A STUDY GUIDE BY ANDREW FILDES http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN-13-978-1-74295-021-1 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au A study guide by Andrew Fildes A December Films production thirteen-part series SCREEN EDUCATION ABC Television starting 6 March 2011 2 ho is Chris Humfrey? An extraordinary charac- ter. Imagine that Jamie Oliver got interested in W animals rather than cooking – and ran a small zoo! Chris is what he’d look like: the same energy, the same ‘laddish’ charm and a boundless enthusiasm for his work. With wife Nicole and young daughters Charlie-Ashe (6 yrs) and Taasha (4 yrs), the Humfreys have turned their life into a full-time wildlife experience – they live a wild life. Since 1994, zoologist Chris has been providing educa- tional wildlife events – school incursions, parties, corporate / workplace events, public shows. He and his family live with over 2000 animals in and around their home near Mt Macedon in Victoria. Their house is the centre of a private zoo which not only supports their educational programs but also features the care of injured and orphaned wildlife and runs a number of captive breeding programs for rare and endangered native species. Every day brings a whole new set of problems at the zoo. Some are part of the normal running but some unique and quite unpredictable. Forgetting to close a small door means that large snakes make a run for it or the zoo’s office is overrun by rather expensive young stick insects – hundreds of them. Orphaned animals have to be hand reared, rare foods need to be found, dangerous animals handled safely. Chris is also a born explorer driven to disappear on adven- tures in search of new animals or … just because. The Humfreys’ award-winning company, Wild Action, is one of the most successful businesses of its kind and the family can’t do it all. They employ a dedicated band of young ‘Gen Y’ presenters to help cope with the huge workload of ani- mal care (zookeepers) and presentations. Volunteers take up some of the load and there is even a young zookeeper program of supervised work experience. This all gives rise to many personal stories – both people and animals – more than enough to support a thirteen-part series. Crew The series shows a mix of both human and animal inter- Director est stories. Each of the thirteen episodes centres on three sub-stories which in turn raise various issues concerning Nick Fletcher wildlife. The style is an observational documentary, a ‘point- Executive Producers of-view’ approach and we see much of the action through Chris’ eyes. As many of the animals are active at night, Tony Wright and Chris Humfrey infra-red video technology and motion sensors were used Series Producer to capture as much of the action as possible. Bruce Permezel Typically, in each episode, there will be the story of a Directors of Photography particular animal or species, one of a zoo-keeping and care issue and one related to the educational role of the Brendan deMontignie company. Uniquely the show overlaps the styles of wildlife and Jody Muston documentary and reality show as we see both animals and people overcoming various genuine difficulties in their lives. Editors SCREEN EDUCATION Luke Collin and Wayne Hyett ‘This isn’t a job – it’s a lifestyle!’ (Episode 2) 3 Using Chris Humfrey’s Wild Life in the classroom The series is aimed at a wide audience and during the early episodes, most of the presentations shown are to junior primary students – Grades Prep–2. However it would be suitable for showing to mid-primary to Year 10 students – older students could consider the issues and implications of wildlife education for instance, rather than just the ani- mals themselves. Each episode runs for 26 minutes with a common opening sequence. Each deals with three differing problems, ideas or events with some being followed up in subsequent episodes. Different themes in each episode are suitable for different age levels. There are individual animal care stories and plenty of animal poo jokes for the younger students, conservation and care issues for the older grades and small business aspects for the older secondary stu- dents. Older students may also consider some career paths in animal care and zoo-keeping. A major resource for using the television series as a classroom resource is Chris Humfrey’s own Wild Action website at <http://www.wildaction.com.au>. It not only provides booking details for those close enough, it has Chris’ Video Blog which features a set of short mini- After Viewing episodes on various animals and events in the zoo and on his personal excursions. Obviously students will be encouraged by the series to request an incursion by a wildlife presenter like Wild Action. Before Viewing In fact, the series could be used as a precursor to such a visit. Equally, a visit to a general zoo or a specialist wildlife General discussion questions zoo like Healesville Sanctuary near Melbourne would be appropriate. • What would it be like to live in a zoo? What might be the advantages and disadvantages? General tasks • Could you cope? Think of all the chores, problems, the Make a collage, web page or Powerpoint presentation on loss of favourite animals. one of the following: • Remember that they aren’t pets! They bite, they misbe- The special requirements of 3–5 of the animals shown in have, they try to escape and most can’t be trained or the series in the wild and when they are kept in a zoo. tamed. How to run a wildlife park or zoo – what would you need • What is the difference between a pet, a domestic animal and what would the daily tasks include? Design your own and a wild animal. It’s possible to tame a wild animal zoo. Choose your animals, design the enclosures and list but is it ever a pet like a dog can be? all the daily tasks necessary before you can let people visit your zoo. • What are the rules for approaching animals in the wild? (Think whales vs. jet boats). Is it acceptable to collect ani- Link: <http://learnenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/sites/kids/ mals in the wild, such as bringing a lizard home as a pet? files/attachment/design-a-zoo-activity_0.pdf> Key Themes: Wildlife conservation SCREEN EDUCATION Environmental education Private zoos – administration, procedures and ethics Animal handling Wildlife collection, care and breeding Dangerous animals Small business opportunities 4 and difficulties Cast of Characters Chris Humfrey A note on ethics – wildlife shows and presentations Lifelong wildlife nut, Chris began collecting wild species as a child and built up his own micro-zoo in Melbourne outer Some students may raise questions about it being ‘cruel’ to suburb Kilsyth. By the age of six, he was charging entry to keep animals in captivity. They may be aware that this is a his collection! This continued through secondary schooling contentious issue. and into a degree in science at Melbourne Uni. He created Wild Action while still at university and fourteen years later, Chris makes his living from animal shows for schools and he now employs eight full-time employees and provides other customers. Is there a problem with this? Are the animals encounters for over 250,000 children and adults every really ‘wild’? In what sense? Is it just a mini-circus? year. He is also a fitness fanatic, and has competed at an international level in kayaking. He uses his kayaking skills to Do the shows stress them? (As Chris says in Episode 1, access wild places and marine environments. stress can kill a wild animal). Is it fair to the animals, even if they are well treated? Keep in mind that all of Chris’ animals Nicole Humfrey are captive-bred (apart from some of the marine animals, which are collected from the wild), so they are less suscepti- Nicole met Chris while studying science at Melbourne Uni. ble to these particular stresses. but lost contact until an accidental meeting years later. Her upbringing was extremely conventional compared to Chris’ What are the ‘rules’ for animal handling? (For instance, many and she is sometimes exasperated by his wild schemes, zoos have a handling rule that the animal must come to you, especially when there is a family and a family business to not you to the animal.) run. The ethics of zoos is a difficult problem and ideal for discus- Charlie-Ashe and Taasha sion in junior philosophy. On one hand there is the obvious educational benefit of seeing and perhaps even handling Two typical little girls with a very atypical lifestyle. Their animals that you might never see in the wild. On the other is lives are immersed and enmeshed with the animals that the problem that the animals are kept captive in unnatural cir- invade their home, watch television with them and demand cumstances and may be stressed by regular human contact. attention at all times. Even their dog is a monster, a huge, black Newfoundland. Zoo ethics link: <http://www.bbc.co.uk/ethics/animals/using/ entertainment_1.shtml> Inger Ford – Staff Manager Inger is a mother of two who first saw Chris in action in a kindergarten presentation. Later she applied for the job of nanny to Taasha as she was attracted to the zoo environ- SCREEN EDUCATION ment and eventually she became Office and Staff Manager. Her own personal animal collection continues to grow. 5 The ‘Gen Y’ Wildlife Presenters/ Educators Wherever they live, each presenter has a ‘kit’, a set of animals that share their lives.