A single dad with twins

As many of you have read, my Pygmy Marmoset couple had twins back in April. Yesterday, the mom passed away completely unexpectedly. Her name was 'Mia' and she was only 5 years old! She never showed one single sign of being sick, or not eating, or anything. Of course, I was the one to find her which made things even harder! She was such a good girl and an excellent mother. Her death was especially hard, not only because we didn't see it coming, but also because it now leaves dad with twins to care for on his own. They are almost 3 months old, and are eating a lot of solid food, but they may have still been nursing on occasion. We did some research and things are looking positive. At this age, even if dad abandoned them too, they should be able to survive on their own. That was great news as I was extremely worried about the welfare of the twins! However, it does not change the fact that Mia is no longer with us and that dad is now on his own. He had such a sad look on his face yesterday. For people who think animals don't show emotion, you are so wrong. It's never seen easier than in the face of a primate. Hopefully we will be able to introduce another female into this family group, but it of course will not be the same. Mia you will be missed!

After all this occurred, I began reflecting upon the last year and realized that we have lost 4 animals (3 primates and 1 acouchi), had to send 1 primate to a different zoo due to her partner's death, and 5 animals have gone through serious injury in just the past year. This was the hardest year of my career so far. I told my supervisor yesterday as I was in tears, that "I don't want to love animals anymore". It's just so hard when you lose them. And her response was, "that's why you can never stop doing this job"...and I never will.