SZ Tale 11 - Animal Day

MISSION STATEMENT - WORLD ANIMAL DAY

•  To celebrate animal life in all its forms
•  To celebrate humankind’s relationship with the animal kingdom
•  To acknowledge the diverse roles that animals play in our lives – from being our companions, supporting and helping us, to bringing a sense of wonder into our lives
• To acknowledge and be thankful for the way in which animals enrich our lives

And the zoo decided to take this chance to organise an Enrichment Day today to share with the public how the zoo keeps the animals entertained. By stating examples, those with pets might get pointers on how to keep their pets occupied too.

The only problem is both the briefing and the actual event is on a Saturday so I had to take 3 buses just to head to the zoo. Just shows how “passionate” I am about the zoo right now haha.

My first half of the day is spent at the giraffe section sharing with the public the tools they use to keep the giraffe, zebra, rhino etc occupied.


This is one of the tools used. And usually food is the main motivating factor for them to explore the tools. So for this case, different type of food and scent will be put into the tubes and the giraffes will spend time trying to extract these yummy food!


This is another tool used by the zoo. For giraffes, it is hung high up the tree and the giraffe will get their treats there. For the zebras, it is placed on land for the zebras to graze upon. Oh and this bottle was used as a game in the section where kids (or adults) will cover one hand with a sock (for protection against the bottle sharp edges if any and to mimic a giraffe’s tongue) and try to find 10 grapes within 1 minute. Those succeed will get a bookmark (actually anybody who tries will get la haha). I didn’t take photo of it though (forgot). You can see how scary some children can be!!

The second half of the day I was manning the face/hand painting corner which totally freak me out because I can’t paint at all. But my friend paints well for a beginner.. she painted a snake…


And a rabbit… cute right!


Then towards the end, there were 2 brothers who were asking to be face painted into cheetahs… So while painting the 2nd brother, another boy (the one on the extreme left side)  came along and he started staring first at the 1st brother then at the 2nd brother.. because he was also painted into a cheetah. And all 3 were very fascinated with each other.. it was a rather amusing sight. I still remember one of them even mention “I look better” or something haha.. Kids…

Oh and the lady (a CA) painting is the best face/hand painter I ever seen.. She was really good. And she’s very young. In fact I had quite a fun day making friends with these CA because they were really dynamic and amazing. And they were experienced volunteering in the zoo (compared to me this hatchling).