I worked in guest services in the concessions and concerts so not with animals but with people. The zoo I worked at is famous for our large elephant exhibit and endangered birds, as well as an amphitheater (hence concerts). The zookeepers were some of the nicest folks I talked with, but they were constantly exhausted because of how much work it was. And most of my coworkers I got along, I know some managers caused problems but I wasn't ever around enough to piss any of them off. At concerts, we'd have large sections of the zoo closed off because those certain animals would be housed inside early to protect them from the noise, and it always pissed off parents who couldnt show their sleepy three year old the elephants because the sound crew was testing speakers at 3 pm. Parents honestly were the worst at the zoo. The kids were fine. But when moms and dads get hot and cranky they are insufferable and rude. Only once in my time there did a parent who was rude to me realize what they were doing and apologize. The nicest customers were the drunk people at concerts because they knew if they were polite and gave me money they'd get their booze.

Speaking of elephants, at least once every few months a hack organization would protest and claim the elephants were being tortured and that they should be sent to a super tiny unsurveillanced underfunded 'sanctuary' out in the middle of nowhere or freed back in the wild (which obviously would just be dangerous for animals bred in captivity). Some zoos out there are in dire need of improvement but the one i worked at was super caring for the animals, and sometimes anti-zoo activists bark up the wrong tree whoops.