Wellington Zoo vet nurse to speak at Beijing conference

Wellington Zoo vet nurse chosen to speak at animal enrichment conference in Beijing

Wellington Zoo Veterinary Nurse Sarah van Herpt has been selected to speak at the 2015 International Conference on Environmental Enrichment (ICEE) in Beijing this month. She will join speakers from other zoos and wildlife organisations around the world.

Ms van Herpt helped facilitate New Zealand’s first Shape of Enrichment workshop at Wellington Zoo in June 2014, and received the Shape of Enrichment’s $1500 ICEE Travel Grant after being invited to apply.

The paper she will present at the conference focuses on the use of enrichment in a wildlife hospital – drawing on her experience at The Nest Te Kōhanga, Wellington Zoo’s animal hospital and centre for native wildlife.

“In veterinary medicine we are concerned with getting animals fit and well again. Enrichment helps us to decrease stress and increase physical exercise and mental wellbeing of our patients,” said Ms van Herpt.

She detailed some of the key ways enrichment is used to aid patient care – from helping native birds regain their flight muscle fitness to distracting big cats from pulling off bandages.

She has also been invited to deliver her paper at Ocean Park in Hong Kong.

Now on her way to China, Ms van Herpt is spending a week volunteering for Free the Bears at the Phnom Tamao sanctuary in Cambodia, supported by Wellington Zoo. During her stay she will assist veterinary staff and keepers.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing the sanctuary, and learning about how Free the Bears works with their local communities to help vulnerable Malayan Sun Bears and Asiatic Black Bears.”

Ms van Herpt has previously volunteered with the Kea Conservation Trust, helping to monitor nests and track tagged birds in Nelson Lakes and Arthur’s Pass.

More recently she travelled to Twizel to lend her veterinary skills to the Kakī Recovery Programme. She blogged about her experiences caring for Kakī (black stilts) – one of New Zealand’s rarest birds, and the world’s rarest wading bird.

ENDS

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