Reptile Zoo News!

Posted on January 14, 2014 by Reptile Village

Hi Everyone!

So it has been a while since we’ve shared some Reptile Zoo News, and now is as good a time as any, because we’ve got lots of great offers and exciting things happening around here right now!

FREE TEA/COFFEE FOR EVERYONE IN JANUARY

Yep that’s right, beat those January blues with a visit to the Reptile Zoo and receive a free cup of tea or coffee with every adult admission! We know its miserable out there and if it’s not frosty it seems the wind is wrecking the place so why not visit us? Don’t forget we are a fully indoor Zoo so no matter what the weather is like, we’re always open AND lets be honest, who doesn’t like something for FREE

Ps, We also have FREE wifi!

SENIOR CITIZENS/OAPS SPECIAL OFFER

Attention all OAP’s/ Senior Citizens we have a great new offer just for you because we know that its not just little kids that love to visit our Zoo but you do too!

Every Wednesday throughout January and February we are offering OAP’s a special discounted admission of just €6 each!

So why not visit us on a Wednesday for just €6 and still receive your FREE tea or coffee, we also have copies of the Kilkenny Reporter newspaper for you to read and take home!

OUR TEAM IS GROWING!

As you may have seen on our blog over the past month or so, we have been on the lookout for someone new to join our ever expanding team!

We had tonnes of applications and this week we whittled them down to about 20 people or so, and our interview process has begun! We will be contacting our chosen candidate on Monday afternoon and as soon as they are settled in, they will do a guest blog post to tell you all how they are getting on!

AMBASSADOR PROGRAMME!

The Reptile Village Team love partnering up with the young people of Ireland for projects and fund raising initiatives and this year will see the launch of our very own Zoo Ambassador Programme!

I can’t give away too much about it as we’re not quite ready to launch it just yet, but what I can say is if you think you can raise money for conservation, become a vital member of our team and would love the chance to go on a herpetology expedition in a tropical jungle somewhere, then keep your eyes peeled, more info coming soon!

COMMUNIONS AND CONFIRMATIONS

This year we are fortunate enough to once again be very busy for the Communion and Confirmation season, BUT that’s exactly why we’re mentioning it here!

We don’t want you to miss out and we are booking up very quickly so if you are thinking of having the Reptile Zoo team visit your home or venue for your child’s big day, please get in touch ASAP as we don’t want to disappoint!

VALENTINES DAY COUPLES OFFER

Okay lads now don’t panic, V-Day is still a few weeks away (February 14th for those of you that may be unsure) but we are offering couples a special TWO FOR ONE ADMISSION OFFER on February 14th, 15th and 16th so why not have a date with a difference?

Valentines Day will mark the second wedding anniversary of our Yellow Foot Tortoise Michelle and Michael and we are happy to report that they are still as madly in love as ever!

That’s all for now folks, but be sure to check out our next blog post in the coming weeks and as always if you have any questions or would like to make a booking please let contact us on info @ reptilevillage.net or by phone on 056 77 26757!

The Reptile Village Team

Images:

www.nywaterway.com

www.chicagonow.com

www.fotosearch.com

www.degrassi.wikia.com

www.fcc-stillwater.org

www.partyworld.ie

www.nationalhrabor.com

New Conservation Officer!

Posted on January 6, 2014 by Reptile Village

Hi guys!

My name is Colin Keane and for the next 9 months I’ll be the conservation officer for the Reptile Zoo. This position is an internship scheme support by jobsbridge and I am very thankful to get it. Here’s as bit of back ground on myself to get started!

I’m originally from Clonmel, Co. Tipperary but moved to Cork in 2008 where I spent four years in University College Cork studying a degree in zoology. While in UCC I studied subjects including evolution and diversity, practical field ecology, biodiversity and conservation as well landscape conservation and management. The course was heavily devoted to studying conservation and hopefully I’ll be able to put all my study to good use in this role.

Since graduating in 2012 I’ve been pursuing a career as a zoo keeper so this position is ideal in terms experience in a career as a zoo keeper and in conservation. I was lucky enough to gain some valuable field experience this year with The Gerry Martin Project (http://gerrymartin.in/) in Indonesia.

You can read all about it here:

http://blogs.ucc.ie/wordpress/bees/2013/11/07/komodo-dragons-snake-cave/

So what will I be doing for the next few months? Well we have a number of projects that we’ll be kicking into gear in the next couple of weeks. The first will be the Reptile Zoo Ambassador Programme. This will involve secondary schools around Ireland and will build links between these schools and The Gerry Martin Project. This will be launched in the coming months so watch this space!

The second project will involve building on the existing links between the zoo and Project Chicchan (http://project-chicchan.co.uk/). This project’s main aim is to support the conservation of biodiversity in Guatemala and our main goal will be to gain more funding and more man power for this project. We’ll also be helping with equipment as the project has a wish list so if you’d like to donate we will send the equipment on for you! So if you’re looking for a bit of adventure and some field experience you need look no further!

There are a number of other projects in the works as well but I’ll keep them under my hat for now. Hopefully I’ll be extremely busy over the coming months but if you have any questions or queries about any of our projects or links you can contact me via email on [email protected]
We’ll be keeping the blog updated with all the latest information so stay tuned!

Over & out!

Colin Keane

From Ireland to Africa for CSG

Posted on August 22, 2013 by Reptile Village

So as you all know, Reptile Village is a Conservation Zoo and our goal is to raise awareness of conservation issues and charities, to teach people about reptiles and their role in the wild, and to contribute to conservation projects all over the world. The ways we contribute can vary greatly, we offer financial support where we can, we offer advice, we play an educational role, and through keeping in depth records of the animals in our zoo we can add to the growing bundles of knowledge that already exist in an effort to further understand the behavior of these species, along with lots of other ways.

From time to time, we come up with a very fun and interesting way of raising awareness and some much needed funds for some conservation charities, which brings me nicely to the point of this post. Zoo Director James and his friend Paul have decided that they are going to take their motorbikes the whole way to Africa and back, in an effort to raise funds and awareness for CSG. That’s a total of about 6300 kilometers!!!!

We have been working with CSG (Crocodile Specialist Group) for many years now and donate funds to them every year.

About CSG:

“The IUCN-SSC Crocodile Specialist Group (CSG) is a worldwide network of biologists, wildlife managers, government officials, independent researchers, non-government (NGO) representatives, farmers, traders, tanners, fashion leaders, and private companies actively involved in the conservation of the world’s 23 living species of alligators, caiman and gharials in the wild.”

(www.iucncsg.org)

This year, in an attempt to raise even more money, and most importantly to raise awareness of their hard work, James and Paul are biking from Ireland to Africa!

On Saturday September 7th 2013, James and Paul will leave Kilkenny, Ireland to embark and their 6,300 km round trip to Africa on their motorbikes!

The trip will take them 3 full weeks, with approximately 89 hours of driving time!

There will be lots of photos and a full blog post about the trip once they return (and rest/recover) but until then, keep an eye on our Facebook and Twitter pages for updates.

If you would like to sponsor James and Paul, you can do so by clicking the clicking on the ‘donate now’ image below (this will take you directly to the CSG donation form).

Please note that James and Paul are paying for all costs of this trip and all sponsorship money will go directly to CSG.