A new resident at Te Puna Kararehe – one of a litter of baby guinea pigs!
Life at Te Puna Kararehe, our animal behaviour and husbandry centre, is very different to normal during Alert Level 3, but the team does a fantastic job of keeping it normal for the animals. Here’s senior technician Stacey Middleditch’s story:
“Technician Tina Burgess and I split the daily cleaning and feeding of the animals with only one person being on site on any given day. We also do health checks of the animals, change their water daily and take them outside for some sun if it’s a nice day.
“During the weekend we have our casual student techs; a team of four that are rostered on a rotating basis and take care of all the babies on the two non-work days. It’s important that we also take time to spend with the animals. Unlike our pets at home who are getting more attention than ever, our animals at Te Puna Kararehe miss their visitors, pats and cuddles so we have to make up for that too. This is really important to ensure they continue to be ok with handling and interactions with people so when the students come back they aren’t stressed, and are happy to pick up where they left off.
Toby the goat having some play time with hay
“To keep the staff safe, Laura Harvey and I have implemented a rigorous regime which includes disinfecting surfaces and door handles, wearing masks and only having one person on site at any one time. It’s very different with only one person doing everything on a given day and, but I’m very proud of the team at Te Puna Kararehe. They did a fantastic job during the last lockdown and are doing fabulously again. Honestly we couldn’t do it without the team….”
Find out more about our animal whānau at Te Puna Karerehe in these Nest stories:
- Te Puna Kararehe welcomes two new taonga to the family – 3 June 2020
- Missing your animal fix – see what’s been happening at Te Puna Kararehe – 7 April 2020
- Kidding around with the new goats at Te Puna Kararehe – 14 May 2019
- The wonderful world of Te Puna Kararehe – 2 February 2019