Monkey
Business
Eva
Wong, Taronga Zoo, Australia
Working
at the zoo is full of routines. Each day follows the same
regime but when you are working with animals, each moment
is never the same. I have been a volunteer at Taronga Zoo
for almost a year.
MY CAREER PATH
I have always loved animals. In
year 10, I did some volunteer work and obtained
a certificate in Animal Attending in year 11. This was my
way of pursuing a career with animals.
I applied for the volunteer program at
Taronga Zoo because it is regarded as one of the
best zoos in the world. It also lets you get your “foot in
the door” because of the valuable experience you gain. Many
employers look for this experience
when hiring potential new employees. In fact, many of the
zookeepers at Taronga Zoo started out in the volunteer program.
Also, keep in mind that it is not a pre requisite to have
a Bachelor of Zoology to become a zookeeper. I completed a
Science degree majoring in
Biology.
AT THE ZOO
At Taronga Zoo, our mornings begin with the daily staff meeting
at 6:30am in which everyone is delegated tasks for the day.
I am delegated to the gorillas, but throughout the day, I
may help out somewhere else.
From 7am till 10am, I help with training the gorillas.
Each gorilla has a different coloured shape clipped on their
dens. For example, our gorillas Frala and Kakabu have a blue
triangle and a red circle on their dens respectively. They
are trained to go to their own dens where the zookeepers will
then reward them. They undergo this training so that we can
separate or isolate the gorillas when needed.
We then clean the public enclosure and spread their 9am feed
around. We do a station feed for the two male gorillas that
are separated from the main group. This feed lures them out
of their dens and into their enclosure for the day. We let
the main group of gorillas enter the enclosure at approximately
9am where we then clean their dens thoroughly.
After a nice morning break, we then continue on with the day.
The 11am, 2pm and night feed for the gorillas are prepared.
When that is completed we go to the Elephant House
to collect the branches that we give to the animals to munch
on.
We bring the gorillas back into their dens at noon and do
a spot clean of their enclosure. This is also the time we
spread out the 2pm feed. At 2pm, the gorillas are let out
into the enclosure once again, and it is the time when visitors
can catch a glimpse of the gorillas feeding.
My day at the zoo comes to a close at around 3pm. If I had
to choose one particular highlight for this day, it would
be the opportunity to work so closely
with the animals!
Reporter: Melinda Wong |
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