My name is Tom Baxter. Welcome to my workplace, the Adelaide Zoo
I've been at the zoo now for four years
which has gone remarkably quickly.
Working in such an amazing environment is certainly
very unique and I love our little squirrel monkeys of course
So my role isn't directly to be working with these little critters
I am more office bound but certainly
being able to get out of the office every now and then
to meet these little men is fantastic.
The zoo is certainly a unique place to work and
it certainly helps when you are passionate about these little critters
and helping them have a better life.
So my role is certainly looking after the
members of the zoo and the sponsors.
Part of the sponsorship is getting people to
adopt these lovely little fellows
who love their worms as you can see
and they're making a nice mess
So, they're obviously great to be able to support.
The adoption program is critical for the zoo, it's a not for profit organisation
so all support that we can get is absolutely critical
to the zoo's viability.
My role came about luckily through my
hard work with the University of South Australia
Whilst at university, I did a research project
in collaboration with Zoos South Australia
about why zoo members were renewing their membership
and why they weren't.
After conducting this research and presenting a report
to the board of the Zoological Society of South Australia
luckily enough a position come up as the
membership and animal sponsorship officer
which I gratefully accepted after being interviewed.
So, my studies at the university have been
particularly helpful in my workplace from all aspects of it
such as accounting and economics to
my more exciting subjects of marketing and tourism.
They've all helped me in my role at the zoo.
Being able to service 23,000 members is
a hard job and the skills that I learnt
through the media courses and marketing at
the university have held me in good stead throughout my career.
It's very exciting looking after the zoo members and animal sponsors.
The zoo members are the life blood of our organisation
and they are definitely contributing to the new exhibit for our pandas.
Obviously not that panda, that's not a real one
they're arriving in October
but the members and the animal sponsors play a critical role
in helping the zoo fund projects such as the giant panda exhibit.
We are very reliant on the federal government and state government
and our corporate sponsor support.
Without them we would be... business would be much more difficult.
The animal adoptees also are supporters.
They are very passionate about animal conservation
and provide a critical linkage out in the community for the zoo.
Part of the animal adoption program is trying to
help upgrade our exhibits for our animals.
One classic example of that is the
meerkat exhibit you can see behind me.
The animal adoption program that I manage has been
directly responsible for a large part
of the finances that have helped upgrade this exhibit
and make our meerkat more comfortable and more likely to breed
and everyone likes a baby meerkat.
The alumni program and particularly
the support with the university has been fantastic
I'm now given the opportunity to help students
where I can with guidance with their career and university descisions
and I find that to be quite fulfilling
I wouldn't have thought that would have happened many years ago
when I started my studies at the university
but it's certainly great to be able to help the current students
and future work constituents
with their studies.
Okay, alright fellas. I've got no more maggots for you.
No more meal worms. See you later.