Ohio native takes care of animals at Cook Museum of Natural Science
Feb. 15—From amphibians to reptiles to all the creatures living under the sea, Kelly Geck takes care of them all at the Cook Museum of Natural Science, and the Ohio native said she finds the ecosystem in Morgan County and the surrounding area fascinating.
"I knew that I wanted to work hands-on directly with animals and a more variety of animals, so that's why I moved down here and I found this job," Geck said.
Geck, 29, was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio, and received her Bachelor of Arts in zoology and a minor in anthropology and sociology in 2017 from Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware, Ohio. One of her first professional jobs was at the Greater Cleveland Aquarium, where she started out working in the gift shop in 2012.
After receiving her degree, Geck began submitting multiple online job applications until the human resources department at Cook Museum reached out to her.
"As soon as I got off the phone, I had to google Decatur," Geck said. "So, I didn't know much about the job until I applied, but once I came down here — I wanted to see the place before I actually moved — I fell in love with it."
She moved to Decatur in 2019, starting out as an associate at Cook Museum and then working her way to her current position as live animal care manager.
"I was an animal care associate and then I became the aquatic specialist, and then the live animal manager," Geck said.
Geck said with her multiple duties at the museum, she can wear "lots of hats," and not only nurture and care for the animals who live there but also educate the museum's visitors about their lifestyles and habitats.
Geck said she has enjoyed her life in the South and said a positive distinction between Alabama and Cleveland is the conversations she has had with Alabama residents, who "want to be involved and learn."
"Southern hospitality is absolutely real, and I have loved every minute of it," Geck said.
One of her favorite Southern attractions is the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge, and she described Alabama as the "Amazon of the United States."
"Alabama has so many different habitats," Geck said. "We have mountain systems, we have beach systems, we have rivers, we even have a little desert area. There's so many and a lot of animals will migrate here and migrate through Alabama, which is super cool."
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Busy job
Geck said she starts out her day early by arriving at the museum at 6 a.m.
"The first thing that I do are animal checks to make sure they are all OK, including our aquatic ones and our offsite facility ones," Geck said. "I also do filtration checks to make sure everything is running the way it is supposed to."
After a brief meeting with her employees to assign tasks, Geck splits them into teams. One group is responsible for terrestrial animal care and the other is responsible for aquatic animal care.
Geck has become a valued employee, according to Scott Mayo, museum executive director.
"Kelly is so dedicated and hands-on in her role as the manager of her department," Mayo said. "I'd say she was elbow-deep but that's not enough. She's fully submerged, especially when conducting a maintenance dive in the tank in the Oceans Exhibit.
"What she does extends beyond just her department, though. The animal care team is an integral part of the group, along with our educators and guest services staff, who serve our guests and field trips and camps. It's a big job and Kelly and her team jump right in every day."
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Losing a friend
One of the museum's most beloved aquatic animals died right before Thanksgiving, a non-releasable Kemp's ridley sea turtle named Kale who they adopted from the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center in 2020.
Geck vividly remembers the day she traveled to Virginia to get him.
"I've been with him every step of the way," Geck said. "I got really attached to him."
When Kale died, Geck said she was devastated but had started to notice his decline shortly before his death from bone tissue infection.
"He had what is called osteomyelitis and it was presenting itself in lesions on his shell," Geck said. "Most of his sores were healing and Decatur Morgan Hospital was super great and let us go in and take CT scans."
Geck said Kale stopped eating during the summer of 2024 and more lesions appeared on his shell and so the turtle was relocated to the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga to be closer to veterinarian, Dr. Christian Keller. Geck said he fought a hard battle, and he was "still in her heart."
"I have always wanted to work with sharks, my whole entire life that was the goal," Geck said. "I never thought I'd be working with a sea turtle ... a whole new door in my heart just totally opened up for (Kale)."
— wesley.tomlinson@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2442.
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