Australia 2023

For our service work, we broke into two groups. We were in areas of the zoo the public is not allowed and pictures were not permitted. However, the zoo staff I was with allowed me to take a few shots as long as you couldn’t tell where we were. Mr. Riches led the other group and he was with Adrian, the head guy, who was more strict, so he wasn’t able to get any pictures. I guess I am a better negotiator! 🤣😂

My group was with the Senegalese Elephants. A highly endangered elephant species due to illegal hunting and poaching for their tusks. Part of the mission of the Australian Zoo is to protect endangered species.

In the pictures you will see a watering hole for the elephants. To clean the water, it moves through a natural earth and sand filter. It is literally an area behind the pen that is a large piece of land filled with sand/earth and plants. The area filters out all of the impurities, the water is collected through a drain and pumped back to the watering hole.

Over time, the area becomes overgrown with weeds, which hamper the process. We needed to pull the weeds. Some were quite large!

The other group worked near the African Elephants and did the same thing. They also had to move some logs into the elephant pen.

It was hot and very humid. We worked for about 90 minutes. Although the kids were hot and dirty, they were in great spirits! We have such a great group of kids with us!Läs mer