Felicity Bowden
Felicity Bowden’s face is a familiar one to anyone who has checked out Te Puna Kararehe – our Small Animal Unit, or bought eggs produced by our free-range chickens. As she nears retirement, we caught up with Felicity to reflect on her 15 years at Unitec.
Changes in role…and more
Felicity has seen changes in buildings, leadership, programmes and health and safety regulations during her 15-year tenure at Unitec.
Making the decision to change her career path from the travel industry, she turned to study in 2004.
“Having hated school, I was unsure about tertiary study, but thought I would try something with plants or animals. It turned out that I enjoyed studying, so after starting in horticulture, I switched to animals, and worked my way through some papers in the Bachelor in Applied Science.”
In 2005 Felicity began helping out in the plant nursery down in B36. After two years, she moved into the animal unit and has been there ever since. Felicity is an animal-lover – she’s been volunteering at the SPCA since 1991 – and is now an expert in the workings and care of the small animals at Unitec.
Her title is Animal Technician, which means she oversees the care of the animals. A big part of this is supervising students who are doing their Animal Husbandry course. All students in the Applied Science degree or diploma and vet nursing courses spend time at Te Puna Kararehe. During the semester, she works with the onsite students, then in the breaks the distance-learning students arrive. Animals (and students) require constant attention so the team doesn’t take a lot of time off.
Felicity’s role has expanded over the years.
“There are more animals and more labs now – the USAU as it used to be called moved from B35 to B155-157 just over a year ago. We recently started teaching the Supported Learning students about animal husbandry and we have more research students doing advanced study. And of course we sell eggs too. Now there’s also more emphasis on health and safety inductions, record keeping and developing protocols and manuals about caring for the animals.”
Felicity with Toby the goat
Rats, rabbits and goats
Felicity enjoys seeing the groups of students come through, especially the ones with ‘good common sense’!
“Most students have a genuine love for animals and enjoy handling them, but some are terrified, particularly of the rats and mice. It’s nice to see those students work through their fear, and they usually enjoy handling them after their time here.”
It may come as a surprise that many students like the rats best.
“We used to have a male rat named Luther. Even the ones who didn’t like rats, loved Luther – he was so friendly. Most of them like the rabbits too. We had a black Rex rabbit that everyone loved. Rabbits don’t usually like being handled too much but Rex was a favourite with the students.”
As for Felicity, while she doesn’t like to pick favourites, she has a soft spot for the rabbits and the goats, particularly the small black goat, Toby.
“Toby has really come out of his shell. When we first moved up here (to Te Puna Kararehe), we kept the chicken feeders in the open area until we discovered they were empty every day. The goats were putting their foot on them to open them and eating all the food. So we put the feeders in the chook houses and cut out a square door that was small enough to allow the chickens in but keep the goats out. Even then, Toby somehow squeezed himself inside and then managed to block the door because the feeder had moved as he ate. We arrived to find Toby looking out of the window of the chook house – a very funny sight!”
Time to relax
With less than two weeks to go, Felicity says she still has heaps to do, so she hasn’t had much time to think about what she’ll do with her extra time.
“I need to get the things that are up in my head, out on paper or into other’s heads!”
She’ll continue volunteering at the SPCA, and in March she will begin a three-month art course, which culminates in an exhibition of the art everyone creates.
She plans to play more golf, hang out with her cats Tilly and Tiger, read and garden more, and get through some jigsaws. Travel isn’t on the agenda – after a bad car accident years ago, Felicity doesn’t like the enclosed feeling of being in a plane or boat, which is ironic having spent many years in the travel industry.
“But it will be nice not to get up at the crack of dawn! I’ll watch sport in the middle of the night, and no doubt I’ll come back to visit to see how my animals are going.”
Felicity’s last day will be Thursday 27 February. You can pop in to see her (and the animals) at the Te Puna Kararehe drop-in session on Wednesday 26 February, 10.30 – 11.30am.
TPK won’t be the same without you Felicity. Do come back and visit!
Thanks Felicity, enjoy your retirement. Im enjoying visiting the crew (chickens and goats) at lunchtime. Funny lovely healthy animals. Toby definately rules the roost!