Caring for orphaned creatures is part of job

From my paper

by Rachel Chan

FOR the first six years on the job, she endured the 24.6km, or two-hour-long commute, via public transport from her Tampines home to her workplace in Mandai.

Ms Chua Poh Shan, 30, who started driving to work four years ago, also gets grubby and muddy almost every day and sometimes, her charges can keep her awake into the wee hours.
But for the love of her job, she perseveres.

Ms Chua is the assistant manager for animal presentations, and part of a 550-strong workforce at Wildlife Reserve Singapore (WRS). The WRS runs Jurong Bird Park, Singapore Zoo and Night Safari.

Its staff are spread across 12 departments, from specialisations such as animal presentation and zoology, corporate services, food and beverage and retail.

With an average of more than three million visitors per year, WRS is a major player in the local attractions industry. Ms Chua first started as a junior presenter - a position which currently pays a starting salary of $1,200.

While she earns more now, Ms Chua does not think of her rewards in monetary terms. Besides conceptualising and hosting animal shows, she also trains her junior colleagues.

And she said: 'I feel really blessed to have been given the opportunity to play foster parent to many animals.'

To date, she has fostered civet cats, pumas, otters and a spotted hyena, among others.
These baby animals were rejected by their mothers for various reasons.

Feeding a baby animal every two hours and burping them, she added, is all part and parcel of the 24-hour foster care programme.

Generally, animal presenters are expected to hone a vast set of skills, such as show presentation, show conceptualisation, acting, stage lighting and animal husbandry. They also double up as dung shovellers and butchers (they cut up meat and fish for the animals).

Animal presenters have to go through on-the-job training, as well as specially developed in-house programmes to learn how to walk, handle and work with animals.

Due toWRS' diversified training needs, it depends on the Tourism Management Institute of Singapore (TMIS) to complement staff training with their Certificate in Attractions modules.

While in-house WRS programmes, like Zoo Biology Basic, give keepers some knowledge of animal anatomy, TMIS courses provide the soft skills needed to take care of human guests.
Mr Andy Gan, 29, assistant manager of learning and development in human resources, pointed out that it takes more than just knowledge from books to be a part of the WRS team.

Mr Gan said: 'We're looking for people with a passion for animals.' Ms Chua, who is also involved in the process of handpicking recruits for her department, added: 'I'm looking for people who speak fluently, are good with both people and animals, and don't mind getting dirty. It's not easy to find someone who has this balance.'

She has a degree in biology, but stressed that not everyone needs to be trained in science to work at the zoo.

WRS is constantly on the lookout for talented individuals to join its team.
'We take pride in training and developing our staff, including our part-timers,' Mr Gan said. 'We also do our best to make this place a fun environment to work in.'