Unlikely to be of much interest...

For Christmas, my wife bought me an experience called "Shadow a keeper for the day", where basically I worked in a zoo (Paradise wildlife park, up the A10) for a day. Yesterday I actually did it.

I wasn't sure what to expect, and because they also run an experience called "Big Cat keeper for a day", I wasn't going to get to do anything with them, which was a shame as I love tigers.

Got there at 8am, swept out the camels and alpacas, then feeding them (both camels and alpacas were lovely - very friendly), then the zebras, then tapirs and capybaras (the first animals which didn't like being stroked). Brain dump of what I did as follows:
Fed lemurs (gorgeous! lovely long fingers which grabbed my fingers, and quite happy to clamber all over me)
Fed red pandas (shy)
Fed Racoons (a bit boisterous)
Fed coati mundis
Held albino hedgehog (shy)
Held bearded lizard
Fed otters (nearly lost a finger to one of them - just enthusiastic - my fault!)
Handled giant millipede
Handled tarantula
(wasn't allowed to handle scorpions because they have a habit of locking claws on to people which hurts, and they don't let go for about 15 mins!)
Saw baby snow leopard, not visible to public yet

And then things got really exciting.

They were going to feed the lions, tigers, snow leopards, jaguars and cheetahs and I went along. When I got there, they gave me a bowl of horse meat and I hand fed them! The tiger was probably the most impressive. I stood up and held the meat as high as I could and poked it through the bars. It stood on its hind legs and ate if from me, so its chest was almost against my face. Its pads were huge - much bigger than my hands. It was 9' long. Once I'd finished feeding it, I held my hand against the bars and it licked my hand clean.
Jaguar liked being stroked after I fed that.

I'm hate concrete zoos but this was really good. The lions and tigers were in perfect condition and looked very healthy - I've never seen healthier and happier looking lions and tigers.

The people were brilliant - really friendly and enthusiastic, letting me get involved as much as I wanted to be. Was a shane that I didn't get to have a play with the scorpions or armadillos but I'm not going to complain about that.

I can't praise the day enough. It was brilliant.

One thing that was rather odd tho. When the park opened, people would come up to us and chat etc - all good. However, in the afternoon a large group of a certain people turned up and the keeper I was with said something along the lines of "Oh no, we're in trouble now - they're a nightmare". To be honest, I thought it was some kind of personal prejudice, but the next 2 keepers I worked with said similar things, citing examples of their behaviour (throwing things at the animals in the cages and at the demonstrations, emptying a bottle of drink over lemurs to give 2 examples). I also saw a lot of poor behaviour (they were winding up the lions, refused to leave viewing area to give the lions some privacy whilst they ate) and generally complained.
I'm not going to name the people because it wouldn't be fair but it did amaze me that people would spend quite a lot of money taking their familys to the zoo and then behaving to terribly towards the animals.
The keepers were incredibly professional, and I can't thank them enough for the day I had.

If you like animals, give it a go - http://www.pwpark.com/pages/aaa/experiences/shadow.asp

It's a good day out even without the experience.

That actually sounds a really great present. Can you tell us how much if you know. Oops say on link, ta.

[anna]

wow that sounds like a very cool day and something I wouldnt necessarily have thought of doing.

glad you had such a good time

me want me want...!!!!!!

Wow sounds amazing, going to check out the link now. Did you get any photos of the day?

Yeah, it was brilliant. The day was £125 (to save people from looking).

I think that because I was so enthused, and so keen to help, without being pushy, as well as a lot of luck (they don't feed all the big cats every day) meant that I got more than possibly I should have done, so I wouldn't expect everyone would get it. Even without that, it would have been great.

I don't think I've ever had such a variety of animal poo on me in one day. Or possibly ever.

It's great that a zoo can get a decent amount of income for very little outlay - it didn't really cost them anything other than a little bit of extra time to do each thing. Money well spent for me.

Originally Posted by sharriso74

Wow sounds amazing, going to check out the link now. Did you get any photos of the day?

Yes, I did - wife took a few on the digital camera (before the battery died!) so went and bought a disposable one from the shop. Once I've got them back, if they're any good, I'll post them.
My wife is a little nervous around animals (whereas I'm stupidly over confident - I got told off for stroking a cougar in Belize (danger to me - the animal loved it!)) so I'm not expecting them to be David Bailey quality photos!

That must have been so cool, I would love to feed lions and tigers..... I bet the purrrrring sounded more like my blueflame than a cat

Sounds great

WOW! hadn feed tigers then get hand washed by them! AWESOME!!


I'm a cat fan, just love them!

I'd be interested too in the Tarantula holding. I'm abit of an arachnophobe, so hopefully that would cure me!!!

OR make me have more nightmares! LOL