Reptile Park
Format:
An observational documentary series based on the work of the team at The Australian Reptile Park and Wildlife Sanctuary.
Meet John, Tim, Liz, Mary, Warrick and Ranger Mick. They work at The Australian Reptile park. It’s located just outside of Sydney, New South Wales. Whether it’s at work with the animals or at home with new babies (human and animal!), new husbands, surfing, biking and step children, this series will follow this dedicated and passionate team wherever their work takes them.
And the park itself is far more than just a regular zoo… As well as housing a fantastic collection of enormous crocodiles, lizards, giant tortoises and other of Australia’s favourite wildlife (some roaming free amongst the visitors) it’s involved in some very special projects behind the scenes that make it a unique and exciting place to base a documentary series.
Their main project is the construction of ‘The Devil Ark’ – the most ambitious endangered species-breeding project ever undertaken in Australia.
Reptile Park from Greg Atkins on Vimeo.
Australian Reptile Park Biographies:
‘Hi my name is Tim, I have worked at Australian Reptile Park for the last five years and have spent my entire working career in zoos. I am passionate about Australian wildlife and the preservation and conservation of its habitat and fauna.
An average morning may consist of feeding Elvis the largest crocodile in NSW, to feeding a devil, to milking a tiger snake, to assisting with a broken water pipe, to working with staff to clear up after a storm to getting quotes for a new bitumen road.
My beautiful wife Liz and I are expecting our first baby is due in four weeks to and we are very excited to have a Joey of our own.
Most of my life revolves around work, but in my spare time, I like to spend time with mates, camping, fishing, surfing and family. I keep animals at home and only rarely, am I not looking after some form of orphan or animal needing assistance.
Tasmanian Devils have been such a huge emotional and physical rollercoaster over the past few years. The likelihood of them becoming extinct in the wild is extremely high. And with the devastating effects of their disease, my love and affection has grown for them. I have been lucky enough to hand rear devils over the past few years and will class this as one of the best and most rewarding experiences of my life’.
‘My name is Michael Tate and I have been the education officer at Australian Reptile Park for 18 years. In that time I have performed 30,000 shows for more than 3 million people. My on stage persona is a humorous, witty, sarcastic anti ranger. My philosophy is to hide education behind humour, if I entertain you, you may accidentally learn something!
At home, I have a rambling 100-year-old house with chooks and a big vegetable patch. Unfortunately current legislation prohibits keeping children in cages, so the kids roam free in the house. My partner and I enjoy fishing (some would say too often) and cooking, as I was a chef in a previous life.
My ambition is to become famous on UK television, move to England and do pantomimes like Harold from neighbours. I am fabulously good looking in a Jack Nicholson kind of way’.
‘I began working just one day per week at ARP in my spare time, and this grew until I was lucky enough to be offered a full time position as a Reptile Keeper. I have now been here for approximately seven years, and have gradually worked my way into my current position as Curator of Reptile and Spiders. I am proud to be able to say that I still love my work as much as my first day on the job.
One of the best aspects of the Park is also the people that work here. I have found that teaching some of our junior staff, volunteers and visitors to the Reptile Park has become one of the most rewarding parts of my job.
I have met many people over my time here, including my best friend and Fiancé and am getting married in approximately 6 weeks. The Reptile Park has become a large part of my life, and a part that I don’t think of as ‘just a job’.
‘My passions in life are trying to live the life of Jesus. I also love to shred and slash the waves at my local breaks, reefs and points. When I’m not surfing, I’m ripping apart the dirt on my KTM dirt bike. The lads and me do this for hours on end. I run a ministry at my local church called Christian skaters. I take the kids and we tear up the local skate parks on our boards.
I want to encourage and educate people as much as I can but I also leave room for a lot of jokes and lots of falling around.
My days consist of getting chased, ripped apart; having numerous stitches… but that could only come from a love of animals and the job’.
Robyn has been a part of the history of the Australian Reptile Park for over 40 years. During that time she has had a multitude of responsibilities, but her highlight was a humanitarian award for her work in the collection of funnel-web spider venom-leading to the development of effective antivenom.
John has had a very broad set of roles at ARP since joining the team in 1981. Together with Robyn, he has helped steer the business through many trials and tribulations and has invariably been the ‘conceptualizer’ and driving force behind the many developments and direction changes of the park in the past three decades. In recent years John has committed much of his creative energies to the ongoing development of ‘Devil Ark’ – the most ambitious endangered species-breeding project ever undertaken in Australia. Construction of the facility at Barrington Tops – four hours drive north of Gosford begins in June 2010. The facility will eventually hold 1,000 devils – providing a true ‘ark’ for Australia’s most iconic marsupial, while the deadly DFTD inexorably rages through the wild population – with a likely extinction sometime between 5 and 15 years from now.
http://www.reptilepark.com.au/