the friendliest zoo staff

adrian1963

adrian1963

Well-Known Member
This is about the staff a zoo you have visited

They don't have to be the best when it comes to knowledge and know everything about the zoo because most zoo's have many members of staff who actually want to help members of the public as well as the animals
why don't we open up and tell everyone about our best staff and give them a bit of praise for a change because without them there would be no zoo's
so let's here from you

My own feeling is that the Staff at Dudley zoo (Westmidlands) are extremely friendly and give good advise not only about the animals
but also where to take the best pictures from if the animal is out of sight

They've also always got time for the children around the zoo chatting and laughing with them

so come on give the staff some praise
 
Blackpool Zoo, so helpful and went out of their way to find the answers to my questions. Even ringing another member of staff to find the correct answer!
 
Well in london they had plenty of volunteers who were fantastic at helping, informing the public and stopping misbehaviour, it seemed they were in one area throughout the day which basically meant their was a member of staff around everycorner waiting to help. I also feel the staff at newquay were also very helpful going out of their way to find out were the fishing cats were coming from for me, as well as anaswering my barrage of questions
 
Paignton has very busy keepers who are always willing to stop and answer questions, and I was impressed by the staff at Dartmoor on a recent visit.
I haven't been to Twycross for a few years but I am eternally grateful to the orangutan keeper who gave me a close encounter with her orangs. And I remember the elephant keeper who, unasked, talked us through the training procedure being carried out by his colleague.
 
The friendliest staff that i`ve had dealing with are Trigger and her staff at Gentleshaws,but that said i always find the Twycross keeping staff great as well,and the presenters at Chester are very good at finding time.
 
In Bioparc Valencia, staff (especially the keepers, but others as well) always respond to my questions (except those relating to possible birth) only you know about the babys that were born, when you see they with the adults.
 
I have always found the staff and volunteers of Bird Kingdom and Toronto Zoo to be very friendly and informative. At Toronto, there is an older keeper who takes better care of his older hornbill better than many people take care of their own pets.
 
what exactly makes a zoo staff the "friendliest?" I've never seen a zoo with rude staff (maybe the vendor salesmen..xD ), sure there are some out there, but how do you rank em all?
 
We don't rank them

All this is about is giving praise to the voluntears who are there giving up thier time for nothing in most cases
Some zoo's have to depend on these people for thier contact with the public. I know most zoo staff are polite and have great knoledge of the animals but these are the ones who always get the praise so why not give the voluntears some praise as you said there are no really unfriendly staff
I would like to give a very big thank you to all the voluntears who work at all the zoo's for there work because without out them alot of the zoo's would have to close.
 
While not many zoo staff are "rude", in a fair number of places I've been, the keepers etc scurry away and maybe don't particularly enjoy talking to the public. In my own experience as a zoo visitor, the saddest thing is seeing keepers doing something in or around and enclosure and leaving with no idea of what was going on!

I relish chances to engage people whether they asked for it or not! I make time in my day (read as: it comes out of my lunch hour...) to have contact with the public.
Where I work there simply aren't sufficient numbers of staff to have the keepers themselves do animal talks etc, so like many places we rely on a group of incredible volunteers.

Every single time I am out and about in a public area (albeit not much per day, 95% of the Herps collection is offshow) I look to speak to people.
Whenever I feed or vitamin supplement the Iguanas for instance, I step back out and look for who is making eye contact then start explaining what I was doing and why, talking in a way that always draws in the other 20 people who saw it but were too shy to ask.
On a quick exhibit check before lunch I might stop at 5 or 6 exhibits to point out tiny frogs to people, or explain why the female caiman is doing a funny walk (nesting!).

To give just one piece of information to one person per day, that they would never have known if I hadn't walked by, now that is part of the joy of the job. Seeing their pleasure and interest, knowing they're walking away feeling privileged that day :D
 
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I agree with you, keepers who like to engage in conversation from the start always give a good feeling when you go to the zoo; I perfectly understand that they're jobs are hard and busy, so won't always want to stop for a chat, but doing things like you mentioned JerseyLotte. This also happened at the Cotswold Wildlife Park, where we got into a nice chat with one of the keepers cleaning out the penguins.
 
I only spoke to one, but the staff member at linton zoo was a wealth of knowlage and really friendly.
 
Micke Grove Zoo in Lodi, California USA, is rather small with 8 keepers on staff; however we try to interact with the public as much as we can. Personally, if I'm feeding or cleaning and someone is viewing my area, I always take the time to show them what a particular animal eats, why the animal may or may not be closed in their den while I clean their enclosure, the type of enrichment and its purpose that an animal is getting, or just general information on the animal itself. What started out as one or two people usually turns into a large crowd, and at least two people asking questions. Those are the best days at work for me.

Our volunteers are spectacular and without them we would have a very hectic day. In fact, in a couple of weeks we are having a volunteer recognition dinner and awards ceremony.
 
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