Animal Welfare
The welfare and safety of our animals is absolutely paramount. We are proud to be representing some of the highest standards of animal welfare in outreach settings.
Our animals live with us and are a central focus of our lives, therefore we naturally strive to optimise their welfare. Here are some important factors which help us achieve these high welfare standards:
Promoting the highest standards
By presenting our animals to the public we understand that we are essentially representing multiple facets of animal keeping, from the reptile hobbyists through to the falconry community. We therefore strive to always promote responsible husbandry and handling practices. We are always working towards developing our knowledge of the animals we keep and the most up to date handling and husbandry recommendations to achieve this. As an active member of the Female Falconer’s Club we have adopted The Code Of Welfare And Husbandry For Falconry in the keeping of our birds of prey.
Ever-improving husbandry
We provide high standards of husbandry for all our animals, with many living in outdoor enclosures best simulating their natural habitat. We give our animals every opportunity possible to display the natural behaviours they would in the wild. They receive varied quality diets and daily enrichment where appropriate. We are continually adapting our animal keeping to fit the most relevant and latest updates in husbandry.
Free from illness and injury
Our animals are all registered with a vet and have regular veterinary check overs. We also regularly send off samples of our outdoor kept animals to be tested for any disease or parasite. This is not only to ensure their welfare but also to avoid potential spread of disease to their wild counterparts, which is especially important for amphibians. We also take measures to ensure they do not have direct contact with wild animals to minimise stress and risk of contamination.
Responsibly sourced animals
The animals we keep are responsibly sourced captive bred individuals. This means they were not taken from the wild, those that require it have the correct paperwork to show they are legally captive, and we have vetted all breeders we have purchased from to ensure they are keeping to high standards and breeding responsibly.
Comfortable in captivity
With all our animals being bred in captivity, it ensures they are comfortable in a captive environment and do not find human presence stressful as their wild counterparts would. Our birds and mammals have been through training using only positive reinforcement techniques so that they are calm, confident, and safe to be with during human interactions. Where possible we build strong relationships of mutual trust and respect with our animals to create a positive experience for them during human interactions.
Limiting human interaction
We know our animals well, both as individuals and their overall species, which helps us determine what level of human interaction is appropriate for them. This means many of our animals are not suitable to be handled by the public, preferring to be simply viewed and appreciated without being hands on with them. For those that can be handled we continuously evaluate their body language throughout offsite experiences and will cease interactions if they are showing signs of stress. We ask that you respect these decisions at the time and understand we must always prioritise their welfare.
Knowledge is power
We are firm believers that there is always more to learn. Our active memberships of various groups focussing on herpetofauna and birds of prey gives us the opportunity to attend regular talks, meetings and workshops on various topics such as animal behaviour and conservation projects. Our memberships have allowed us to become part of a network of highly experienced and advanced animal keepers. This opens us up to a wealth of knowledge and expertise, to build on our own research that we regularly carry out to better our understanding of the species we keep.
Promoting the highest standards
By presenting our animals to the public we understand that we are essentially representing multiple facets of animal keeping, from the reptile hobbyists through to the falconry community. We therefore strive to always promote responsible husbandry and handling practices. We are always working towards developing our knowledge of the animals we keep and the most up to date handling and husbandry recommendations to achieve this. As an active member of the Female Falconer’s Club we have adopted The Code Of Welfare And Husbandry For Falconry in the keeping of our birds of prey.
Ever-improving husbandry
We provide high standards of husbandry for all our animals, with many living in outdoor enclosures best simulating their natural habitat. We give our animals every opportunity possible to display the natural behaviours they would in the wild. They receive varied quality diets and daily enrichment where appropriate. We are continually adapting our animal keeping to fit the most relevant and latest updates in husbandry.
Free from illness and injury
Our animals are all registered with a vet and have regular veterinary check overs. We also regularly send off samples of our outdoor kept animals to be tested for any disease or parasite. This is not only to ensure their welfare but also to avoid potential spread of disease to their wild counterparts, which is especially important for amphibians. We also take measures to ensure they do not have direct contact with wild animals to minimise stress and risk of contamination.
Responsibly sourced animals
The animals we keep are responsibly sourced captive bred individuals. This means they were not taken from the wild, those that require it have the correct paperwork to show they are legally captive, and we have vetted all breeders we have purchased from to ensure they are keeping to high standards and breeding responsibly.
Comfortable in captivity
With all our animals being bred in captivity, it ensures they are comfortable in a captive environment and do not find human presence stressful as their wild counterparts would. Our birds and mammals have been through training using only positive reinforcement techniques so that they are calm, confident, and safe to be with during human interactions. Where possible we build strong relationships of mutual trust and respect with our animals to create a positive experience for them during human interactions.
Limiting human interaction
We know our animals well, both as individuals and their overall species, which helps us determine what level of human interaction is appropriate for them. This means many of our animals are not suitable to be handled by the public, preferring to be simply viewed and appreciated without being hands on with them. For those that can be handled we continuously evaluate their body language throughout offsite experiences and will cease interactions if they are showing signs of stress. We ask that you respect these decisions at the time and understand we must always prioritise their welfare.
Knowledge is power
We are firm believers that there is always more to learn. Our active memberships of various groups focussing on herpetofauna and birds of prey gives us the opportunity to attend regular talks, meetings and workshops on various topics such as animal behaviour and conservation projects. Our memberships have allowed us to become part of a network of highly experienced and advanced animal keepers. This opens us up to a wealth of knowledge and expertise, to build on our own research that we regularly carry out to better our understanding of the species we keep.
