If you’re in desperate need of a summer job, but are looking for something slightly more aspirational than scooping ice cream or cutting grass, the Akron Zoo might have the perfect opportunity for you.

    This Saturday and Sunday , Feb. 2 and 3, the Akron Zoo will be holding a job fair and open house from 9AM to noon and offer on sight interviews for positions in “custodial, groundskeeping and education teams.”  

    According to the website “much of the work requires physical strength, as well as the ability to make detailed observations” and “is not always glamorous, but is highly rewarding!”

If cleaning out animal enclosures sounds more like work at a gulag than a laid back summer job, the zoo is also offering a limited number of positions in admission, concessions and the gift shop.

   All employees are offered “flexible schedules,” but are required to work at least one day a weekend.

 The job fair comes on the heels of announcements on the opening of two new exhibits in as many years, at a cost of over 17 million dollars.

  The first exhibit, the “Pride of Africa”, is set to open June 1 this year and will include a larger enclosure for the zoo’s lions, a new grasslands habitat for gazelle and storks, an updated train route and even a recreation of a traditional African dwelling called a “Maasai Boma” —complete with goats.

  Next year, the Zoo will begin work on an exhibit dubbed “Wild Asia,” that will include updated enclosures for Red Pandas, Gibbons as well as the introduction of Sumatran Tigers. According to their website, Wild Asia will attempt to “ recreate the southeast Asian jungles and Himalayan forest” and a “spacious tiger habitat with grassy slopes and a pool.”