Take a walk on the wild side this National Careers Day at Knowsley Safari

Safari Careers Days that enable students to get a taste of what it’s like to work with animals has been announced by Knowsley Safari this National Careers Week 2024 (starting on Monday 4 March).

Available to secondary school and college students, it will include a guided tour of Knowsley Safari, which recently featured in Channel 4’s Secret Life of the Safari Park.

Students will also join a 45-minute workshop that focuses on different job roles at the safari including vet, keeper and researcher. After this, there will be a Q&A session that will allow students to grill a keeper about their day-to-day life at the safari.

Keeping the session both engaging and exciting, students will be tasked with various challenges during the workshop, one of them being a CSI investigation to test their veterinary skills by identifying symptoms of animal illness and making a diagnosis.

They will also be asked to design a new animal enclosure sign, create diet sheets for omnivore, carnivore and herbivore animals and undertake a research task that involves monitoring the behaviours of animals at different times of day, for example after they’ve been fed.

Nicola Watson, LDRC Operations Manager at Knowsley Safari, said:

“The idea of this taster session is to give students an idea of the wide range of roles available in a safari and tell them what’s it like to work within zoological education, animal husbandry and welfare. We’ll also show them what their day to day could look like and explain career progression opportunities in the future.

“Safari life is exciting but also very hard work, so it requires people with passion and dedication. As part of the session, we will also provide some tips and advice on the recruitment process and what we look for in an applicant.”

National Careers Week provides a dedicated time frame to focus on exploring career opportunities, understanding individual potentials, and setting ambitious yet achievable goals for the future.

Each four-hour Safari Careers session costs £12 for under 16s and £15 for students 16 and over and will run between April and July.