Zoo Recount

Zoo Recount

“It’s so foggy”, I told myself before hopping on the bus. “Is it going to rain?”. Today my whole school
travelled to the Auckland Zoo. This was a usual almost every year thing but this time it felt more
exciting!

As we parked on the side of the curb, I saw a woman with a microphone attached to the side of her
cheek and a circle shaped speaker strapped across her hips. As we got off the bus, we assembled
in two lines and began walking through the entrance of the zoo. At first I saw zoo staff wearing
daffodils for Daffodil Day. Then I saw schools in their uniform, and little kids with their parents. We
were then escorted to a closed off  area with a sign that said “Welcome, Christ the King College”. I
laughed and sarcastically said “Yep, we’re totally a college!”.

Firstly, we sat down. Another lady named Kirsty, then introduced herself and a few other educators
that were going to be teaching us things about the zoo. She also told us where toilets were and split
us off into different groups. Then we were separated. Basically, the year 7 & 8’s were in a group. We
then walked to a small pond enclosure which had otters. At first they were hard to find but then we
spotted small movement underneath some trees and we saw cute small otters. Across from that enclosure,
was a construction site for new enclosures. I wondered “What’s that for?”. As we walked around looking
at animals we always kept cautious of the time. We sat down and ate our morning tea at a grass bit near
the Band Rotunda. As we walked around a little more we made our way back to the meeting area.
Then we were introduced to Fraser.

Fraser took us into a classroom where we learned about animal cruelty and animal trophies which
linked to our inquiry on Justice. He then showed us some videos of the zoo and why zoo staff decided
to work for the zoo. All of them said for the animals.  We were then escorted to the NZCCM which stands
for: New Zealand Centre of Conservation Medicine. At first I thought “Are we going see any animals
being operated or something?”. My question was answered when we entered the room. No, it was empty.
When we went inside he told us to read words and explore. There were windows inside which showed
the inside of a animal hospital like place. In the other window, there was a room with plastic containers
facing the window. Inside were Chesterfield skinks, an endangered species. Then we went back to the tigers.
This time there was a show where two zookeepers gave a talk and planted food for the tigers. The lady
of the pair said that the mother likes to play with boxes and the son likes to play with bones which he is
very protective of.

In the end, this was a very great and exciting day! We learned heaps and saw many cool animals. I hope
the animals enjoy the new enclosures and I hope to see them again in the future!