Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, (birds chirping) to the Peoria Zoo, a featured attraction of the Peoria Park District, and honestly, our city.

We have a great zoo.

The staff here agreed to let me be zookeeper for a day, and I don't want to be late on my first day, so let's go inside and check it out.

(screen whooshing) (upbeat music) - The Peoria Zoo is just a jewel in the crown of the Peoria Park District.

It is an AZA-accredited zoo, which is the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

There are 2,900 places in the United States that can house animals for people to see.

Only 251 of those are accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

We have to follow the same standards as San Diego, Disney, Brookfield, Lincoln Park.

(tape squeaking) We have the gold standard of animal care, and we also provide the best experience for families to come and just have an amazing day.

(upbeat music continues) - Gotta get to work.

- You do, you ready to shovel some poo?

- I sure am.

(screen whooshing) (upbeat music continues) That's a big pile.

(screen beeping) - [Lauren] So they're poop, it's super fibrous.

Whatever we feed them, we have to scoop back out at the end of the day, and these guys can poop probably about 60 pounds a day.

(Blake wretching) (Lauren laughing) - I gotta get a running start, Max.

(Blake grunting) Dump her in?

- True test- - Hold on, back up just a little bit.

- True test is can you - There you go.

- [Max] Get it all in?

- [Lauren] Now, tip it up.

- This is high stakes.

(Max speaking faintly) (upbeat music) How'd I do?

- You did great.

That was good, that was great.

For a first-timer, that was great.

- Okay.

- Good job, so we have two rhino in this barn.

They were together at their previous facility, but they haven't been together since they came to us.

This area inside is a little bit too small to do that intro, so we're waiting until they get more comfortable in the yard.

Right now, we have Arthur right behind you.

He's kind of a ham.

He's five, he's gonna turn six in August.

- [Blake] What up, Art?

- [Lauren] And then we have his brother, Mwezi, in the paddock, and he's also five.

They're half brothers.

- [Blake] What's up, buddy?

And how much does he weigh?

- [Lauren] So he weighs just under 4,000 pounds.

I believe he's 3,900 right now.

He will grow.

He has about 2,000 more pounds to put on him.

(upbeat rock music continues) (screen whooshing) This is our tower of giraffe.

We have two females and one male.

This is Ms.

Emy, she's got one eye.

- [Blake] Ms.

Emmy?

- [Lauren] This is Mr.

Fitz.

- Mr.

Fitz.

- And then we have Ms.

Vivian coming in, she's our- - [Blake] Vivian!

- [Lauren] (chuckles) She's our oldest, she sneaks in there.

We are part of a breeding program, so hopefully eventually, when Mr.

Fitz grows up, he will be the father of some little giraffe babies.

(upbeat rock music continues) (screen whooshing) - This is Meg.

She's probably one of the sweetest takin you'll ever meet.

(Jetsan snorting loudly) And that is Jetsan.

Jetsan just turned three, so he's going through a little bit of adolescence, you know?

- Little cranky.

- Yeah, he could- - Showing a little attitude.

- He could be a little cranky, but he's also just, you know, protecting the girls.

(upbeat rock music continues) (latches rattling) - Can you do a third?

- Okay, you ready?

- Yep.

(Blake grunting) (door rattling) - [Kenny] So we're hoping that these two, Jetsan and Meg, breed together and we get a calf from them.

They do only produce one calf each season.

(upbeat rock music continues) (door squealing) All right, this is a big part of this job.

- Okay.

- Go ahead and get that up.

- [Blake] This is what I signed up for, so this is- - [Kenny] Hey, that's good form.

That's actually pretty good.

- Right there, okay.

Where does this go?

- [Kenny] We'll put that in a barrel, but for now, you can just kind of set it over here.

I'll bring the barrel in.

(screen whooshing) - [Blake] Okay.

(upbeat rock music continues) - To bring Lizzy inside, she does get a little bit of meat.

It is ground horse.

We use a ground horse product as opposed to beef 'cause it's less fatty.

Lizzy likes to eat, so she tends to put on weight fairly easily.

At the age of 19, she is two years past the average life expectancy for lions in human care.

It's 17 years.

And so at that age, at 19, female lions don't tend to do real well when you try to introduce them to new lions.

She's gonna sneak up on you.

- She's gonna sneak up on me?

- [Regan] Yeah.

(chuckles) - [Blake] And this is the second oldest lion in the country?

- [Regan] Yeah, Lizzy will be 20 in October.

- [Blake] And so she has no secret way out, right?

That she knows how to get out here?

- No, and now, you guys are making me super paranoid.

(Blake chuckling) To keep her inside, (chuckles) (crickets chirping) there is an electric wire that- - [Blake] Could she scale that if she wanted?

- [Regan] No.

- No?

- More than likely, no.

(upbeat rock music continues) - Man, I hear from the keepers you did an absolutely amazing job.

They want to hire you.

So with that, I want to present you with an honorary Keeper of the Day certificate from Peoria Zoo.

- Oh, that is so kind, I appreciate that.

I had a tremendous day, truly.

Like, I have so much respect for what you guys do day in and day out.

I can't thank you guys enough.

- Thank you, Blake.

(screen whooshing)