Hey Cheeky

This week it’s time to have a look at the funny side of zoo keeping. I’m sure we could all do with a giggle and cheering up in the current situation we find ourselves in 2020.

I’m sure if you have pets yourselves at home they can get up to all sorts of capers and cheeky behaviour. Well it’s the same for us here with the animals at Wingham.

So story time;

Having worked at Wingham for over 12 years now there’s a lot of tales I could tell about what the animals get up to but here are just a few.

For starters, our Tamandua, Terri (who now resides at Sandwich Wildlife Park) used to live here at Wingham upstairs in the chimpanzee house with our Sloth, Bush Babies and Armadillo. I was cleaning in the enclosure one day and I’m sure he purposefully broke wind in my face as he walked past whilst I was cleaning a branch. He could have easily gone any other way, but chose to walk right past me. The smell is horrendous! I’m sure if you talk to anyone who has worked with Tamanduas they will tell you the same. This is fully in your face stinky!

Next we have my first experience of training a new member of staff on a task (cleaning the fruit bats) and that didn’t end so well for me either. Let’s just say I learnt the hard way not to look up whilst talking in the enclosure as the bats fly over you… bat faeces is not a pleasant taste.

Of course, there is also always falling and tripping over something when you have your hands full with trays of food too. It goes everywhere, so you have to make the shameful trip back to the keeper kitchen to re-do the food you’ve lost. It’s usually always when you’re the furthest away from the kitchen as well and in front of a crowd of people!

There’s also a time when for some reason I had to go under the bridge on the lake and got cornered by all our geese. Being bitten by a goose is no fun, especially when you can’t get away. Not to name any keepers but the person who was with me was trying their best not to laugh which made it even funnier. My legs hurt for a few days after, thanks to the multiple 5p sized bruises.

I could go on and on but enough from my tales, what else have our animals been up to?

Hey cheeky. Smooth coated otter at Wingham Wildlife Park, Kent
Hey cheeky. Cuban Crocodile at Wingham Wildlife Park, Kent.
Hey cheeky. Western Chimpanzees at Wingham Wildlife Park, Kent
Hey cheeky. Armadillo at Wingham Wildlife Park Kent
Hey cheeky. Bornean orangutan at Wingham Wildlife Park, Kent

About Ruth - Head Keeper

Ruth is the head keeper at Wingham Wildlife Park, having been with the park since 2008. When the park was first taken over all of the keepers looked after all of the species, and as such Ruth has a wide range of abilities with the animals here, giving her the right skill set as our head keeper. When she is out of the office (which is most of the time), she specialises in primates.