Clawing your way to the top – at Bristol Zoo
Bristol Zoo recently hosted a lively careers workshop, offering young people in Year 10, from City Academy, a unique chance to delve into the diverse world of jobs at Wild Place. Students were warmly welcomed by an impressive range of staff, including zookeepers, conservationists, volunteers, visitor experience team, and even the HR manager. Each brought their own expertise, sharing insights into their roles and inspiring attendees with the many career possibilities within the zoo environment.
A highlight of this rather wet Autumn Day was meeting some of the animals up close including giraffes, black bears, and lemurs. Students were given a hands-on task guided, by an animal behaviourist, on how to document and analyse the actions of a zoo resident, gaining some understanding of how such observations support animal welfare and conservation efforts. We were also able to feed the meerkats with vegetables and live crickets!
The workshop emphasized that careers in conservation and zoology are highly competitive. Students were advised that a great place to start is by gaining volunteering experience or even applying for part-time (aged 16 plus, post GCSE) seasonal roles in areas such as visitor experience, retail, or catering. Participants were signposted to opportunities at Bristol Zoo Youth Volunteering and other organisations giving them practical next steps to kickstart their journeys.
Other features of the workshop included a tour meeting several zookeepers along the way, finding out about their individual career journeys to arrive at Wild Place as well as a motivational talk from the conservationist who also works for Bristol Zoo in Tanzania! Students left inspired, with one saying, “I found out important information about the variety of sectors in the zoo and their volunteering opportunities”
The event encapsulated Bristol Zoo’s commitment to conservation and education, sparking new passions and ambitions among the next generation of environmental stewards. It was, without a doubt, as the bears might say “Grizzly great”! 🐾
