WHEELING, W. Va. -- With more than 100 species of animals housed at Oglebay’s Good Zoo, it takes a high level of creativity to feed, train and care for them every day. But all those tasks and more are just a typical start to a day for the employees at the Good Zoo.

"We have drilled holes in any sort of vegetable and any sort of fruit that you can think of made all kinds of crazy concoctions when an animal's sick or ill or needs medication," said Head Zoo Keeper Susan McCardle.

The keepers come up with many ways to keep the animals busy, from putting mealworms in Jell-O for meerkats to dig out, to making enrichment toys out of paper mache, adding scents and forming new shapes to keep the animals interested.

"And really the sky's the limit. If you can think of it and you can make it, then it can be done," said McCardle.

The public can hand feed the red pandas and several other animals at the Good Zoo, but anytime you mix people with normally wild animals, keepers said there’s an element of danger.

The zoo staff meets every two weeks to walk through responses to nearly any type of emergency they can think of.

"What would we do if we lost power to make sure all the animals stay warm? If an animal would escape, in case somebody would get into an exhibit?" said Animal Curator Joe Greathouse.

There are also two doors between any dangerous animal and the keepers. Three doors stand between any dangerous animals and zoo guests.

Other safety measures include pepper spray containers each staff member keeps on their belts, in case an animal would escape or try to attack. Pepper spray extinguishers are on site at all dangerous animal buildings.

From missing children to missing animals to tornadoes, the staff goes through each crisis scenario two to three times a year. It's the only type of training they hope they'll never have to use.

--Jasmine Lo, NEWS9