Ever dreamed of the chance to work with some of the rarest wildest animals in the world? Become a keeper for the day at the UK’s top conservation Park.
Experience one of the most exciting careers in the world as you roll up your sleeves, wack on your wellies and spend the day shadowing one of our highly trained animal carers. During your day as a keeper you will be assigned to one section and will spend your day helping with food preparation, feeding, cleaning out and anything else that might happen!
Go in with the keepers and help clean and feed the tigers, monkeys and many more. Get close for photos or just the sheer pleasure of being able to assist the care of these beautiful endangered animals.
Keeper for a day - Why not surprise someone with this unusual present? Or maybe reward, or use as an incentive, for a member of your staff? Or just simply treat yourself!
What animals will I work with?
As keeper for the day the choice is yours - choose the animal you would most like to work with and we will be assign you to the relevant team: Bear in mind you will work with a selection of animals throughout your day not just your chosen one!
Animals to choose from include: Rhinos, Giraffes, Baboons , Porcupines, Spectacled Bears, Tapir, Otters, Hippos & Babirusa, All our Monkeys and apes including: Gibbon, Mandrill, Spider monkey, Siamang, Macaques, Bats and Tortoise as well as Tigers, Lions, 8 Lemur Species as well as Tamarins, Marmosets, our large collection of Kangaroos & Wallabies, Vultures, Condors, Penguins, Macaws, Spoonbills, Waterfowl, Storks and Ibis
*Although we will make every effort to place you with your choice of animal we cannot guarantee it.
What shall I wear?
"Keepering" is a mucky job so be warned you will be expected to "muck in", so wear suitable clothing and footwear. Safety Wellington Boots are available for loan however we must have your request and shoe size in advance!
What hours will I work?
The day will start at 7.45 when following a safety briefing you will be  met by your “keeper for the day” and will finish (animals permitting!) at 17.30.
Rules for participants
- Participants must be over 16, quite fit and because of the nature and demands of the work in good physical condition.
- If you need personal insurance then please arrange own insurance for the day.
- This activity is inside park public opening hours. Strict rules apply so that the animals are not disturbed and it is done during their normal working procedures. It has been carefully thought out and no added stress will be allowed on the animals. Numbers are strictly limited.
Costs
Minimum donation £125.00. Morning drink with snack, lunch, and afternoon drink is included and at the end of the day you will receive a memento of your day.
The keeper for the day scheme is run and organised by the Wildlife Protection Foundation - an International charity based here at the park working all around the world to save habitats an species in the wild. All money raised is donated to conservation in the wild. Another active conservation project from the park that doesn't just talk about conservation...it does it!
Junior Keeper for the day
Experience one of the most exciting careers in the world as you roll up your sleeves, wack on your wellies and spend the morning shadowing one of our highly trained and friendly animal carers.
You will start off your morning preparing food before getting the chance to feed the penguins their breakfast. After the penguins have eaten you will be going behind the scenes where you will meet, greet, and feed our animals and help clean out their enclosures (Hold your nose we're going in!) You will then get chance to help out with and watch some of our public feedings.
What will we do ?
You will accompany one of our keepers for a behind the scenes tour of the park getting up close and personal to our monkeys, giraffes, penguins.. and more.... Prepare to get mucky as you help muck out and prepare dinner for some of animals and get ready to ask lots of questions as you spend the morning with one of our animal experts.
For the Parents:
Children are supervised at ALL TIMES by one of our highly trained animal carers. This is a group experience with a maximum of 5 places per day. A parent/ guardian must sign a disclaimer at the beginning of the day and they must leave and emergency contact number before they go.
Please NOTE due to the nature of the experience all special needs and medical issues must be declared at time of booking.
Regrettably certain guests will be unable to take part including people with relevant phobias or known allergies and immunocompromised individuals.
Whilst every effort is made to accommodate those with a disability or learning difficulty, due to practicality and health and safety this cannot always be achieved; please contact the park for advice before purchasing.
In the event of a child misbehaving or creating difficulties or health and safety issues within the group the keeper in charge on the day has the right to withdraw that child. Parents/Adults will be contacted and the experience halted with no refunds given.
All family members can visit the Park on the day however they must pay our admission prices to enter - our normal opening time is 10:00am. The Junior Keeper experience finish at 12:30noon and your information documents will let you know where you need to pick up your Junior Keepers.
To be eligable for this you must be between the ages of 7 & 15 years old
Dates book exceptionally fast, please enquire
BUY ONLINE NOW
or Tel 01229 466086x0
Adult Keeper experiences available all year
Junior keeper experiences available during school holiday times
May i remind you that you must provide us with a daytime telephone number as we will need to contact you regrding your Keeper for the Day.
Congratulations on booking your Keeper for a Day!
- You will now be sent an infromation pack - via post - containing everything you need to know about your day, for example, what you can expect from it, or what you may need etc. It will also contain an open voucher. This voucher will expire after one year from the date of purchase.
- Once you receive your information pack you will need to get back in contact with us to book your date, animal of choice and also wether you need safety wellingtons.
- At this point we will also ask you for additional information, for example, name of Keeper for a Day and their contact details.
- Then it is over to you to enjoy spending your day helping with food preparation, feeding, cleaning out and anything elsse that may crop up!
Reviews
27th February 2012
Hello, I just wanted to say thank you so much for a fantastic day last Saturday, when I came for a 'keeper for a day'. It was absolutely amazing working with the animals, and all of the staff were so friendly! It gave me a great insight into what working at a wildlife park would be like and had shown me that this is definitely the cateer I would like to follow.
Laura Scott
24th February 2012
Just dropping a note to thank all the staff for a wonderful day as a zookeeper on the 24th Feb. We both felt it was great and have enthused to many friends, family and colleagues so much so you may get more enquiries. We enjoyed it so much that we are looking forward to coming back at the end of the month to spend a day in the park. Once again thanks to everyone it made Maureen's birthday very special the way we were welcomed by all of you.
Stewart & Maureen Macfarlane. Glasgow.
1st May 2011
Thank you for an amazing day, I really enjoyed meeting all the animals especially getting close to the big cats. Holding a 14ft python was the highlight of my day! Thank you to the keepers for being so friendly and making me feel so welcome. It was a perfect 18th birthday treat!
Rose Kenworthy, Newcastle Upon Tyne
On Sunday the 10th October 2010 I attended your park as a “Keeper for the day” as a birthday treat for me.
Can I thank you and all your staff for making this day so special.
Throughout the day I was made to feel more than welcome by all your staff and nothing seemed too much trouble. At no time throughout the day did I feel anything other than welcomed and a part of the team. Even keepers that I was not with stopped me en route to a part of the park and asked if I was ok and enjoying the day and if there was anything I wanted. As your staff are so busy, hard working and caring about the animals it was brilliant that they should take their time to remember who I was let alone
to ask.
I had an absolutely wonderful time and, with your certificate and my husbands’ pictures I have a lot of fabulous memories. Though I must say it will be quite a while before the memories start to fade. To have the opportunity to get so close to all your animals was fantastic.
I will strongly recommend this treat to anyone and in fact my step son and his daughter are both considering applying. I have told several of my friends on Facebook and will be entering my remarks on your website review.
Once again thank you all and I will be seeing you all again when I next visit.
Nicola Nicholson, Warrington
Thank you for your quick reply but the friend that I was planning to buy the experience for, bought it for me! She surprised me and we came up Sunday.
It was an absolutely wicked day and your keeper staff are great! They were all very friendly and accommodating and we were both really impressed with the layout of your zoo and how you keep your animals. You have made great use of the available space and the wooden walk way which lets you see the tigers jump for their food is a great idea. It's a really fab place and we'd recommend it to anyone.
It was especially nice because the although your zoo is very professionally managed, it has a distinctly un-corporate and friendly atmosphere
We were so excited, I hope we weren't incredibly annoying!
Good luck for your expansion next year! I hope that even though your zoo will get much bigger, you will retain your original and individual charm.
Many thanks!
Kat
Dear Everyone,
Thanks very much to all the staff at the South Lakes Animal Park for giving my niece, Steph Hull, such a wonderful day last Thursday. She thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it and I am so grateful for all the time you gave to make that possible for her.
Hello to all the keepers at the park, I am just writing to thank you all who looked after me on Thursday when I was the keeper for the day.
I really enjoyed my day, it really was amazing to be so close with all the animals, and was an all round amazing experience.
Everyone who looked after me did an amazing job, and I would like to thank you all for making my day so brilliant. You are all doing a fantastic job there at the park, and I hope to be visiting again soon.
Thanks again
Sat 12th Aug I joined you for a 'Keeper for the Day' experience, and have not stopped talking about it since!
I have huge admiration and respect for all of you and the work that you do. It was a fantastic day and I will be booking a return visit. (One of my friends has just booked a day with yourselves following my praise of everyone and everything!) Finally I would like to add that I think The Park does a wonderful job towards animal conservation and I will recommend you to everyone I know. Also, apart from being thrilled at working so closely with the animals on the day, I should mention that every staff member that I met was wonderful. I was impressed by how each person made me feel at ease and as if I really was a help and not a burden to their daily activities. It was heart-warming to see how well they all pulled together and the general camaraderie of the team.
Thank you all once again, Julie Martin-Molyneux
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