Now we are introducing new animals to Dartmoor Zoo, creating engaging and enriching experiences for our animals, plus developing our mental health, education, research and conservation programmes.
We have a Well-Being programme, where local GP’s can refer patients with mild depression or social exclusion via a ‘green prescription’. This helps them become part of a team, benefit from the fresh air and animals, learn new skills and join in with the laughter. This programme has also been extended to help sufferers of PTSD at a centre for rehabilitating Royal Marines and people who’ve come back from tours of duty.
We get these guys and girls – who can be difficult to engage with – to the zoo, put them in front of a jaguar and tell them the jaguar will go in to his house, while they construct a platform for him.
It’s extremely exciting being in a big cat enclosure knowing that your trust is in someone else, who you don’t know, and that one mistake would mean the jaguar will be there with you! Ex-service personnel are used to high adrenaline situations, which is why some go off the rails when they get back from tour. So, we are helping them positively channel their adrenaline in a safe (besides the jaguars!), controlled environment.
We see over 12,000 school children every year through providing education sessions at the Zoo, and also through outreach visits, where one of our team takes some of our bugs and reptiles to their school.
I love it when children who have never seen animals in real life before visit, and are able to touch some of them. It keeps that wonder in their eyes alive, and they often leave clutching a feather or a leaf as a memento of their day.
We have lots of masters and undergraduate students here who conduct various studies. We also have partnerships with Plymouth University, Duchy College and more.
Our research pod operates in conjunction with Plymouth University, where there is animal, human and biodiversity research being carried out, so we can make sure we’re doing our very best for our own environment, as well as the animals we care for.
In 2014, I donated the zoo to Dartmoor Zoological Society, which is when we became a charity, I am still heavily involved as the CEO and live on-site still, but we have a board of Trustees with their own unique skills, who oversee everything and assist with running the zoo. Being a charity helps secure the future of the zoo for generations to come, and means we can do even more critical charitable work to help save animal species from extinction!