SRI LANKA
CONSERVATION

Work Report from Tim Kemp, a Travellers volunteer at the Zoo in Colombo. Tim describes below some of the work he did while on his placement.

Work at the Zoo falls very loosely into two categories - daily hands-on work with the animals and general zoo duties, and "enrichment programmes" which make an on-going difference to the animals' quality of life. This report from Tim gives you a good idea of what you may be able to achieve on this project:

HANDS ON EXPERIENCE WITH THE ANIMALS
Cleaning, feeding, etc.: On days when we do this type of work, we leave the house at between 7am and 8am. The elephants are washed at 9.30 and other animals from 7.30 onwards. For example, Penguins are cleaned around 8.00-ish and then we get to feed them about 9.30 - great fun!

After this, we feed the Sea Lion (and also the newly arrived baby!!). The staff have a break at 10.00 a.m. and return about 10.30. Now would be a good time to visit the baby spider monkey, feed it and play with it until lunch at noon. About 1.30 people return from lunch. Then there is the opportunity to go into the bird aviary and feed the birds, possibly having some amazingly coloured parrots land on your shoulder! We leave the zoo about 3.30pm.

ENRICHMENT PROGRAMMES.
The Director and his assistant directors are very keen to start enrichment programmes - both enriching the enclosures and the mental state of the animals. We had a meeting with the director and his assistant director general, Mrs Malsinghe to talk about what animal enclosure they wanted to enrich (maybe to coincide with a new arrival or simply due to age) and how to go about it.

Our project was to enrich the enclosure of the porcupines. it started off with just bare soil and concrete with the porcupines living in a hole in the ground out of sight! Through talking with the staff, we ascertained exactly what we needed to do - we needed to coax them from their burrow by providing shelter and shade but in a way that makes the animals visible to the public.

Firstly we had to landscape the entire enclosure. We moved large concrete pipes in which we half buried, created some hollows in some large tree stumps (that the cyclone donated!) and manoeuvred them into the enclosure (not easy when they weigh upwards of half a ton!) We painted the whole enclosure and planted some palm trees. With the help and co-operation of the resident carpenters, we created a shelter between the two tree stumps using logs also donated by the cyclone.

When i returned a few days later to check on any improvements, many of the porcupines were out in full view of the public, taking refuge in one of the many shelters we had created. Very very worthwhile.

A typical day would be leaving home at 8.00 a.m. and arriving about 9.30. Heading down to the porcupine enclosure to discuss what we were going to do today and what equipment and materials would be needed. This needs patience as many of the staff speak little or no English! If all else fails find one of the senior staff (who speak excellent English) - they will be able to get exactly what you want, when you want it. Spend the morning finding two large tree stumps which we then hollow out. Locate a tractor and approx 30 staff to lift the logs onto the tractor. To get the huge logs down into the enclosure (about 8 feet) we put three huge tyres in and rolled the logs up planks and down onto the tyres. Voila. This takes the strength and cooperation of at least 15 staff, so patience is a virtue.

Lunch at 12 and afterwards back to continue with the next phase of our enclosure enrichment.

It's a continuous and ever changing project which needs you to think on your feet and co-operate with each other. It's time-consuming and it may not seem like you get much done in a day, but when you look at how life in Sri Lanka is, unhurried, you really do accomplish quite a lot!

In my last week or so, I've been helping out on some of the teaching. Another really interesting experience. I'd be tempted to come back to do one of the teaching placements in Sri Lanka! Really rewarding too.

I'd recommend teaching and the zoo to anyone, especially as we now seem to have a good rapport with the senior zoo staff.

Got any questions? Please email us: info@travellersworldwide.com

 
Got any questions? Please email us:
info@travellersworldwide.com

Tim Kemp

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West Sussex, BN12 4AP, England
Tel: +44 (0)1903 502595    Fax: +44 (0)1903 708179
Email:info@travellersworldwide.com