Stacey Soh

Stacey Soh is a biracial Zookeeper at the Toronto Zoo. She is a beautiful mix of South East Asian and white heritage. Stacey’s life and career have taken her across the globe!

Stacey grew up in New Zealand. While studying for her Bachelors of Applied Science degree with a Certificate in Captive Wild Animal Management, she volunteered as a keepers assistant at the Auckland Zoo. This lead to her first paid positions working with the Elephants/Carnivores team, the Primates team, and as a roving keeper at the Auckland Zoo.

After moving to Canada, Stacey worked as a seasonal keeper in the Outreach and Discovery area at the Toronto Zoo before taking a break to explore a career in wildlife rescue and rehabilitation. This taught her a lot of valuable skills like hand-raising animals, but she missed the pace and challenge of zookeeping.

Stacey was able to return to the zoo world by obtaining a position as a hoofstock keeper at Zoos Victoria in Australia. She later returned to Canada to work at the Toronto Zoo where she is currently working with the Black-footed ferret and Vancouver Island marmot conservation breeding programs.

Stacey’s advice for aspiring keepers is to seize any opportunity to gain hands on animal experience whether it’s working on a farm, a wildlife centre or at a pet store. Everyone (human and animal) has something they can teach us. Let your passion for working with animals shine through and ask lots of good questions!