Annual Report- 2007 - Zoo Negara

EDUCATIONIn 2007, the Education Department continuedits responsibility in providing free wildlifeeducation to visitors namely school children. Atotal of 1,608 schools from all around the countryvisited Zoo Negara in 2007. About 78,400 schoolchildren were treated to a variety of educationactivities such as guided tours, interactive sessions,zoo hunts, animal presentations and much more.EDUCATION SERVICEThere has been an upgrade to the activities in2007. Besides providing guided tours on the zootram, the department has managed to obtain thesupport of college and university volunteers to assistwith the provision of guided tours on foot. Owingto the high demand for a more comprehensiveguided tour service, walking tours for as long astwo hours have been hugely popular with schools.The tour is still provided with no extra chargesand we hope this will continue with the supportfrom more volunteers in the future. Volunteers arealso stationed at the Reptile House, Bird House,Children’s World and Aquarium to guide visitorsalong the exhibits. Locations such as these fora variety of animal exhibit and guides provideinformation and ensure smooth visitor flow alongthe trails.Interactive Sessions around the zoo has also beenemphasized in 2007. These sessions are held atour Malaysian Elephant, Malayan Tiger, BorneanOrangutan and Sun Bear Exhibit. Volunteers arelocated at these locations with a touch table toprovide interesting and fun facts to visitors. Visitorsare given the chance to interact with volunteers andtryout the education materials that are provided.We have proven that curiosity has ensured morevisitors come close to the touch table for a learningsession.OUTREACH PROGRAMMESThe demand for the Education Department toprovide outreach education has been on an increaseespecially in 2007. By midyear, the department teamup with an external marketing team, Global SoftMarketing to provide more outreach programmesto schools in Selangor. A variety of activities suchas talks, animal appearances, colouring and quizsessions were held for school children. Thanks toGlobal Soft Marketing with the provision of moremanpower and transportation, over 12 schoolswere visited in the course of 2 months. We wouldlike to take the opportunity to thank Sekolah SriKDU for taking up the adoption of one Asiatic BlackBear during the outreach programme.INTERNSHIPThe Department continues to receiveundergraduates from institution of higher learningfor their practical training and a place for them todo their undergraduate and post graduate researchthesis. Departments that require students forinternship and research are the Zoology, Veterinary,Public Affairs, Parks & Gardens (Landscape) andthe IT Department.VOLUNTEERSThere has been an increase of volunteers in2007. College and university students flood thezoo as volunteers to fulfill their required socialservice hours. The department accommodated amaximum amount of 150 volunteers per day andthey are then segregated to areas around thezoo assisting keepers with their routine work andalso to assist in animal enrichment programmes.Veterinary students are also regular volunteers inthe zoo hospital assisting our veterinarians withminor procedures. The zoo also receive volunteersfrom other countries and we would like to takethis opportunity to thank ‘Way Out Experience’ forregular volunteers from United Kingdom to assistus with enrichment programmes for the great apesand primates.SEMINARSThe department continues its responsibility inproviding with the latest information regarding zooindustries to the Zoo Negara staff by conductingmonthly seminar. Concurrently, we took theopportunity to open these monthly seminars tothe public, sponsors and invited universities andschools. Topics that have been covered in 2007include “The Global Amphibian Decline”, “AnimalManagement – An Islamic Perspective”, “Save theSynchronous Fireflies”, “Hand Rearing of Hyaena”and many more. Over 200 participants are invitedto attend to the seminar on a monthly basis andspeakers are invited from local universities, NGOsand even professionals from other countries.10