THE QUIET LIFE
HOW ANIMALS ARE COPING AT WILDLIFE PARKS
TOURISTS and the occasional local aren’t the only ones missing the chance to interact with wildlife in the region’s fauna-based attractions.
According to staff at The CaPTA Group, which runs Rainforestation, Cairns ZOOM and Butterfly Sanctuary among others, the animals are craving the human interaction they used to get in spades.
Marketing manager Amanda Perry, who organises live crosses to the company’s parks and zoos via The CaPTA Group’s Facebook page and website, said the dingoes and cockatoos in particular were wondering where their human visitors had disappeared to.
“Right now it’s just the essential people on to keep the park going. Mostly it’s a wildlife keeper or two, very minimal maintenance staff so the place doesn’t get overgrown and a management team who are doing bookwork, paying staff and other operational tasks,” Ms Perry said.
“The dingoes absolutely love seeing a new person in their enclosure.
“Cockatoos really crave human interaction, too.
“Koalas don’t mind the attention but they do enjoy seeing their favourite keepers and some of them haven’t been working for a while.
“We give them a scratch and a cuddle whenever we can.”
With no visitors, the minimum staff are not stuck for jobs to do. Ms Perry said because there were fewer staff there was far more work to do between them.
“If we had tourists in there, we’d have enough keepers in to do all the talks and background keepers for cleaning and feeding,” she said.
“The keepers are missing interacting with tourists too.
“It’s an eerie feeling being in the empty parks. The first time I went in with no one was at
Cairns ZOOM and I was used to going in there when it was quite busy and noisy and exciting. Now I get a bit more of a happy feeling because I know I get to showcase the park to the public online.
“The interaction and questions on Facebook are really brightening our keepers too.”