Year 12 student Madison Davies was selected to participate in the Melbourne Zoo work experience program; she was one of only 26 students from across the state selected. Below is her account of the experience.
After a lengthy process of resumes and applications, I was given the opportunity to complete Work Experience at the Melbourne Zoo. On Wednesday 28th January, I went to Melbourne for an orientation day to meet the other students who were also given the opportunity and got a basic run down of what we would be doing during our week of work experience. On the 4th to the 8th of May I spent the week participating in different sections of the Zoo, meeting a range of different people and I was able to get an insight on what it would be like to work at the Zoo. Each day I worked at different sections from 7:20am to 5:00pm. Monday with the primates, Tuesday with the Trail (elephants) in the morning, wild sea life in the afternoon, Wednesday invertebrates, Thursday carnivores and ungulates and on Friday Australian animals. Every morning I assisted in the morning cleaning and feeding routines, which involved cleaning the enclosures and assisting in enormous amounts of food preparation. Throughout each day, I was given the opportunity to be a part of multiple veterinary check-ups on a variety of animals ranging from lemurs to elephants and also assisting in the training of animals including giraffes and seals. I am very thankful to Echuca College for the help and support they gave me throughout this experience.
