The Whipsnade Workers

Having given The Wife the present at Christmas (and her reciprocating on Valentine’s Day), yesterday we spent the day being zoo keepers at Whipsnade Zoo!

We started the day off being collected at the main gates (with three others) and given a quick tour of the park in a van (it’s 600+ acres, you don’t really want to walk it!), before heading to one of the cafes for a briefing on what the day would consist of and a bit of breakfast. They usually give you overalls to wear so you can get covered in dirt, but as it was a sunny day we were just given t-shirts otherwise we’d have been a bit hot!

Our first task of the day was to clean out the rhino enclosures. So armed with brooms, shovels and a couple of wheelbarrows, we swept out the two rooms and transfered all the poop (there was a lot of it) into a dumper truck to be taken away and disposed of. We gave the enclosure a quick hose down and then we got the chance to feed the rhinos their appetising breakfast of cabbages, lettuce, apples and carrots.

Next on the list was to feed the tiger, so we made our way over and she was brought into the hut from outside where we had her chunk of horse waiting for her. She was so beautiful and graceful as she bounded into the room and jumped up to her perch. Unfortunately, they’ve only got the one tiger at Whipsnade and she gets a bit lonely and so had been off her food for a bit. Although the way she playfully managed to get her second piece away from the trap-door showed that she was feeling a little better!
Our next job was another feeding, this time for the otters. They were shrieking in excitement as soon as they saw the van pull up and swam over to the edge of their pond to get their food. They also had horse, but it was liver for them, not a leg as the tiger had been given! They made such a racket as they fought each other for the pieces they were given.

We then had another proper job to do…clean out the elephant enclosure. There was more dung to be cleared out and we had to rake the whole of the yard out to collect up all the other bits of rubbish that litter the place. It took us about 35 minutes to do this and it was like a sun trap in there so we were all hot and knackered afterwards.

With every animal we worked with we were told all about them, where they came from, just as if we were being given a private tour, so it was very educational as well.

We then headed to the lemur enclosure to sweep up more poo, but this was an easy job though as there wasn’t much of it! Not compared to the rhinos at least! We then loaded up their porridge treats around the cages, re-filled their water and then we got the chance to feed them.

Armed with a large bowl of nuts, seeds, grapes and raisins we fed the dozen or so lemurs by hand, with us sitting on the floor being clambered on as they attacked us for their snack!
After our own lunch, our next stop was the wolves. There was more horse to feed them with and because we were a little away back from their fence, we had to make sure our throws made it into their enclosure. Huge chunks of vitamin-covered meat (including ribs!) flew over the fence as we all managed to get our bits in. Not sure what would have happened had any of us missed?

There was more food to prepare next so we spent a short while chopping up more fruit and veg that was going to be shared with three sets of animals, the first of which was the hippos. Wallowing in their pool, a mother and baby hippo were fed cabbages by way of throwing them into the water. I say ‘into the water’, The Wife managed to smack Hula the baby hippo on the nose with one of her shots!
We then made our way to the red river hogs to scatter-feed them their fruit and veg mix – they surely must get their five a day – and then watched them furrow around in the mud for it for a while collecting everything we’d thrown to them.

Normally we would have got to meet the elephants after clearing their enclosure earlier in the day, but because of their schedule around the park we needed to put it off until they were free. So after we were done with the red river hogs we headed back to the old elephant enclosure to meet and feed one of the younger elephants of the troupe.

Armed with apple halves, we took it in turns to feed and stroke him and we then had the chance to meet a couple of the others and got to talk with a couple of the elephant keepers about these wonderful creatures. This was the highlight for The Wife and I, and it was a shame it couldn’t go on longer than the half hour we spent with them.
There were only 2 more jobs to do and so we had to crack on to make sure we were done in time. The first of which was to feed the wild boar with the fruit and veg we had prepared earlier, and just like with the red river hogs earlier, they foraged in the mud as we scatter fed them. Considering the amount of mud that they live in, they were quite clean animals.

Our last task was to feed the giraffes, but we had to collect their food first. This meant cutting down some branches of the nearby hawthorn trees so that they had plenty of leaves to eat. We didn’t get in with them but we didn’t need to as their long necks easily reached down over their fence to us on the other side. They did their best to yank the branches out of our hands so we had to hold on tight to them.
And that was it!

It had been a brilliant day. The sun had shone all day and we’d had an amazing experience getting up close and personal with some beautiful animals, learning about them and feeding them.

And we’d shovelled some shit!