Residents at Brampton View were delighted with the first visit from Charley and her many little zoo creatures. Charley zoo animals consisted of Stick Insects, Tree Frog, Snake, Giant African Land Snail and an Asian Forest Scorpion. Charley was extremely knowledgeable and very passionate, taking time with each resident, who came along to the home lounge to the event, providing great detail on the habits, diet and life of the animals.
The residents also had the opportunity to touch, hold and feel the animals which many of them did, staff also came along to the lounge and got involved and were all pleasantly surprised that their fears of the animals were unfounded and enjoyed the time they spent with them. Charley gave lots of information on how snails can grow to the sizes of footballs, scorpions change colour under ultra violet light, tarantula and snakes shedding their skins along with the stick insects and how the female carried the male on her back for most of her life! But the show stopper was the Tree frog who decided to make a break for it and gave the residents some laughter as he was recaptured, only to steal the show later with his very loud ‘barking’.
General Manager Mo Masedi said: “Our residents have really enjoyed their unusual visitors today. We knew that having the mobile zoo lab animals here would be a bit of fun for all our residents, especially as some find it difficult to go on many outings in our minibus. We are always looking for new activities for the residents and today we have seen the seen the enjoyment and the therapeutic influence animals can have on people.”
Residents were very excited and touched by the zoo Labs animals, the residents said “I had a snake when I was younger” and “Today was very enjoyable and it was wonderful that we were able to touch and hold the animal” another resident expressed “Charley is so informative and knowledgeable, I really enjoyed listening to her”. It was agreed by all that attended that it will be great to have the zoo lab animals back for more visits.
