Has anyone dealt with the following companies?

[Faith]

The following companies all seem to be run by Welcome to Educational Displays

Zoo Lab, Zoo Media, Boss Aquraiums, Zoo Stock Food Lab, Time Travlers and the Educational Store.co.uk


The reason im asking is because after a long telephone convo this afternoon with a lady that works for an advertising agency, She has had the above company asking her to advertise their companies for her.

She is concerend as they are offering jobs to people to do animal parties and school visits with exotics.
Her main concern is the company advertises its jobs as not needing experience in animal care and that all training will be given at their head office in Scotland.
The applicants are also required to keep exotic Animals at their homes that they may not know anything about, possibaly resulting in the animals not being cared for correctly.

They also boast The UK's leading provider of animals and science based education in schools utilising live animals as a teaching aid. As well as a brand new approach to the Animal Wrangling Industry brought to you.


What im trying to find out is even though this company seems to be doing everything right and they seem very knowledgable are they following the animal welfare act when placing the exotics in to the homes of unexperianced keepers?

[sparkle]

HI Faith

WHo is it in Scotland... hmm just looked again that seems a bit odd .. Ive actually never ever heard of this person at all... carole morgan.. is there a telephone number i dont mind calling as a prosepctive employee and asking questions...

although i think theres nothing legally that stops people running reptile parties if they have insurance and the likes.. but it does seem very dubious that "training" of a few weeks would be remotely sufficient... and as for keeping the animals in their home for business purpeses ive no idea of the coninuety of care that new keepers would have.. surely taking the animals to shows al the time would be stressful if not done 100% to the letter by an expereinced knowlegeble keeepr.. so i agree here.. it doesnt seem a GOOD idea even if its legal...

or are they thinking you would already have your own animals.. it seems to read that way .. although it IS worded in a confusing manner.... and if its not your own animals where do they get the animals from.. whats the qaurentine procedures and how would they do UKk checks that the animals were being cared for husbandry wise properly... do they even do checks>>>

I can maybe help...theres a fair few of us up here .... i know some people that do the animal reptile talks but they have their own reptiles etc

if you want to Pm me thats also cool...

[Athravan]

You don't need any qualifications or knowledge to legally own or look after a reptile though. As long as the correct setup is being given with them, the right food, and they are being looked after correctly then I don't see how it could be an animal welfare concern.

They do state that they offer training... presumabley this covers basic aspects of the needs of the animals people will be showing / keeping, so presumabley the applicants will know something about the animals before they are given them, but if not, as long as they're provided with a caresheet and the right equipment.. it's no different to any one else keeping a reptile?

As long as, as stated, training is given... what's the problem?

[sparkle]

I think the problem is that its not just an inanamate object

if they for instance ask them to keep lizards snakes frogs and spiders how do they make sure that over a period of time it can be checked... its country wide... who makes sure everyhtings going ok... do they have managers in every area... it doesnt seem so... thats why im saying it would be nice to know as caring animal keepers what the training is...

legality isnt always the single most important issue... sometimes care and morality is..



If someones working for you christy you can keep an eye on it all... you know what they are doing... would u be happy letting your animals go 200 miles away... with soemone who had no expereince after a few weeks training from you... then taking those animals consistently to shows.. it is abusiness after all so the more bookings the business got i take it the happier they would be..... that is NOT in the best interests of the animals though is it...



the second they take that work home the boss/ trainer cant do checks if its a franchise.. i cant see her doing weekly visits to petrbourough .. lans, cornwall etc from scotland to see if the snimals are ok

perhaps with objects... liek jewellery or party plan ann summers this is ok..

i think faiths pointing out with animals its quite a bit different thats all..

i have to say i agree with her

[Athravan]

Well best would probably be to email and ask if they check on people, on the animals.. what training is given etc.

I'm sure they advertised on here for their job positions a few months back and only got positive responses but I can't find the thread now.

[Faith]

Im not saying they dont offer a good service or in fact a positive one.
I was asked to find out some information regarding the care of the animals.
What better place to ask?


What im trying to get at is this.
Someone with only experinece working with children applies for the job thinking its "cool" to work with reptiles.
Gets given a weeks training on how to show off the reptiles and thats it gets sent away to look after them in their own homes. (ok its more that any shop can offer) but what happens if something goes wrong with the animal.
Or if something goes wrong at one of the shows, for example someone with little experience in handling reptiles takes a boa to the school or party to show the kiddies.
The Boa gets spooked by all the noise and amount of children/adults around.
Boa strikes and hits a child because the job seeker hasnt had it long enough or has enough experience with boas to guage a reaction or to notice the boa is in shed and shouldnt be mucked about with?


Sparkle thanks for the offer i may just take you up on that
Im not sure who runs the head office or where abouts in Scotland it is, but maybe applying for one of the jobs offered would be a good way to get some information from the company.

Im not worried if they are doing something against the law, to be honest thats down to them.
What i am worried about is the applicants not having anywhere near enough experience with the animals before taking them to a "reptile show" and being amounst children.

[skimsa]

I can gurentee that this companys screening prosess for applicants is very high. I know one employee has an animal mangement degree as well as many other degrees and qualifications in animal behaviour, animal trainning and far more. Many of their employees are ex-zoo keepers, game park rangers etc. Some are members here and have kept many exotics succsessfully.

There trainning is on going an continuous with only a small number of animals being given initially and then more added overtime if there is suitable knowlege time and space. The company fully supports the animals and pays for food housing vets bills.

Apart from the fantastic work they do actually educating kids unlike other companys who just go heres a snakw wow they also do a lot of rescue work that they dont even ask for itd just people know how dedicated the ranger are.

They are number one for a reason.

[pollywog]

I too can stand up for them, I have met a number of their 'rangers' as well as the boss himself, all are very knowledgable and really care for their animals.

They are a very well established company, I think they had around 40 'rangers' possibly more by now, and the lessons they give are very educational, the original lesson plans were written by a good friend of mine who has a great wealth of experiance.

Also if your interested in a larger than average aquarium BOSS are the people to talk to!

[Faith]

Originally Posted by pollywog

I too can stand up for them, I have met a number of their 'rangers' as well as the boss himself, all are very knowledgable and really care for their animals.

They are a very well established company, I think they had around 40 'rangers' possibly more by now, and the lessons they give are very educational, the original lesson plans were written by a good friend of mine who has a great wealth of experiance.

Also if your interested in a larger than average aquarium BOSS are the people to talk to!

Originally Posted by skimsa

I can gurentee that this companys screening prosess for applicants is very high. I know one employee has an animal mangement degree as well as many other degrees and qualifications in animal behaviour, animal trainning and far more. Many of their employees are ex-zoo keepers, game park rangers etc. Some are members here and have kept many exotics succsessfully.

There trainning is on going an continuous with only a small number of animals being given initially and then more added overtime if there is suitable knowlege time and space. The company fully supports the animals and pays for food housing vets bills.

Apart from the fantastic work they do actually educating kids unlike other companys who just go heres a snakw wow they also do a lot of rescue work that they dont even ask for itd just people know how dedicated the ranger are.

They are number one for a reason.

Fantastic guys thanks very much
Its just i had not dealt with the company before so couldnt give any feedback to her on them

Ill pass your comments on and its great to see that there are larger companies out there that still keep a high standard of animal care

Will be sure to recomend them in the future