Name: Zookeepers self-isolate in animal park to keep them fed
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Zookeepers self-isolate in animal park to keep them fed

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Four zookeepers have decided to self-isolate on the grounds of a wildlife sanctuary to make sure the animals are properly cared for during the crisis.The staff members from Paradise Park in Cornwall have movedinto a house on site so they can continue feeding and cleaning the 1,200 birdsand mammals housed there.They will be supported by other keepers working on split rotas and covering different areas of the grounds.Paradise Park closed temporarily on March 21, but staff have been posting regular updates on social media and also run live webcams so people can still enjoy seeing the penguins at feeding time.One of the keepers, Izzy Wheatley, said: ‘I had beenthinking about how to handle the situation we all find ourselves in reisolating and social distancing as I have a big family including an eldermember who has gone in to 12 weeks isolation.‘At the same time the directors were having the same thoughts about using the house that is onsite and which became free as the Cornish Chough conservation meeting had just been cancelled.For all the latest news and updates on Coronavirus, .For our Coronavirus live blog .‘Myself and two other keepers Rachel and Emily then moved into the onsite house on Saturday.’She added: ‘We have just under 1,200 individual birds andmammals to look after, feeding, cleaning, giving medications, supplyingenrichment activities, and any vital maintenance.‘We are being supported by other keepers who are coming inat different times of day so they can keep separate, and obviously we arekeeping our distance from them.‘This is being achieved by changed rotas and splitting up areas of the Park to ensure we are all working in different areas.‘We are keeping up the daily routines with our Humboldt’sPenguins.‘A few are hand-reared and very friendly and in the summerseason from Easter onwards they take part in ‘Photocalls’.‘Usually, at the two feeding times of 11am and 3pm, weselect a handful of visitors to help feed the penguins, give a talk thenvisitors are invited to meet and stroke one of the friendly ones and takephotos.‘To ensure we are ready when we re-open, we are continuingto go through these routines.‘Plus we continue training with our eagles, vultures, hawks,macaws and other species who take part in our big free flying displays throughoutthe summer.’The park temporarily closed just over a week ago, but staff regularly update its social media pages and run live webcams so would-be visitors don’t completely miss out on seeing the wildlife.One covers the penguins – including the 11am and 3pm feedingsessions – while the other is from the red-billed chough seclusion aviariesshowing them nest-building for the coming breeding season.Izzy said: ‘We might get to a point where we don’t have anyof our keepers in if we get it at the same time so we have to consider whathappens then.‘We’ve made guidelines so some of our maintenance workerscan help feed.‘We would normally do penguin feeding times at our normaltimes, at 11am and 3pm, and we are trying to keep this going so people canstill be involved in the park.‘We will be having one of our keepers down there at those times to keep penguin feeding going as normal and we are looking into other things we could do with that so keep an eye on the Facebook page in case we decide we have some more things to do.’Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at .For more stories like this, .Not convinced?Get us in your feed

Four zookeepers have decided to self-isolate on the grounds of a wildlife sanctuary to make sure the animals are properly cared for during the crisis.The staff members from Paradise Park in Cornwall have movedinto a house on site so they can continue feeding and cleaning the 1,200 birdsand mammals housed there.They will be supported by other keepers working on split rotas and covering different areas of the grounds.Paradise Park closed temporarily on March 21, but staff have been posting regular updates on social media and also run live webcams so people can still enjoy seeing the penguins...

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Sam Corbishley

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Zookeepers self-isolate in animal park to keep them fed

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