The Cat magazine, Autumn 2010

1. All photos: Clare Halden
W
here do I start? When I contacted Marwell Wildlife one to prevent malaria – in through the gills of bream fish.
with the hope of becoming a zookeeper for the Talk about getting mucky straight away! We fed these plus
day for a feature for The Cat, I don’t think I quite ordinary bream to each of the penguins – this was so exciting
realised the extent of which I would enjoy and want to savour as penguins are among my favourite animals! I sat on the edge
the experience that was to come. I asked to spend a day with of the rock pool while some of them gathered around my feet,
just the big cats but instead was offered the chance to spend patiently waiting for their breakfast. Other penguins coupled
the day with a whole variety of animals. up in tunnels or stayed with their young in sheltered boxes.
Marwell Wildlife is a charity dedicated to the conservation of Poor little Ralph stood out in particular, as he had moulted all
all living organisms, biological communities and ecosystems. It in one go rather than gradually in accordance with the seasons
has set up many worldwide projects to maintain existing animal so was wearing his own tailor-made wetsuit with his name
habitats as well as restoring and managing endangered sites. printed on it!
So I was really thrilled to be given this once-in-a-lifetime The Brazilian tapirs were next; a mother, father and
opportunity, working with a fellow charity striving to achieve daughter. We cautiously walked into their enclosure, not really
for such an important cause. knowing what to expect, but soon discovered what softies
We started off with south section keeper, Anna, and were they are: they love to have their bellies stroked! They would
introduced to the Humboldt penguins. We had to stuff three close their eyes and tilt their heads appreciatively before
tablets – one vitamin supplement, one for salt levels and eventually falling to the ground and lying like a dog with their
36 The Cat Autumn 2010

2. feature
Work on the
wild side
A
my Rutter shares her once-in-
a-lifetime experience... a day as a
zookeeper at Marwell Wildlife
legs in the air. We almost felt guilty when we had to leave as Then to the north section with keeper, Vik, to meet the
they were obviously enjoying the strokes so much! okapi. I had never seen okapi before so I was interested to
discover that, although they look similar to zebra, they are
Getting stuck in actually a member of the giraffe family.
Next, we were taken to meet the west section keeper, Karina, All but one were very nervous of sudden movement so we
to see the giraffes. They were outside in their paddock which had to alert them to our presence and be very gentle and calm
gave us the opportunity to help the keeper clean out the around them. Then I helped to prepare their food; we made
indoor enclosure. This was rather mucky – and smelly! – but vegetable kebabs, consisting of cabbage, apple, banana and
great to do something really hands-on which seemed to be leek and hung them from the ceiling in their paddocks.
a great help to Karina. When we’d cleared the floor space of
soiled hay, we went outside to see the giraffe and I fed them Befriending the rhinos
chunks of chopped banana. They were a little shy at first and I can honestly say I don’t think I ever thought I’d be able to
hesitant to come over, but once one had made the first move say I’d cuddled a white rhino, but it really happened! I always
in approaching me, another joined in to take the banana from had the impression that these prehistoric looking creatures
the palm of my hand. It made me realise just how special this would have a character not dissimilar to a hippo: grumpy and
day was going to be when I could see a small crowd of visitors unfriendly, but rhinos are actually big softies. I went to their
gathering behind, enviously, to watch me with the keeper. enclosure to say hello and was told as they approached us
The Cat Autumn 2010 37

3. that they can run up to 40mph and weigh two Just as the sun started beaming down, we
tonnes, but they seemed very gentle and slow moved onto the Australian bush walk area and
and loved to be touched. Their bellies felt rough helped out with weeding in the wallabies’ patch
as expected but I was surprised to feel that their of grass so that they had wider paths in which
necks were actually very soft and spongy. This was to navigate! This was hard work in the sun but
a brilliant experience – I just couldn’t believe the worth it when we’d catch glimpses of the wallabies
sheer size of them! scurrying about!
In the east section, the keeper Laura took us
to meet the lemurs. First up were the ring tailed Feline frolics
lemurs who were such characters! These black and For the remaining two hours of the day, we were
white lemurs were very eager to get close to me with the most significant of all the species to us:
and get food, sitting in a line on a rock – one was the big cats. The first of these were the Amur
even clinging onto my leg and pulling at my jeans tigers. When we were driving with the keeper,
to get my attention! The red ruffed lemur were Marc, in the Marwell buggy alongside the tiger
just as cute, using their little fingers to take pieces enclosure, they ran with us as they knew this
of fruit from my hands. meant one thing: food! Making sure that the
I loved the ring tailed coatis too, they were indoor dens were locked to the tigers, Marc put a
adorable little fellows who loved to climb around joint of raw horsemeat into two of them to entice
on rigging and branches. Their favourite food is the tigers in. He then opened up the door from the
dates and, again, they refused to eat any of the enclosure to the pens and straight away the male,
other fruit or boiled eggs offered until they could the bigger of the two, was in. The male Amur
see that all the dates had gone! tiger is the biggest of all the big cats, weighing
We met a few smaller monkeys next, including 40 stone and measuring around seven feet tall at
the golden lion tamarin, cotton top tamarin and full stretch – terrifyingly large! When the den was
Goeldi’s monkey. They were all very keen to make closed off with him inside, he roared ferociously
sure that I only fed them their favourite fruit – which was very frightening – it was sudden and
grapes, given to them only as a treat as they are so loud especially as I was only a few feet away from
sweet – first and refused to eat anything else until him! The female came in and grabbed her food
they knew it was all gone. and then they were both let back outdoors to pick
at the meat.
Next we went to meet the Amur leopards – the
male was brought into a den for feeding and it
was clear from the offset that he really didn’t
Two ring tailed lemurs scramble over each
other to get food
like us being there. A very territorial animal, his
frustration was obvious as he ran and jumped from
wall to wall quickly and frantically. Again, this was
rather scary!
We were able to open the door to the indoor sand
cat enclosure for feeding and they were quite happy
to approach us – as long as we didn’t see them
move! One of the sand cats was standing around
two feet from the door when we opened it and a
mouse was thrown into the area. He didn’t move so
Marc pretended to close the door and immediately
opened it again to reveal that in that split second
the cat had moved a foot closer to the mouse. This
was very amusing – he repeated the procedure and
this time when he opened the door we’d caught the
cat out! He had the mouse in his mouth.
The ocelot was another rather forbidding cat.
Although only slightly larger than a domestic cat,
I felt a little threatened by the fact that she
decided to stare us out! We stood around five feet
away from her inside her small enclosure – Marc
said there was no way he would get that close to a

4. feature
‘I can honestly say I don’t
think I ever thought I
would be able to say
I’d cuddled a rhino, but
it really happened!’
male but as it was a female we were safe so long as we didn’t
move any closer to her. It was quite something to actually be
able to step inside her enclosure with her.
When we visited the serval cats we couldn’t get too close as
they were in an outdoor enclosure and were fed there rather
than inside a den – so Marc simply threw two joints of meat
over the high fence to them. I had never seen servals this close
up before and they were larger than I expected – like a very
tall domestic cat with a long tail. Both the male and female
seemed quite happy lazing about in the sunshine.
Finally we visited the snow leopards. Marwell has a total of
three of these and recently acquired two from Switzerland
and Sweden. As they have only been there for five months,
they were in quarantine and so when in the den we could
only have a quick peek around the corner of the door. The
original snow leopard was kept separate from the new two
as she was an older female who could not live with the new
young male and female. The two younger snow leopards,
who were in the outdoor enclosure, were tricky to get close
to as every time we got close they moved away. Perhaps they
were camera shy!
I would definitely recommend this experience for anyone
interested in animals – it would make a fantastic gift and I
can’t emphasise enough just how much fun it was. The day Hungry but wary!
was even better than I expected and the memories will last
a lifetime.
For more information on Marwell Wildlife see their
website at www.marwell.org.uk. If you are interested
in booking a 30-minute face-to-face experience with
an animal or becoming a keeper for the day, contact
Marwell Wildlife’s Fundraising Team on 01962 777 988.
The Cat Autumn 2010 39