If you’ve ever dreamed of being a zookeeper, now’s your chance. SeaLife Melbourne is running a free ‘Be a Keeper at Home’ programme this week to get you behind the scenes of one of the coolest jobs on the planet.
Okay, so this one is definitely for kids, but you are more than welcome to live vicariously through them during the events.
Starting from today, Monday 26 July, and running until Friday 30 July, kids can log on to the SeaLife website at 12pm every day for a five-part video series that explains how the keepers at SeaLife Melbourne make sure that the animals there are well looked after.
The news will come as a welcome relief for any parents with little ones at home cooped up due to the ongoing lockdowns across Australia.
The programme focuses on different kinds of animal enrichment that the team employs to keep the animals happy, including social enhancement, cognitive enhancement, the physical habitat, sensory enhancement, and food.
SeaLife says: “When we look at enrichment with the animals we have at home, we should aim to ensure that our furry, feathered and scaley companions are displaying behaviours that are normal for their species, and we can achieve this with 5 simple enrichment categories”.
SeaLife has developed the educational programme to help kids form strong bonds with animals and will include learnings on how they can create an enriched environment for any pets they might have at home.
Kids will be given worksheets that can be downloaded online which they can fill out to help them remember the information in the videos.
“We’ll be challenging kids and testing their creative skills,” they have said. “For each category we’ll also be posting videos explaining the importance of each category and how kids can translate this to what they can do from home with their furry, feathered or scaley companions”.
Sounds like at least part of the school holidays are sorted!
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