Children and the Education Officer at work at Monarto Zoo

Most zoos have education as an integral part of their reason for existing. Monarto Zoo in South Australia is no exception.

In fact, the zoo has long had an Education Officer, Ian, who is a trained teacher with many years of experience. I am delighted to not only call him a colleague but also a friend. I also had the privilege of teaching two of his own children some years ago.   About that time I also helped Ian and several other teachers develop some of the learning materials used with classes visiting the zoo. That was many years ago and they have probably been changed many times since.

The photo above shows Ian in full swing with a class of children at the zoo.

Volunteers

The zoo also relies heavily on volunteer help. These volunteers give of their own time to acts as guides on bus trips and also on the many tasks behind the scenes, things like tree planting programmes. On one shuttle bus trip we took last year we had the delight of another friend, Brian (shown below) as our tour guide. Brian is also a former teaching colleague and now a good friend.

People living in South Australia  are always needed as volunteers at the zoo. Contact the zoo for more information on how to become a volunteer.

Brian, one of the volunteer guides at Monarto Zoo