I was wondering to what extent most zoos in the UK use volunteers in their day-to-day running and which programmes seem to be the best in terms of volunteer experience?
I'm not looking for myself, I'm just genuinely curious - I volunteer as a ranger at Bristol Zoo, talking to guests some days and as a keeper some weekends. Personally I was surprised by how much I get involved with the animals during a keeper shift and I haven't heard this about many other collections. So I was just wondering what the experiences on offer are at other zoos.
What are other volunteer experiences like - in learning ranger roles and keeper roles - at other zoos? Where in other zoos do learning ranger volunteers hang around, where are they used?
I'm not looking for myself, I'm just genuinely curious - I volunteer as a ranger at Bristol Zoo, talking to guests some days and as a keeper some weekends. Personally I was surprised by how much I get involved with the animals during a keeper shift and I haven't heard this about many other collections. So I was just wondering what the experiences on offer are at other zoos.
What are other volunteer experiences like - in learning ranger roles and keeper roles - at other zoos? Where in other zoos do learning ranger volunteers hang around, where are they used?