Hi All, My name is Alex. I was made redundant last July after 38 years in the ICT (comms and data) industry and have decided to chase a life long dream of animal care. I have enrolled at TAFE to complete my Cert II and will then follow with Cert III in captive animal care. I currently volunteer at Featherdale Wildlife Park which I find amazing. After years of sitting in labs and offices dealing with support and development of comms and data products with both vendors and suppliers, the ability to work outdoors with the public and animals has given me something to look forward to again. I am hoping that with my training will come more ability to help and develop skills that my chosen venue can use. I have in the past developed and delivered training courses, maybe I can help develop presentations and useful items to help further the conservation and awareness cause. We shall see where time will lead! Cheers,
Hey there AlexB! I'm hoping to do the same as you - throw away 30 years of IT work and get my hands dirty helping to look after a range of animals. I'm hoping to RPL the Cert 2 and go straight into the Cert 3 Captives... fingers crossed that my previous kennel hand experience with rescue will see them letting me into the Cert 3... As soon as I'm enrolled, I'll be applying to vollie at a few places - Featherdale and Symbio are at the top of my list there. Might go for the AWL as well - my kennel hand experience will see me right there methinks. I'm a regular at Featherdale - you'll recognise me as the dag with the camera with the huge white lens on it - usually found chatting to the animals/birds and trying not to get attacked by Spike... *grin* Tracey.
I think I have seen you around the raptor enclosures.... Will keep an eye open on the days I am there. If you drop in on Australia Day I will be around (from early...) AlexB
Welcome AlexB, always great to have new Aussie members! Hope you are able to update us on Featherdale (and other zoos) happenings.
