HIS BIG BREAK ZOO KEEPER REACHES FOR TV FAME.Byline: Carol Rock Staff Writer CASTAIC - Mike Maxcy thought it sounded like the perfect vacation: camping outdoors and spending time "Spending Time" is the first single released by Christian artist Stellar Kart. The lyrics describe the band members desire to spend "more time with God". "Sometimes it’s a real struggle to spend time with God. with animals in some exotic location. So the senior animal keeper at the Los Angeles Zoo The Los Angeles Zoo founded in 1966, is a large zoo located in Los Angeles, California, USA. The Zoo, located in Los Angeles' Griffith Park, is home to 1,200 animals from around the world. filled out his application and made a short video in hopes that he'd get picked. Sure enough, producers for the reality show ``King of the Jungle,'' scheduled for the Animal Planet cable network, called and asked Maxcy to an interview in which he had to take an animal out of a box, give an impromptu A Windows query and reporting tool from Cognos with support for a large variety of databases. It is capable of generating cross tabs for spreadsheets such as Excel, Lotus for Windows and Quattro Pro for Windows. lecture on it, make funny animal noises and sing. ``I think the (goal) is to show people how hard it is to be Jeff Corwin Jeffrey Samuel Corwin (born July 11, 1967 in Norwell, Massachusetts), better known as Jeff Corwin, is the host and executive producer of The Jeff Corwin Experience and Corwin's Quest ,'' said Maxcy, who moved into his Castaic home just a day before catching a plane to join 11 other animal keepers in what could best be called a combination of ``Survivor'' and ``Wild Kingdom.'' Corwin, a host familiar to Animal Planet viewers, will be the host of the new program, which will debut Oct. 13 and run for 10 weeks. The show also features British judge and documentary filmmaker Nigel Marvin, who presided - in the manner of Simon Cowell Simon Cowell (born 7 October, 1959) is a British artist and repertoire ("A&R") executive for Sony BMG in the United Kingdom and a television producer, more commonly known as a judge on television programmes such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, American Idol on ``American Idol'' - over nightly ceremonies that eliminated participants one by one. Maxcy soon found himself in an undisclosed location where he and the others wrestled alligators, climbed trees and whizzed through the jungle in harnesses. ``We were totally up in the air,'' he remembered. ``There were three basic areas where we were being judged: our physical ability, animal knowledge and on-air personality. We did individual challenges and group challenges, and we were pretty much always wrong when we guessed on anything. They would come in and give us a brush-up course on alligators, so we'd get in the mind-set that we'd be in the water, then they would throw us in with tigers. ``It was miserably hot and humid hu·mid adj. Containing or characterized by a high amount of water or water vapor: humid air; a humid evening. See Synonyms at wet. ,'' he continued. ``We were soaking wet the whole time; we went to bed in our tents completely wet. We didn't have to eat any bugs, but our food was rationed ra·tion n. 1. A fixed portion, especially an amount of food allotted to persons in military service or to civilians in times of scarcity. 2. rations Food issued or available to members of a group. tr.v. . We ate a lot of peanut butter and jelly.'' The winner of the show - who will be announced in December - will be given the opportunity to host a one-hour show on Animal Planet. Maxcy said that producers asked each contestant what show he would like to host upon winning. ``My show would be about environmental and conservation efforts that have succeeded,'' he said. ``There are species that were on the endangered en·dan·ger tr.v. en·dan·gered, en·dan·ger·ing, en·dan·gers 1. To expose to harm or danger; imperil. 2. To threaten with extinction. list that we have been able to rescue. People feel that it's too late to do anything about it, but I'd like to tell people you don't have to know anything about animals to make a difference.'' At his day-to-day job, Maxcy has plenty of chances to tell people how they can save the planet. For the last 17 years, he has worked at the Los Angeles Zoo and currently supervises 35 animal keepers as well as the zoo's volunteer program. ``If we can educate enough people to appreciate the animals all around them - in their back yards and at the zoos - maybe we can convince them to give money for preserving the Earth, to drive fewer gas guzzlers and to start recycling.'' His wife, Traci, was anxious when he left but relieved that he came back in one piece, albeit severely bug-bitten. ``It was truly one of the greatest times I ever had, despite the mosquitoes, the deer flies deer fly see chrysops. and the chiggers chiggers Harvest mites, red mites Dermatology Larvae of the family Trombiculidae, genus Eutrombicula–southern US, Trombicula–Europe which causes skin infestation Habitat Berry patches, tall grass, weeds, woods. Cf Chiggers. ,'' he said. Carol Rock, (661) 257-5252 carol.rock(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): 3 photos Photo: (1 -- 2 -- color) Castaic resident Mike Maxcy, pictured, a keeper at Los Angeles Zoo, will appear on an Animal Planet reality show. (3) Mike Maxcy says he thinks the object of the show is ``to show people how hard it is to be Jeff Corwin.'' David R. Crane/Staff Photographer |
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