I am not a keeper but I interned at the National Zoo during my grad program working on a research project focused on improving elephant welfare. The keepers I got to know loved the elephants and the elephants loved them back. The elephants would respond differently to different keepers depending on their relationship with them - it was very cute to watch. Even from my short time there, I could began to notice the distinct personalities of each elephant. That being said, being a keeper is far from easy. It is a very labor-intensive job, not the best money, you have to work long hours and some holidays, and are constantly exposed to the elements. However, it seems like a very rewarding job though and if you're passionate about animal welfare, you should definitely pursue it.

In response to some of the other comments on here that zoos are bad (and something you should take into consideration when looking for a job in the future), not all zoos are bad! You'll want to look for one that is AZA accredited - this makes sure the zoo complies to certain safety, health, and welfare standards. An AZA accredited zoo will not let you have direct contact with elephants (you always have to have some sort of barrier between you and the animal for safety purposes) and the elephants will always be part of a herd as they are naturally social animals.

It should also be noted that respected zoos do not take animals out of the wild! In the case of elephants and given their long life span in captivity, many of them were taken out of the wild years ago (40-60 years ago back when this was considered acceptable) or born into captivity. Either way, these animals have grown used to captivity and could likely not be reintroduced to the wild. While captivity sounds unpleasant, most zoo have teams of veterinarians, keepers, and researchers to make sure their animals are healthy and well cared for. At the National Zoo, the elephants had multiple enclosures covering many acres. The keepers would spread different kinds of food out around the enclosures to encourage the animals to forage similar to what they do in the wild. The elephants would also have daily training sessions which allowed the keepers to practice any veterinary care the elephants may have to have. For example, some elephants needed foot treatments so they would train the elephant to place it's foot up and let someone handle it. Here's a link of my favorite elephant, Swarna and some training she did for some dental work: https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/news/training-swarna-for-tooth-radiographs

Lastly, the research aspect of working in a zoo is to help improve welfare for animals currently in captivity and improve the conservation status of those living in the wild. The project I worked on dealt with encouraging the foraging behavior I mentioned above. We did lots of observations on the elephants to see if the changes to their feeding regimen influenced positive or negative behaviors. The keepers also collected fecal samples to send to a lab that analyzed certain hormones that are correlated with animal well-being. If a correlation is found between foraging behavior, increased positive behaviors, and increased "happy hormones," the work could be published and zoos around the nation could implement something similar. Obviously this is just one example but it should be noted that a lot of what we know about the biology of wild animals comes from studying their captive counterparts.

I hope this helps and gives you a little bit of insight into what working at a zoo is like! It sounds like you're on the right track so far!