“If you’re naughty, a gecko will crawl into your ear while you sleep.”
Dwain “Oki’ Uyeda, zoo keeper at the Honolulu Zoo for more than 40 years has retired. Oki, who arrived at the zoo via a high school work credit program in 1985, started out in the bird department for only a few months before he found where he wanted to be, with the zoo’s reptiles, the Zoo wrote on its Facebook page.
Initially, Uyeda was afraid of geckos because his grandfather told him when he was a kid, that “If you’re naughty, a gecko will crawl into your ear while you sleep.” he overcame that initial urban Japanese tale and became a master handler of the zoo’s reptiles, from the monitor lizards to the Galapagos tortoises, to the crocodiles.
Oki noted one of his favorite aspects of working at the zoo was meeting people from all over the world who would come to the zoo.
Enjoy your retirement Mr. Uyeda!
