Faith Hall

Current facility:

Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Gardens

Year zoo career began:

2008

Faith Hall is a temporary primate keeper in the Jungle Trails area of the Cincinnati Zoo where she works with bonobos and other primates. Faith loves building relationships with the animals she cares with and teaching guests about animals and conservation. She spends about 80% of her day cleaning, disinfecting, and feeding the animals, so it’s physically hard work and she rarely gets the chance to leave her area during the workday. Faith loves her job and finds the hard work to be worth it!

Faith grew up at the Cincinnati Zoo and volunteered from the age of 13 through high school in the zoo’s ZooTeen program. Her time there was extremely impactful, and she was even able to travel to Africa through the program. After graduating from high school in 2014, Faith moved to Hawaii where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Hawaii with a goal of working with primates. While at the University of Hawaii, Faith volunteered at the Honolulu Zoo with their chimpanzees. After graduating from college, Faith ended up working for a brief time for the United States Secret Service. Faith realized that she had chosen money over passion, and after graduating from the training program Faith applied for an entry level animal handler position at the Cincinnati Zoo and applied to Miami University’s Global Field Program graduate program. Faith began working as an Interpreter/ Animal Handler with the zoo’s Wild Encounters department while volunteering one day a week in the zoo’s elephant and cat ambassador program departments. She worked briefly as a seasonal keeper with the cat ambassador program before becoming a supervisor at the Wild Encounters department and then transferring to her current position.

Faith was influenced by Jane Goodall, who was a childhood role model of hers and drove her love for primates and conservation. Faith recommends that aspiring animal care professionals chase their passions and chose a career that will make you happy.