Hi guys!
Hope you’ve been really enjoying my posts so far. As some of you may know, this
week is National Zookeeper Week!
This
started in America, with the AAK (American Association of Zookeepers) having an
annual celebration in the third week of July each year! This year it falls
between the 18th and 23rd of July, and is a week
dedicated to zookeepers! The celebration hopes to raise the profile of zoo and
aquarium keepers throughout the year, and recognise all the hard work they do
to look after and conserve many endangered species.
Amur tiger at Leipzig Zoo
Zookeepers
work 365 days a year, working long hours, to care for many incredible species!
Many work on Christmas day and New Year’s Day, but it doesn’t phase them!
Extreme weather conditions are also a battle, but zookeepers power through
because their animals need them! As well as the well known job of picking up
poo, keepers are also great observers, able to notice the slightest change in
an animal. They are nutritionists, constantly changing diets to suit the
species, animal trainers, heavy lifters, gardeners, DIY experts, able to solve
problems, and most of all, hard working.
Lots of
keepers have also published academic papers regarding topics such as behaviour,
enrichment, training, husbandry and diets, among others. These papers help
other collections manage their animals, sharing ideas on what works, and what doesn’t
work, as well as how different individuals of the same species can be so diverse
in personality.
ABWAK logo
Here in the
UK, we have ABWAK (Association of British and Irish Wild Animal Keepers), which
many of UK keepers are members of! It’s great for organising workshops, and as
mentioned in a previous post, holds an annual symposium (gathering of
zookeepers!) All members of ABWAK are also automatic members of the
International Congress of Zookeepers (ICZ), which aims to connect keepers
worldwide. The international sharing of information really benefits all
collections involved, conserving worldwide biodiversity. The ICZ also hold
congress’, with the most recent one being held at Leipzig Zoo last September
(2015). After speaking to those who went, it sounded like an absolutely awesome
event, something I wish I had attended!
ICZ logo
Anyway,
enough of my rambling, Happy National Zookeeper Week to all the keepers out
there!
So, whilst I’m
on work placement at Folly Farm, I thought I would take a visit to the nearby
Manor Wildlife Park! Also known as Anna’s Welsh Zoo, it is the sister zoo to
Peak Wildlife Park in Derbyshire. Parking for the zoo is just next to the zoo
itself, which was incredibly useful! Upon entering, I was happy to find that
they accepted my professional ABWAK card as entry, to which I was very grateful
– I made sure to pop my loose change into donation boxes around the zoo.
The first
exhibit I came across was ‘Wander with the Wallabies’, a Bennett’s wallaby
walkthrough, where I was able to stroke a wallaby! This is encouraged as long
as visitors stay on the path and don’t upset the wallabies whilst doing so. The
walkthrough was large, with many trees, logs and lots of hiding places for the
wallabies! This was my first impression of the zoo and it was great, I was
looking forward to seeing what was next! There were hand washing facilities
outside and many dotted throughout the park encouraging hygiene and stopping
the spread of germs!
Giving a Bennett's wallaby a tickle!
I continued
down the path to ‘Camel Corner’, spotting a group of Bactrian camels enjoying
grazing out on the paddock. Opposite the camels were scimitar horned oryx, rhea
and Przewalski’s horses, all in large paddocks. The signage surrounding the
oryx told the story of how this species was saved from extinction with captive
breeding, and it does really well to promote good zoos. I must say, the signage
was really good! (I think my only comment would be calling common marmosets, ‘white
tufted ear marmosets’!)
I then
walked uphill with the stunning Southern white rhino to my left, in a mixed
species exhibit with Damara zebra and ostrich. Even though it was raining, none
of the animals seemed phased by it and continued grazing! This mixed species
exhibit was huge, sporting many wallows and a large shelter for the animals to
use if they so wished. Again, the signage around the enclosure was really
informative, promoting the work of Save the Rhino International, something I am
hugely passionate about (I have a ‘thick skinned and horny’ sticker in my car!)
Southern White Rhino having a munch on some grass!
The path
down from the rhinos took me to the ‘Valley of the Apes’ where 3 siamang
gibbons were happily playing around in the trees. An island enclosure, sporting
lots of height, long grass and platforms for sunbathing, this enclosure houses
Steve, a siamang gibbon success story. Before Anna Ryder-Richardson bought and
re-established this zoo, Steve lived in an enclosure that was incredibly small
for a siamang (macaws now live happily in there), before being moved to this
spacious enclosure. As a visitor, this exhibit is within woodland habitat, with
a couple of benches where you can sit and watch the siamangs and the native
wildlife in the trees. Leaving the valley of the apes (which again, has amazing
signage), I passed an island which is the home to common marmosets, which I was
unable to spot!
Amazing signage detailing the different primate species!
The path came back round to the oryx, passing tapirs and
llamas, housed next to the beautiful, elusive, female Sumatran tiger, Terima.
Terima is a young Sumatran tiger, arriving at the zoo from France last year,
and she lives in a large enclosure with feeding poles, plants, hideaways, and
it can be split into two if needed. After speaking to one of the keepers, Amy,
I was delighted to hear that Terima has important genes, and that they are
hoping to take on a male Sumatran tiger from Chester Zoo in the hope of forming
a breeding pair, contributing to the EEP for this species. On the day of my
visit, Terima was in her back paddock, slightly off show – apparently she’s a
feisty cat!
Sumatran tiger, Terima
I carried
on through the woodland paths, past the emu (occasionally booming) to ‘meerkat
mountain’. I was lucky enough to catch the meerkats at feeding time, where they
were happily munching on mixed veg. Meerkats are common in zoos, though it is
nice to see how different collections keep them. The ‘African Village’ was next
to see, which was a walkthrough of various chickens, pygmy goats, Cameroon sheep
and kune kune pigs in an fenced off area (pigs can be dangerous!) There was
also a giant rabbit walkthrough nearby, with lots of bunnies having a good
sunbathe!
Meerkat on sentry duty!
My last
stop on my visit was the ‘Lemur walk through’, which was home to ring tailed
lemurs, red fronted lemurs, red bellied lemurs and red ruffed lemurs all living
happily together. Whilst I was there, I spoke to a keeper who was also a
student, studying the behaviour of lemurs in response to various enrichment
devices she had implemented into the enclosure. On this particular day, she was
looking at basket enrichment. Two woven baskets were filled with hay and food,
cable tied together and hung on a rope. The ring tailed lemurs and the red
ruffed lemurs were investigating this enrichment, but didn’t seem to have the
hang of it just yet! As I walked around the enclosure, I spotted a red bellied
lemur baby! It was so small and so cute, bounding around the trees! Though I
have worked with red bellies before, I had never seen a baby one!
Although
not a large zoo, and only taking a couple of hours to get round, I really
enjoyed my visit. It is perfect for a day with young children as it is not a
full day out and is also not too busy. The conservation message throughout the
park is strong and consistent, and really does promote good zoos and ways that
conservation can be done at home. I made sure to grab a magnet from the shop,
to add to my zoo magnet collection, and I will hope to visit again in the
future. If you are in South Wales, definitely add this one to the visit list
(along with Folly Farm!)
I made a video montage of my visit, in case you want a small taster!
Hi guys!
Apologies again for another late blog post, but I’ve been so busy recently!
Having completed my exams and landed back from my trip to Leipzig, I completed
two weeks of work experience at the Welsh Mountain Zoo, moved home, then have
just started a four week placement at Folly Farm in South Wales!
I just
wanted to let you know that I’ve finally received my grades for my degree and I’ve
achieved a 2:1 in BSc Animal Behaviour! These past 3 years have been incredibly
hard, yet equally rewarding and I’m so so sooo pleased to know that I have done
it, and that I don’t have to resit in August. This means one weight lifted off
my shoulders and I can focus on the rest of my life!
So as I
said, I’ve just finished 2 weeks of work experience at the Welsh Mountain Zoo,
which was absolutely incredible! For those reading this, who want to pursue
their dream of becoming a zookeeper, gaining as much work experience as
possible is definitely the way to go! Even if it’s one or two days a week at a
local zoo, it all adds up! A few of the keepers at WMZ used to volunteer there –
living proof that it does pay off! I was lucky enough to be able to work with pretty
much everything, and I learnt so much in my short time there. I actually didn’t
want to leave at the end of it. Working with the penguins and sea lions was
absolutely amazing, but working with the snow leopards was the absolute
highlight of my time there. I was taught how to cut up meat for feeds, and much
much more – all skills that I can apply to my future career in zookeeping.
Currently, I’m at Folly Farm in Pembrokeshire, one week into a four week
placement here, and I’m absolutely loving it. So far, I’ve been able to work
with the critically endangered Eastern black rhino, giraffes, camels –
basically lots of hoofstock, penguins and other birds! It’s been great and I am
looking forward to the next few weeks.
I know some
readers of this blog are aspiring zookeepers such as myself, so I thought I
would put together some words of advice for those starting on their journey! If
you’ve got a placement coming up, and are really nervous, don’t be! Just ask
the right questions, show an interest, don’t moan, be punctual, smile, and most
importantly, enjoy it! The best thing you can do is make friends, and get your
name out there! UK readers, join ABWAK. The Association of British and Irish
Wild Animal Keepers is a great organisation that I am a member of, and they
host lots of workshops throughout the year, publish a quarterly journal called
RATEL and also hold a yearly symposium. These symposiums are basically a
weekend where lots of zookeepers or zoo people get together at a conference,
attend workshops, listen to talks, socialise and network. My first ABWAK
symposium was with my good friend Roxy (now a keeper!) whilst at uni, and it
allowed me to meet lots of new people in the zoo world, which has benefitted me
greatly. I attended this year’s symposium with my friend Georgie (also now a
keeper!) and we were able to introduce each other to people we had met over the
past couple of years on our various zoo placements! I would 100% recommend you
get your ass to the symposiums, and get involved. Talking to keepers, even just
mentioning to someone that you liked their presentation can put you in good
stead for the future – they might remember your name when your CV appears on
their desk!
I hope
everyone is having an amazing summer, even if the weather is a bit pants!
