Kids zoo keeper day

[Coffeeandcrumpet]

My animal obsessed son is desperate to be a zoo keeper when he is older and wants to do one of these days for his birthday (he will be 10). Has anyone's child done one of the zoo keeper for a day experiences? Where did they do it? Would you recommend it? We are based in East anglia but happy to travel a bit.

We did one at Colchester Zoo for my daughter's 10th birthday. She really enjoyed it but you can't choose what animals to work with , it's a set list. She made treats for parrots, met coatis in their cage, handled and weighed an owl and fed stingrays. But she had to share all this with another child who was also booked into same experience. We weren't told this could happen.

Mine did it at Chessington and loved it, well worth it.

Mine did it at Drusillas and absolutely loved it. Expensive but worth every penny.

That's great thanks, glad to hear people thought it was worthwhile, it's a lot of money and don't want to waste it. Do you know what it was you did at Chessington nnnnineteen? There seems to be a few options.

DD did it at a small local wildlife park. She loved it. She prepared food for the meerkats (meat and chicks so worth bearing in mind), fed and cleaned the penguins (her favourite part) as well as helped with other reptiles and small mammals.
This was a very small park though, and the zookeeper day was only around £30 so very worth it!

It was the junior zoo keeper experience. We had to arrive first thing and she was there till mid afternoon. There was one other child with her, which was fine. She prepared food for different animals, cleaned out sleeping areas, got them fresh water and hay etc. She was in the small animals section, like goats, capybaras and such, but once they had done their jobs, they got taken to meet and feed some of the big stuff. She also got to answer visitor's questions.
I didn't stay with her, she was quite shy so if I was there would have clung to me, so I left her to it and the staff took pics for me.

Probably a bit far for you to travel, but DD has done 2 junior keeper sessions at the New Forest Wildlife Park. When she did it, it was way better value than 'Zoo' experiences and you could actually touch/hold some of the animals.
If you have the ££ then Paulton's Park is a great primary-age-focussed theme park nearby too to make a weekend of it.