that shared the zoo living space with Puff including Flounder the male patriarch, who Puff was brought into the zoo as a companion for. Also the young, rescued females Star and Angel who were both wild-born, shot by humans, and rehabilitated at a Marine Mammal Center in California before being brought to live at Seneca Park Zoo. And yes, the book has a happy ending in the form of a sea lion pup by the name of PJ who was born at the zoo on June 1, 2013.
“I am so glad I wrote the book,” Mary Ellen says, “for ever and ever people will know about Puff and know his story. And everyone who reads this story will realize how much the animals at the zoo are loved, and how they are cared for as individuals.”
Proceeds from the sale of Puff The Sea Lion – A Love Story will help rehabilitate wild sea lions at various marine mammal centers in the United States, and to Sandy Smith’s not-for-profit pet spay and neuter program which benefits many other animals of all species.
Puff The Sea Lion – A Love Story is available at both locations of Alpha and Omega Book Store in Greece and Penfield, The Barn Owl in Penfield, The Seneca Park Zoo Gift Shop, Apple Annies in Greece, The Greece Historical Society in the Greece Town Hall Campus and on Amazon.
