Running Animal Programs For Your Small Local Zoo? Use These Tips
When you're giving the opportunity to run animal programs for your small local zoo, you might be excited about the possibilities but be unsure about what to do first. Here are some animal program tips that can get your mind working and help you to provide a great resource to your community.
Find Out What Worked in the Past
The first place to start when running animal programs is to see what has worked in the past. If your zoo has already run programs or did and then stopped, those past programs can provide a well of knowledge. You can determine what was most popular in the past so that you can build on those specific series, but there is another reason past programs can be useful to you. Even if certain programs weren't popular at all, they teach you what to avoid and might still provide some nuggets you can build on. There might not have been many attendees for the series on African blesboks, for instance, but you can use that information to instead offer a program about African animals. Having that information will mean you don't have to start from scratch.
Don't Forget Adults
While many animal programs are targeted toward small children or families, your programs can expand the reach of your zoo by creating and running animal programs that are targeted directly to adults only. These programs can be more complex and mature in nature. For example, you might offer a series on mating practices in different species, predator/prey relationships or the in-depth examination of the evolution of a particular animal. This will likely mean some night classes because many adults work during the day, so you have to ensure that staffing and other issues can be accommodated easily.
Publicize Your Programs Cheaply
To engage the public in the programs that you're running, you may worry about your budget being too small to make a big impact. Luckily, there are many low-cost and free ways to get people interested. You can use your own printers to print up flyers containing the month's program and give them out to people who donate or pay for a zoo visit, for instance. You can write guest posts for blogs on the internet or send out press releases and articles to newspapers and local magazines.
With all these ideas, your animal programs can thrive and serve your zoo and community well. Talk to colleagues who run animal programs for other organizations and see what else you can learn.
For more information, you will want to consider contacting a company such as Critter Connections.
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