Chloe Reynolds - Zookeeper

Chloe studied at Ormiston SWB Academy until 2015, and now works as a primate keeper at Dudley Zoo & Castle.

Her day-to-day responsibilities consist of feeding the animals and cleaning/maintaining the primates’ enclosures, but she also gets to do some really fun and rewarding things, such as training animals for veterinary procedures, weighing regimes and more. She also gets to aid in veterinary procedures, design enclosures, complete gardening tasks and a lot of DIY!

To get into her current role she needed to have a university degree, and so after studying Animal Management at Rodbaston college for 2 years, she then moved to Nottingham to study their 4-year BSc in Zoo Biology. The course enabled her to get relevant experience within the field by catapulting her into her first role as an Intern Primate Keeper at Drayton Manor Zoo, as well as learning the theory and principles behind good zoo keeping. After she completed her 12-month internship she was offered her first paid zoo role as a cover keeper. All of this experience supported her in the journey to be offered a full-time role in what she now does on a day-to-day basis.