Trust Chair reportCommunity matters
The Zoo belongs to our community. So we like to give back as often as possible. Whether we do this in obvious or more subtle ways, the outcome of strengthening ties at every level of our community is always our aim.
In January we held our annual Neighbours’ BBQ to invite residents of the surrounding streets in Newtown for a free after hours visit to enjoy a sizzling sausage or two – it’s our way of saying thanks to our neighbours for their support of the best little Zoo in the world! This year saw a record number of over 960 local Newtown residents attend.
Volunteers
Wellington Zoo is well supported by our volunteers — both individual and corporate. Last year volunteers donated the equivalent of just over five full time employees-worth of time to the Zoo. One of our volunteers spent 515 hours (just over 64 days) at the Zoo.
As well as volunteers helping out with visitor interaction and general day to day duties at the Zoo, this year we recruited nine specialist volunteers to support different areas of the Zoo including The Nest Te Kōhanga, Learning, Commercial Development and Stores.
Over 2010-11 we hosted three LiveNZ volunteers from the USA. These American students come to New Zealand to gain work experience with voluntary organisations and they work with us full time for six to eight weeks.
For six weeks we had a volunteer working at the Zoo through the Skilled Migrant Programme, an opportunity for skilled migrants who are unemployed or underemployed to experience first-hand the culture of the New Zealand workplace.
Gateway is a programme designed to ease the transition from school to work, by providing students with the opportunity to combine school study with workplace learning and experience and we have had two Gateway students volunteering at the Zoo this year. One of these students wants to remain on at the Zoo as a volunteer, despite having finished his schooling.
Out and about
Zoo staff got out and about in our neighbourhood with the property team refurbishing the puppy pens at the SPCA as part of a team building day and Visitor Engagement and Life Science staff took along some contact animals to visit at Wellington Children’s Hospital. Children with varying ailments had the opportunity to meet a rat, shingleback skink, sulphur crested cockatoo, hedgehog and tuatara as well as interact with Zoo Keepers and Educators. The visit bought some excitement and joy to these kids while they were confined to the wards.