YES, I’M IMPORTANT!
Shardul the red panda hams it up for the camera and zookeeper Laura Chapman. The Halls Gap Zoo is giving animal-lovers something to smile about in their self-isolation, taking to social media with educational videos featuring the zoo’s furry residents. Zoo operators hope to qualify for Federal Government ‘crisis support’ funding to ease the burden of COVID-19 restrictions.
AFederal Government grant could be what saves a primary Wimmera and western Victorian tourist attraction as operators find themselves at a loss through COVID-19.
Halls Gap Zoo owners, who heavily rely on the flow of Grampians tourism, are waiting to see whether their business is eligible for the Federal Government’s $95-million ‘crisis support’ funding for zoos and aquariums.
Desperate to avoid ‘going backwards’, the zoo, which cares for more than 160 species of animals, has been doing everything in its power to continue caring for its animals after it was forced to close in March.
Zookeepers have started live-streaming educational packages about the zoo’s animals to continue to keep the public engaged in animal conservation.
Assistant manager Mark Treweek said Federal Government assistance, including Jobkeeper payments, was largely keeping the zoo afloat.
He said he estimated the zoo should be eligible for more than $100,000 in financial help through the latest funding announcement, which would go toward covering costs of caring for animals including expenses for food and utilities.
“Now with the Jobkeeper payments and if the extra grant money comes through – that will relieve a lot of pressure,” he said.
“Easter is our biggest drawcard, so we’ve missed out on a lot of income that supports us throughout the year.
“It’s knocked us back a fair bit, but we’re rolling with the positives.
“We’re taking this as an opportunity to fix things up internally.”
Mr Treweek said closures had allowed the zoo to focus on maintenance such as fixing fences, building new pens and playgrounds.
He said owners Yvonne and Greg Culell had put ‘everything’ into establishing the zoo from its beginnings in 2007.
“In more than 12 years they have completely rebuilt the zoo – they’ve put everything they own back into the place,” he said.
“They have had to take out a loan just to get through the six months.
“At the moment we’ve no money coming in, so if we have the animal costs covered through this support and wages covered through Jobkeeper, it takes a load off everyone’s shoulders.”
Mr Treweek said Jobkeeper payments had allowed him to reassign more than half of his workforce.
He said he had desperately needed zoo staff back to help care for the animals.
“When we closed in March we had to stand down two thirds of our staff. The Jobkeeper program enabled us to get all of them back on board,” he said,
“We have to keep moving forwards, we can’t go backwards – when everything opens back up, we’ll be straight back into it.”
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the $95-million package would ensure zoos and aquariums could continue to provide quality treatment and care for animals.
“While COVID-19 might be keeping visitors away, zookeepers, aquarium owners and veterinarians continue to play a lead role in wildlife recovery after the bushfires, from treatment and rehabilitation to the development of insurance populations,” she said.
Live-streaming
Zookeeper Laura Chapman has been helping the zoo ‘keep the ball rolling’.
Managing the zoo’s social media content, Ms Chapman, with the help of other zookeepers, has started Facebook live-streaming educational material, featuring the zoo’s iconic animals such as the Burmese python.
She said species conservation and awareness was the primary message of video content the zoo was producing.
“One of the main roles of the zoo is education – people are learning about the animals and their natural habitats and how they can help,” she said.
“We’ve made videos with our Burmese python, lemurs and our red panda is always quite popular with people.
“We even put a Gopro in with our quokkas – it’s cool to see them come up and interact with the camera when the keepers aren’t there.”
Ms Chapman said she hoped the videos would give people something meaningful to look forward to in their self-isolation.
“I think lots of keepers are looking forward to talking about the animals and interacting with people – even though it’s online it’s still that interaction with the public,” she said.
“It feels like we’re giving back to the public as well – they’ve been so amazing with supporting us over the years and even during this time.
“We’ll just continue what we’re doing – the animals are still here, so we’ll see what the future holds.”