Four workers at a UK wildlife park have decided to make the sacrifice to self-isolate during the coronavirus pandemic AT WORK.

Paradise Park in the town of Hayle, in Cornwall, UK announced in late March that it would temporarily close like all other non-essential businesses. But since it’s a wildlife sanctuary, it couldn’t simply close its door and turn off the lights. The animals needed care and feeding.

That’s when staff members Izzy, Emily, Layla, and Sarah-Jane made a difficult choice. They couldn’t go back and forth between work and home without putting their families at risk, so they decided to spend the 12-week isolation period currently recommended in the UK at the park.

“All our keepers are really dedicated to the animals, but some also have vulnerable family members at home. When they heard the advice about self-isolating to combat the coronavirus, they had to make a decision about whether to stay away from work and isolate with their families. But then they suggested that they could come and stay in the house at Paradise Park to be there for the birds every day without risking the health of their families,” Alison Hales, the Director of Paradise Park, told Bored Panda.

In the event that the unthinkable happens and the remaining zookeeping staff is unable to work, there will always be at least 4 people on-site to care for the animals.

Paradise Park has over 1000 animals living in its zoo in addition to its 1,200 birds. That makes a lot of work for the few remaining people there to entertain, feed, clean up after, medicate, and do safety checks on these creatures. But other zoo workers will carefully rotate in to help them out – they’re not entirely on their own, although they do have to maintain a safe social distance from those who come in and then go home.

The park has a webcam to show animal lovers what’s going on inside and the staff says it’s mostly business as usual, despite the lack of visitors.

Hales said:

“We are keeping to the Park’s routines… Also, spring is in the air and many pairs of birds only have pairing up and nest-building on their minds.”

But some of the friendlier animals – such as parrots that often interact with visitors – seem confused.

The staff is taking care of necessities but also are also training their eagles, vultures, hawks, and a number of other bird species who take part in the zoo’s flying displays that take place in summer.

The park’s director said that there are a few perks to having the venue largely to oneself:

“It’s magical to walk around once all the feeding and cleaning has been done, quietly observing the birds going about their business. You can chat to your special bird friends for a bit longer, but the best bit is waking up to a tropical dawn chorus in deepest Cornwall!”

Despite all the hard work, the park faces the same challenge as other businesses – a lack of incoming funds. While winter tends to be quiet, the Easter holiday brings the visitors (and the income) back each year.

“We have been very self-sufficient over all these years, many people are regular visitors and we have achieved a lot of really good conservation work for endangered species. Our bank is being helpful and has already extended our overdraft but this is the first time we have ever done a fund-raiser.”

In order to keep things running and everyone fed, staff members have launched a GoFundMe campaign to cover vital expenses which are in excess of $1,500 per week.

If you want to see what the red pandas in the park are up to these days and what your money can do for the animals in terms of enrichment experiences, be sure to scroll down below.

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Source: Bored Panda, Paradise Park via Facebook, GoFundMe, Paradise Park Official Website