Banham Zoo Volunteering!

Well it sounds like you're doing what you wanted to do so good on ya Ciaran :O)
Great update too by the way - bit of a hike from the North West but it's one the zoo visit list!
 
Great update, good to hear you are enjoying it. I've just started volunteering at a local collection aswell.
 
congratulations on staying with it for a year now. Zoos do get a lot of "bunny-huggers" applying for volunteer positions, who think that they're just going to be playing with cute animals all day, so the zoos are generally eager to keep the volunteers who are of a good quality :D

What do you actually do at Banham in your volunteer capacity?
 
@karoocheetah: Thank you! Banham Zoo is a lovely place! I have always felt it a lot more "homely" than the majority of other collections, with some nice species! :)

@nb123: Thanks! Where are you now volunteering?

@Chlidonias: Thanks a lot! My tasks are generally cleaning the insides of enclosures and houses, and their interpretation signs/boards. Sometimes I'm needed to observe animals that have woken up from sedation or animals that have just been introduced, etc. I also prepare a lot of the diets and enrichment for animals too. :)
 
CiaranDUK said:
@Chlidonias: Thanks a lot! My tasks are generally cleaning the insides of enclosures and houses, and their interpretation signs/boards. Sometimes I'm needed to observe animals that have woken up from sedation or animals that have just been introduced, etc. I also prepare a lot of the diets and enrichment for animals too.
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one of the benefits of volunteering at the smaller establishments (as opposed to say, Chester or London I would presume) is that you get more interesting and fulfilling tasks during the day which in turn keeps the volunteer interested enough to stick around long-term, and (hopefully for you, if that's where your intent lies) its definitely a potential path to gaining employment there because the management already know what sort of person you are and what capabilities you have.
 
Just to put you straight on London Zoo, the volunteers' work there is extremely interesting and varied – sometimes rather too exciting! We are in sole charge of three walkthroughs so as well as talking about all the animals we have to make sure both humans and animals are safe. On top of that, there are touch tables, the information kiosk, gorillas to patrol, the craft centre to run, ferrets to exercise and anything else we can think of. If you want to be a keeper volunteer at ZSL however and have contact with animals (which seems to be included in volunteering at smaller zoos) you will need to be an ordinary volunteer for a year or so first, as the keeper volunteer jobs are so sought after and I suppose it's to prove you're enthusiastic.
 
Oh! I make it sound as if we walk them around the zoo on leads. Sorry. I mean that we like to have a volunteer or two amongst the visitors in the gorilla exhibit, pointing out which gorilla is which, telling people a little bit about them, and asking them not to bang on the glass or use flash photography.
 
ok that makes sense. I didn't know if you meant they had the volunteers keeping an eye on the baby and also any possible introductions to Kesho
 
Volvox said:
Just to put you straight on London Zoo, the volunteers' work there is extremely interesting and varied – sometimes rather too exciting! We are in sole charge of three walkthroughs so as well as talking about all the animals we have to make sure both humans and animals are safe. On top of that, there are touch tables, the information kiosk, gorillas to patrol, the craft centre to run, ferrets to exercise and anything else we can think of. If you want to be a keeper volunteer at ZSL however and have contact with animals (which seems to be included in volunteering at smaller zoos) you will need to be an ordinary volunteer for a year or so first, as the keeper volunteer jobs are so sought after and I suppose it's to prove you're enthusiastic.
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yes sorry, I was only using London and Chester as examples because they're the two biggest zoos in the UK that came immediately to mind. I was mainly trying to say that because smaller establishments have fewer staff (in general) then there is more opportunities for volunteers to be part of the keeper experience. However the volunteer work at London Zoo certainly does sound much more exciting than I had envisaged :)
 
@nb123: I have heard of Wingz Bird Sanctuary, but never visited and have no knowledge on the species they have. Do you enjoy it? :)

@Chlidonias: Yes, I suppose that's true. I have worked with Giraffe, Zebra, Deer, Geese, Primates, Cats, Maned Wolf, etc. So yes, I work with a small variation of species.
 
CiaranDUK said:
@nb123: Do you enjoy it? :)
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Sorry for late reply i have been really busy. I enjoy it very much and with it only being a small collection it allows me the chance to do a variety of jobs whether that be feeding/cleaning, building/renovating enclosures or just general jobs around the site. I also get quite a good insight into what it's like to run a zoo and behind the scenes sort of stuff that i might not have gotten had i volunteered at a bigger collection which is interesting.

CiaranDUK said:
@nb123: I have heard of Wingz Bird Sanctuary, but never visited and have no knowledge on the species they have. QUOTE]

I have posted a stocklist on this thread, http://www.zoochat.com/38/wingz-bird-animal-gardens-160191/, however there are lot's transfers hopefully happening before next summer so it will all change.
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Congratulations Ciaran, you are certainly in much stringer position now to gain a full time paid staff memebrs position in a similar role within any zoo / park within the UK now compared to 12 months ago.

Also worth noting to those who want to become keepers one day and cannot get a foot in the door, besides studying, it may be useful to get a job looking after livestock, even if only a day a week etc, helping farmers look after livestock will be more beneficial to you getting a keepers role than doing nothing with animals at all. So maybe those near farms could enquire into this as a possible foot into a zoo job one day.

PS - Ciaran - Camels can tend to drool, so maybe you haven't missed out too much not taking one out for a walk...:)
 
@nb123: Oh, well I am glad you're enjoying yourself. I kind of want to ask if I can help the building / renovation of enclosures to let them see I am willing to do whatever, really.

@Pootle: Thank you, I have previously had a paid summer job at Pensthorpe Nature Reserve, looking after the animal collection there, as well as six months volunteering/work experience there prior to that.I am also currently studying an Extended Diploma in Animal Management, of which I plan on volunteering at Banham Zoo for the duration of. So, hopefully, with all of this together, it will put me in a greater position when applying for jobs.

I have been in the Camel house enough times to realise that camels drool at any given chance! :P
 
Wow, well, a lot of time has passed since I started this post... I am still volunteering at Banham Zoo, but only during summer months as I'm now at university in Liverpool.

Of course, since my last post, a lot has happened... Snow Leopard births and the offspring's subsequent departure, more Snow Leopard births and their subsequent deaths, a new Grevy's Zebra stallion (whose name I forget), Pallas' Cat kittens, more and more Swainson's Lorikeets, Ben's (adult male South African Fur Seal) death, the most successful fundraising evening in Banham's history, the opening of Lemur Encounters, and now soon Banham and AA! will be under the ownership of the ZSEA (Zoological Society of East Anglia)!
 
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