My Saturday with Fota ranger Teresa Power: ‘I do really love the animals that I care for'
Teresa Power: I started in Fota Wildlife Park on the gates, then I was driving the train and I worked my way up doing various courses over the years.
I live in Ladysbridge with my partner Kevin and our four dogs — three Jack Russells and a Beagle. After breakfast I’ll check on the dogs, give them a cuddle and clean the yard and then head off to work to check on all the animals at the park before we open to the public. I’ve always loved animals, but I never thought I’d end up working with primates. I started in Fota Wildlife Park on the gates, then I was driving the train and I worked my way up doing various courses over the years.
I’m here 19 years now, and it’s a privilege every day to work with such endangered species. They are so like people. It takes a while to get to know them and build relationships with them. We give them their own space and try to keep things as natural as possible.
The first thing is to hold the morning briefing. We’ll review the previous day with the other sections. As duty ranger you will make sure everyone communicates so we all know what’s what. Then I’ll meet with my team of four and will have a quick catch up with them depending on what block of animals I’m assigned to.
Then we do preliminary checks. I’m making sure they are all there by doing a headcount, I’m also looking for any obvious illness or injury, checking their heaters, turning on lights in enclosures and checking if all the fences are intact or if there are any trees down from a maintenance perspective. We carry out running repairs ourselves but report bigger jobs. You have to be a bit handy with a drill! There are over 100 primates. We have gibbons, lemurs, and monkeys.
Once I have my checks done, I start the paperwork and go chop their breakfast. We have big food orders; fresh fruit and vegetables that come in twice a week and the bills are astronomical. We give them a high-fibre pellet that we buy in from France three or four times a year. All their diets are weighted out and we give them a lot of leafy greens too and have to mind their teeth. Then I start cleaning their houses, checking them up close to make sure they are ok, that they are eating, and not showing any illness. I also do a bit of training with them. Of course, we all have our favourites. I always like the bold ones! We often hold competitions with the public to name the baby primates, but others, we tend to name them if they remind us of something. There was one of the Macaques that we named Hugh Jackman because his hair looked like Wolverine.
Our own lunch breaks are moveable feasts, but we are very flexible as a team. In the afternoon, I prepare the animals’ afternoon food and their dinner. They often get fed three times a day. Then we finish cleaning, check them all again, turn off the lights and I head back to the yard.
We do not handle the animals and contact is mostly through what’s called protected contact, so we only interact with them through the mesh. You have to mind that you don’t get bitten. We have protocols for everything. Some of the quieter primates are free range. The public would be familiar with the likes of the Ringtail Lemurs who roam the park, and just like you wouldn’t be cuddling them or petting them, you respect them and give them space.
We do our wash up, prepare things for the next day and continue on the paperwork. My dad was big into animals too when we were growing up and I think he passed it onto me. I’m only sad he never got to see me working at Fota because he died before he knew. He’d have been tickled pink. I do really love the animals that I care for. The hardest is if we lose one of them which is natural as they age or get sick. It’s heart-breaking. Sometimes they might be transferred out to another zoo for a training programme, and I try to stay in touch with other keepers to see how they are doing.
I’m lucky that Kevin is home at the weekend, so he normally has the dinner ready. I play with the dogs for a while and watch a bit of telly. I’m a sucker for EastEnders.
I’ll go off painting in the evenings. I have an art studio by the house which I saved up for, for a long time. I actually started off working as an artist before Fota.I’m working towards having an exhibition of my paintings of some of the animals later in the year.
I function well on about seven hours sleep. I might do a bit of reading before bed. I think the best part of my day is finally falling asleep knowing all the animals are tucked up. I can go to sleep knowing I’ve done my best for them that day. They are safe, and if they are happy, I am happy.
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