Jawnie Payne has been with San Diego Zoo Safari Park in California since March 2022, where she is an animal care associate. Payne has spent her whole career in the zoo sector and has previously worked with Colombus Zoo and Aquarium as an animal keeper, at Fort Worth Zoo as an education specialist and as an animal ambassador keeper at Nashville Zoo.
Payne studied environmental sciences and environmental education as an undergraduate and volunteered at her local wildlife centre. She is currently studying for an MA in Conservation Biology at Miami University.
Known on social media as Zookeeper Jawnie, Payne has over 3.5 million TikTok likes, as well as 24.5k followers on Instagram and a following on YouTube. She has a passion for connecting people with animals. Her TikTok account first went viral around Thanksgiving in 2020 when she posted a video of herself giving snacks to different animals at Nashville Zoo and wishing them Happy Thanksgiving. This social media following helps people to engage with animals and hopefully spark an interest in protecting the natural world.
In an interview with The Tennessean in 2021, Payne said her platform helps children of colour to see people who look like them working in the zoo and aquarium field, something she didn’t see herself when growing up.
The San Diego Zoo Safari Park and the San Diego Zoo are operated by San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, an international, nonprofit conservation organisation. It works to integrate wildlife health and care, science, and education to develop sustainable conservation solutions. San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance’s mission is to work towards saving species around the globe, by uniting its expertise in animal care and conservation science with its dedication to inspiring passion for nature.