Marketing director for Zoosiana Lea Loftin speaks at the Cajun Groundhog Day celebration Saturday morning in New Iberia. Loftin has worked at the zoo for almost 20 years. The zoo is the home for Pierre C. Shadeaux, the Cajun Groundhog, during his “offseason.”

Marketing director for Zoosiana Lea Loftin left a good-paying job in the oilfield to “play” at Acadiana’s only zoo, and almost two decades later she hasn’t regretted a thing.

The Coteau resident wears a lot of hats at Zoosiana, from decorating to organizing events to assisting the owner of the zoo, George Oldenburg. That kind of variety is exactly why Loftin relishes her job and continues to make Zoosiana a thriving facility.

How did you get started working at Zoosiana?

This is my 19th year at Zoosiana. I started as a train driver. I was in the oilfield industry for many years and was kind of tired of it all, getting called out at night. I went to the zoo and rode the train during Safari of Lights, and after that I went to the gift shop and started talking to the manager, who I didn’t know was the manager.

As a joke, I put my application in, and four days later they called me and said our train driver quit, would you consider driving the train? My husband said it was crazy because I had a good paying job. I told him I want to go play, I’ve always worked very hard, and started driving the train. After that I was manager of concessions. When Mr. (George, owner) Oldenburg purchased the zoo in May of 2002, I worked with him for a little while and he asked me what I was doing and I told his I was just playing. He said that’s going to stop and we were going to do events and marketing.

What are your usual duties?

The thing about is we all multitask. I’m in charge of every event from getting volunteers to vendors, entertainment, advertising, everything. I’m the owner’s assistant and I’m physically inside the zoo for my job. We do decorations for Boo at the Zoo, Safari of Lights, Eggstravaganza, anything we need. If it’s not too heavy, I am there. We all multitask. Sometimes I’m parking school buses. Other times I’m on field trips helping out.

I think that’s why I like it so much. You really don’t know what you’re walking into each day. I don’t think there’s one whole week where I sit and do desk work. There’s always projects.

What’s your favorite part of the job?

I love when the events are finally taking place. I start six to eight months out on each event, and I’m always relying on volunteers from local high schools and colleges. Sometimes I’m not sure if they are going to show up and it gets stressful. But when it starts and I see everyone having a good time, I really enjoy that.

Do you ever handle the animals?

I have to because I bring them on television or I’ll do petting zoos outside of the zoo. I don’t clean cages or anything. As for handling them and knowing the information, I picked up all of that on the way. I asked a lot of questions. I may not always be right, and if I absolutely do not know the answer I’ll say that’s a good question.