Mike right at home among the animals
Keeping animals and visitors happy at Natureland is all in a day’s volunteering for Mike Abeltshauser, one of 11 Kiwibank Local Heroes from the Nelson region.
‘‘I didn’t expect it and I don’t do it for that - but it is nice to be appreciated,’’ he said.
Frequently seen around the Tahunanui zoo grounds with short-billed corella Missy perched on his shoulder, or simply sharing some useful animal information with a visitor, the German native initially saw NZ as a good place to retire when he arrived in the mid-90s.
‘‘After about three months my wife got sick of me and I had to go and get a fulltime job.’’
With a masters degree in engineering and a career in project management, Abeltshauser took a job with Tasman Energy.
Five years later, he opted for redundancy when the supply arm of the business was sold to Contact Energy in 1998.
‘‘Part of the redundancy deal was that you had to invest the money into something for your education or something - one of the things that NMIT did was a animal handling and animal care - as a young kid I was always into animals.
‘‘On a Friday we would do our practical [placement], and I did that here at Natureland.’’
Once his study was completed, Abeltshauser continued to volunteer at the zoo until a few months later, when the supervisor went overseas.
Abeltshauser got his job, holding on to the role for almost a decade, before eventually settling back into volunteering.
Working with animals remained his big motivation. He said being a volunteer allowed him to spend more time with his furry and feathered friends.
‘‘What I do here is maintenance and repair of enclosures – all of the things that the keepers won’t have time for.
‘‘I’m more of a reptile man - they’re not for everyone and I’ve got my own share of scars.’’
Abeltshauser and his wife Gabi once lived on a ‘‘life-sentence block’’ in Upper Moutere, where he built an 80m2 aviary which held 100 birds.
Now the couple resides at Summerset Retirement Village in Stoke, with many of those birds moved to Natureland.
Abeltshauser counted Natureland’s rescue and release programme as the most satisfying aspect of his 15 years’ involvement with the zoo.
He also recognised the positive impact of places such as Natureland on IHC volunteers and community service candidates.
‘‘It’s giving them some responsibility but it also brings about change in their lives,’’ he said. ‘‘I went into a shop one day and a young fellow comes over to me and says ‘do you remember me?’ He had spent some working time here and it had turned his life around – he had learnt a few things since then and now he had a shop of his own.’’
Most of the time Abeltshauser volunteers about three days a week at Natureland. He also volunteers at the Hospice Shop and for the Y-Kids Preschool in Victory.