Earlier in the week I spoke to Gail, a manager at Natureland about doing some community service. So on Saturday at 7:00am, I woke up bright and early, slipped on some old clothes and set off for my four hours at Natureland - our local zoo.
I arrived and met with one of the staff, Stacy. Stacy politely asked me to clean out the ducklings' container from the sick bay. I grabbed the hose and some hot, soapy water and proceeded to scrub and scrub until it was spotless. Then for good measures the hose came into action to just give it a squirt in case I had missed a spot.
After that stinky experience I went outside and uncovered Sadie in the chickens cage and fed her some fresh food. Sadie was also raising five Guinea Fowl chicks. Following that I fed and cleaned Tweetie, the talking yellow bird.
My day also consisted of feeding fish, cleaning cages, putting food in, taking old food out, but the one thing that stood out for me was cleaning out the cages of mice and shifting all the three day old mice to the other side of their house. It made me think about the mice, as their future here as Meerkat food is not very bright :-( After heaps of texts to my disagreeing mother, we finally compromised and I ended up bringing home two female mice as pets! I have named them Portia and Star.
Natureland is Nelson's 'little zoo' and has been around since before my Mum and Dad were born! Dad says it is in some financial trouble and is in danger of closing. I would hate to see this great place close down as they do so much valuable work. Please, if you are in Nelson get along and support them and keep Natureland going.
A huge thanks to Stacy, Gail and all the staff at Natureland
Community Service: 12 hours to date
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| Washing out a dirty food bowl |
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| Uncovering Sadie's hutch while the clean up crew do their job |
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| Mrs T the 40 year old tortoise |
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| All the baby mice huddled up keeping warm |
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| Great photo of me and the Tui |
The annoying but funny talking Cockatoo - Bloody Aussies!
The one-legged whistling Magpie
Well done Josh. You are so right, it is a fantastic place. I remember going there are a kid and feeding the animals. Well done on your day there. A great experience I am sure.
ReplyDeleteAwesome job JOsh you are an inspiration and a great role model for William Pike Challenge. Keep up the great work
ReplyDeleteMs E