Training is one of the most important and rewarding parts of being a zookeeper. Seeing an individual overcome struggles, and the feeling of pure joy when it all finally clicks is something I hold close in my heart. All of our great apes are trained to present a combination of body parts. This could be…
What it takes to look after and enrich our moon bears. In this blog I’m going to talk about looking after our two moon bears, or Asiatic black bears, Aroon and Mika, and delve into what goes on in a day for the bears and how we keep them happy. What is Enrichment? Enrichment is…
Hello, in this blog I will be giving some more updates on the training going on at the park and how everyone is getting on. Capybara Our lovely capy’s have been undergoing recall training since they arrived at the park last year. This is a signal used to get them to come over to the…
Last week saw the celebration of International Zookeepers Week and what a celebration to be had! Let’s discuss some routes into zookeeping and I’ll treat you to my journey becoming a keeper. Often scoring high in the “dream job” category, sits the Zookeeper. I’m told by strangers how lucky I am and how I have…
Emergency recall is one behaviour which I’ve been so excited to start. It is a challenging behaviour but so rewarding to see when it begins to take shape. What is an emergency recall? An emergency recall is much stricter than the normal recall. It is necessary that we do this for the animals to get…
Hi everyone, my name is Georgia, I am the vet for Wingham Wildlife Park. As it is World Veterinary Day on Saturday 27th April, we thought you might like an insight into what I get up to as the onsite vet for the collection! My role as a vet in a zoological collection varies hugely…
At Wingham we have a pair of western dwarf crocodiles and we have been working with them to scale train them, in this blog you’ll see how it’s going. Some snapping facts Dwarf crocodiles are the smallest crocodile species, rarely reaching a length of over 1.5 meters. This nocturnal species are opportunistic feeders, hunting for…
In this blog I’m going to talk about tiger, Tora’s recent contraceptive implant change and general health check. So, who is Tora? Tora is a 5 year old hybrid tiger currently housed at Sandwich Wildlife Park with another tiger Duke. Her implant was due to be changed so I did some training with her to…
Yes, you can train a crocodile (find more here about why training is important and who else I work with)! We have a pair of Cuban crocodiles, Rico and Havana, who have been trained to enter a shut away area. This is in order for our keepers to safely enter the enclosure. Clever crocs The…
I am very lucky and get to work with our 3 Bornean Orangutans. Molly, Jin and Belayan. These guys have incredible characters and it has been a joy to get to know each of the orangutans personalities. From the very start of my journey with them at WWP, Molly was the one I spent most…
