/New experiences at Blackpool Zoo

BLACKPOOL Zoo has launched a brand new series of animal experiences, which include some aimed at children and adults with additional needs.

The half-day packages have been devised to ensure everyone can enjoy getting up close and personal with zoo residents.

Visitors will shadow the zoo’s dedicated and caring staff in three hour sessions, where they may mingle with monkeys, lounge with the lemurs and serve snacks to the pelicans and penguins.

The ‘Junior Keeper Experience’ is available to children and young adults aged eight to 17, while the half-day experience is open to anyone over 18.

The Assisted Keeper Experience will be a unique programme devised by the zoo’s animal experience co-ordinator, Connor Blackburn, following a personal consultation.

Connor, 23, took part in the zoo’s first ever zoo keeper academy eight years ago.

He said: “I have been passionate about animals all my life and always wanted to be a zoo keeper. The Zoo Keeper Academy cemented my passion for the job and I worked at the zoo in almost every department, from catering to admissions, in the years following while I completed my studies.

“I have just finished my Diploma in the Management of Zoo and Aquarium Animals and was delighted to learn I have been selected for the role of animal experience coordinator.

“The junior keeper experience is the perfect introduction for anyone considering a vocation with animals and the Half Day programme has been launched as a shortened alternative to our full day offering.

“I am very excited that, for the first time ever, we are able to offer the Assisted Keeper Experience for children and adults with a disability or additional needs, and we will work closely with these people to ensure they get the most out of their time at the zoo.”

Each experience is different and visitors could be working with tortoises, giraffes, anteaters, tapirs, aardvarks, lemurs, lorikeets, spider monkeys, otters, farm animals, reindeer, pelicans or penguins.

Those taking part will get to try out various activities, such as feeding the animals and mucking out.