There are jobs and there are jobs. As a feeder at Marineland in Antibes, France, Frederic Maria has a job—and it's a sloppy, smelly, arduous and fairly thankless one. Maria, 22, is charged with feeding Henri, a 15-year-old, 13-foot-long Antarctic elephant seal. Four times a day Maria must stuff 70 pounds of mackerel and herring into Henri's mouth, enabling the creature to maintain his weight at just over one ton. The lengthy hands-on feeding process, done to ensure a balanced diet, is made difficult by Henri's occasional embraces and his potential for mistaking that slippery hand for just another mackerel.
Between feedings, Henri and his harem (consisting of two smaller female elephant seals) must be exercised. Maria achieves this feat, which is comparable to jump starting a battleship, by moving the trio's fish buckets to different spots, thus forcing them to move. At times he also wrestles with the youngest. Maria's day ends with an extremely long shower; an elephant seal's pungent odor tends to linger.
Despite the special nature of his work, it affords little glory. "My wife doesn't think much of it," says Maria. And although Henri seems to appreciate his efforts, that doesn't give Maria much personal satisfaction. As Marineland curator Jon Kershaw notes, "Henri's fond of anyone with a bucket of fish."
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