Eggstra Special Effort for Easter

Eggstra Special Effort for Easter

Orana Wildlife Park’s Primate Keepers are preparing to play Easter Bunny and on Sunday they will dish out some Easter themed treats to their animals. However, chocolate is off the menu owing to strict food requirements.

Primate Keeper Nichola Creighton says “enrichment is a key part of our role. It is nice to make an extra effort and provide the animals something very different in the form of Easter presents.

The meerkats and otters will be given coloured eggs (boiled eggs with food colouring). Our volunteers are making paper mache balloons (using wholemeal flour and water as the glue) into which we will add raisins and nuts. These will be given to the siamangs (apes) and spider monkeys and to our animals these treats are better than chocolate!

The spider monkeys will receive their treats at the public animal feed so that visitors can enjoy seeing the animals ‘open’ their presents. One of our roles as a modern zoo is to spread the word on the plight of the creatures in our care. Key take home messages, such as purchase sustainable wood based products and buy Palm oil free items, are delivered at our presentations. We think providing themed treats will be great for the animals whilst adding some spice for visitors on Easter Sunday” concludes Nichola.

About Orana Wildlife Park
Orana Wildlife Park is NZ’s only open range zoo and is home to over 400 animals from more than 70 different species. The Park is owned and operated by Orana Wildlife Trust, a registered charitable trust, which also runs Natureland Zoo in Nelson. The Trust also owned Southern Encounter Aquarium & Kiwi House (Cathedral Square) until February 2011 when it was closed indefinitely after a devastating 6.3 magnitude earthquake that struck Christchurch. The Trust is committed to the conservation of wildlife diversity on this planet. Our aims, along with being dedicated to the conservation of endangered species and the welfare of our animals, are to provide education, recreation and enjoyment to the public and to support research relating to endangered animals. The Trust is a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA), the Zoo and Aquarium Association Australasia (ZAA) and ZAA NZ.

ENDS

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