By Jesse Graham
A HEALESVILLE Sanctuary keeper on loan from San Diego will head home next month, after coming over for an exchange program in August.
Ashley Roberts, 33, came to Healesville Sanctuary in late August, swapping places with a keeper as part of an exchange program with San Diego Zoo.
Speaking to the Mail after starting on the job, Ms Roberts said the Healesville staff had “rolled out the red carpet”, and that she was working with the fighting extinction team with animals such as the helmeted honeyeater.
“The staff here has been so great, in making sure that every opportunity that comes up, I get,” she said.
“They’re doing a helmeted honeyeater release next week and they invited me to come along, so I could sort-of see the whole process.”
Zoos Victoria and San Diego Zoo have run keeper exchanges for several years, and Ms Roberts said she heard about it seven or eight years ago.
“It was always something that I thought was super interesting, and I’d like to do that, and when Monica emailed and said ‘Hey, is anyone interested in switching with me?’, I was one of the people that put my name in the hat,” Ms Roberts said.
She said the pint-sized honeyeaters were a change of pace to her usual work with large carnivores, such as lions.
“That was kind of interesting when I got over here, because I don’t really work with birds back home – usually, I do large carnivores and hoof-stock,” Ms Roberts said.
“(They’re) a little bit smaller, I feel like a little more fragile.
“I put a lot of pressure on myself – you know, don’t mess it up – but it’s an amazing learning experience – there’re so many species here that I’ve never even heard of, and I’m an industry professional.”
“It was really neat not only getting to learn about new animals, but to see them and get the chance to work with them, and see the conservation projects that are happening – it’s pretty much the best-case scenario for someone in my profession.”
Ms Roberts said she would be heading home, and Healesville’s Tasmanian Devils keeper returning, in November.
