19 December 2024
What’s it like working on Christmas Day?
There’s so much seasonal cheer at Whipsnade Zoo this December – from Christmas-themed animal talks, to festive bingo! And we’re open every day apart from Christmas Day itself.
But even when we’re closed on 25 December, our animals still need looking after. So while you’re at home opening presents and eating mince pies, our dedicated keepers will be on site to ensure our animals also have a happy Christmas.
What’s it like working at the Zoo on Christmas Day? Here from some of our keepers who will be doing just that this year:
Alex Setterfield – Hullabazoo Farm
“I’ve been at Whipsnade Zoo for 22 years so have worked many Christmas Days! This year, I’ll be looking after the animals at Hullabazoo Farm and the grazing stock on our SSSI site.
“It definitely doesn’t feel like your normal Zoo day when you work on Christmas Day. It’s quite surreal when it’s so quiet without visitors – you can hear a pin drop. The peacefulness of the SSSI site on the Downs where you can watch kites and kestrels hunt is also really special.
“I feel very honoured to be able to see my animals on Christmas Day, as well as my human family. The animals are our family too and have important places in our hearts.
“They all have their own unique characters. My favourite goat is 'GARY' as he is very loving. I may even make him a present to open, which will provide great enrichment, and our ferrets will have Christmas stockings with their food in.”
Angela Robinson – Predators
“I look after animals like our lions, Amur tiger and wolverines, and love getting to know their personalities. This job allows us to spend a lot of time with the animals and learn about them as individuals, as well as about the species in general. We get to understand their likes and dislikes, which means when we do fun things like enrichment and training, we can get the best results. This is just as important over the festive season as at any other time of year.
“We tend to prepare enrichment ahead of Christmas Day to make sure our animals have a great Christmas even though we’re working reduced hours. Our big cats normally get a big feed on Christmas Eve so they’ll be satisfied for the day. Some of our smaller animals like our meerkats are fed multiple times a day, so someone will be around for all of their feeds as usual.
“I often work Christmas Day, and we normally wear Santa hats and listen to Christmas music on the day – and there’ll be plenty of mince pies. Everyone's jolly and feeling festive!
“We all try to finish early, so we do the essentials and normally leave by late morning. I then spend time with family and enjoy a traditional Christmas roast dinner. Another keeper comes in later on to do the afternoon feeds and duties.”
Kate Speller – Predators
“I’ve been at Whipsnade Zoo for just over five years and have worked Christmases before. I love working with amazing animals where I feel like I’m making a difference to their lives as well as contributing to ZSL’s conservation work, and that doesn’t change even though it’s the festive season.
“We have lots of treats over Christmas. Other departments are kind enough to send sweeties to us, and mince pies too! We also decorate our mess room as do many of the other departments.
“On the big day itself, a small team will be in first thing to care for all of the carnivores on site, plus the aardvark and porcupine. I will be popping in for a couple of hours in the afternoon to give some of them some more food, and check that everyone is doing ok.
“Most of our carnivores require fast days in their normal feeding rotas to ensure good digestive health. We tend to provide nice big meals in the days just before Christmas, which means a lot of our animals don't even require food and are happily snoozing throughout Christmas Day. Our brown bears are also in hibernation so we only need to check in on them a couple of times.
“When I’ve finished work, I’ll then enjoy a nice big roast dinner with family when I get home from being out in the cold.”
Could you send one of our animals a Christmas dinner this year?
Elizabeth Brown – Birds
“Working with animals is a privilege, and I’ve been at Whipsnade for nearly 14 years. Birds captivated me from quite early on in my career, especially training them. I also think birds can be quite misunderstood, but their level of curiosity and (in some cases) intelligence are (almost) unmatched. They certainly keep me on my toes!
“On Christmas Day, I’ll be looking after the birds usually flying in the Birds of the World demonstration. We’ll be in good spirits, but also determined to ensure they have everything they need for the day and that we can head home to our families. I’m a full Christmas dinner with all the trimmings kind of person. Mince pies or Christmas pudding are not my thing, but chocolate cake will usually fill the pudding stomach, especially if custard is on the cards!
“We usually try to start a bit earlier if we can, so that we can finish earlier than usual, so it’s very important we do a few extra bits for the birds. The birds of prey are still quite content eating all of their food in one go, sitting all relaxed, maybe have a bath or a preen, and definitely getting an afternoon nap in – a usual day in the life of a raptor. But we have to go the extra mile for the birds that would usually have multiple feeds.
“We try to be quite inventive: for some birds, we may put some crickets or mealworms in a long tube with only a couple of holes in, allowing the insects to slowly exit when they please and the birds can forage. For the parrots, we make multiple boxes with more boxes inside – think Russian doll style – with each compartment having a few pieces of food or a colourful wooden block that they can chew. If they’re really lucky, they’ll find the occasional nut in them too, giving them even more incentive to completely destroy the boxes, making an incredible mess for us to clean up on Boxing Day!”
Alex Johnson - Birds
"Not many people get to spend their Christmas Day helping to care for endangered species, so it is really special, and a privilege to be working. I’ve been at Whipsnade Zoo for 3 years as a bird keeper, and love spending time with the birds – I’m always learning new things about them.
"This year will be my third Christmas working at Whipsnade. To get a head start for Christmas Day, our team will mass-prepare food for all of our birds on Christmas Eve which includes lots of fruit/veg chopping and getting buckets of bird pellet ready to go.
"We’ll try to keep the day as normal as possible and keep routines the same. However, we do have an annual tradition of giving our two rheas, Reggie & Caesar, a Christmas cauliflower each year which they like to throw around and play with before eating."
Lucy Herbert – Ectotherms
“I look after the reptiles, fish and invertebrates on the Ectotherms section and have been working at Whipsnade Zoo for three years. I love being able to work for conservation to help save species from extinction.
“As with other teams, we try to adapt our schedule around Christmas Day and normally move our water changes to the days before and after Christmas so that we can streamline the day as much as possible.
“On the day itself, I’ll come in as early as I can, around 7.30am. It is a strange feeling working when there aren’t any visitors around, and not unlocking the doors to the Aquarium. You can hear the tanks flowing when you're walking around because it is so quiet - it often makes me worry I've left a tap on somewhere!
“Our section are able to all leave early and then I’ll drive down to Devon to be with family. It’s too hot on our section to wear fluffy Santa hats, but lots of mince pies will be eaten in our mess room over the festive period!”
Alex Simpson – Large Hoofstock
I’ve been working at Whipsnade Zoo for nearly four years, but have been a zookeeper for 11 years and worked with our seven-year-old white rhino, Fahari, at her previous zoo. When she moved to Whipsnade in 2020, I followed her (albeit unintentionally), and this year, she had her first calf, Khulu! It’s a real highlight of the job when you see animals you have known their whole lives go on to have young of their own.
“This will be my first year working on Christmas Day at Whipsnade, and I’ll be looking after the white rhinos, including calves Benja and Khulu, who will be celebrating their first Christmas.
“We’ll start our day at 8am and hope to have everything done by 11am. All being well, I should be home by lunchtime with a prosecco in hand – after a much-needed shower of course. There will be a keeper from the team that comes in later in the day to do an evening feed and make sure all the animals are warm and well.
“We are a rather festive team – the decorations in the staff room have been up since mid-November! There won’t be a lot of time to snack on festive treats along the way though, as there is almost a whole day’s work that needs to be done in just a few hours; although the fuel of a mince pie or two would be rather useful, I imagine. We try to be as efficient and work as quicky as possible – we all want to get home and open our presents and tuck into our turkey!
“When you work Christmas Day, it’s not always a given that you’ll get Boxing Day off, but I have been lucky enough this year. I may end up coming into the Zoo for a walk to blow the Christmas cobwebs away!”