Q. We've never had animals visit us before. How do I know your animals are safe?
A. Only suitable animals are offered for handling. Creature Arks animals have been chosen for their calm nature and are handled regularly to ensure they are content in the situations they are placed. Our animals welfare is our main priority. It is for this reason we may bring several animals of the same type along to a visit so that rest periods can be allowed.
Q. What preparations do I need to make?
A. We will send you information alongside any booking confirmation outlining the best environment for our animals. This will differ depending on what type of visit we are making. We will also provide a full COVID19 risk assessment outlining the robust procedures in place for our visits.
Schools: Our visits can easily be accommodated in a classroom or, if easier for school, a hall.
Parties can be accommodated in many settings. This depends on the numbers attending and space available. For children's animal experiences, numbers are restricted depending on the age of the birthday child, for our animals welfare.
Events: We are happy to discuss your individual requirements as we fully understand no two events are the same.
Q. What if a member of the audience or a child is scared?
A. We understand that sometimes our animals can scare either children or adults. No members of our audience are pressurised into coming into contact with our creatures. Our rangers treat any situation in a calm manner and are sympathetic to fears and phobias. Children, or adults, can watch from a distance and sometimes this can have a soothing effect and give the individual more confidence for the future. It is our mission to dispel myths and enable understanding of our natural world.
Q. How much does it cost?
A. Prices depend on the length of time we are at each venue and number of sessions we provide. Prices vary for schools, events and parties due to the amount of preparation required for each individual visit and staffing requirements.
Q. Do I need to prepare a risk assessment?
A. Creature Ark will provide you with an in- depth risk assessment, including a COVID19 risk assessment. These have been approved by our licensing authorities. We are full covered with PLI to an amount of £5,000,000.
We also have detailed policies relating to our visit and our working practices which again have been fully approved by our licensing authority. These are available upon request.
Q. Are you a regulated business?
A. Our animal's welfare is paramount. In fact, all of our rangers are qualified to at least an Ofqual recognised level 3 diploma in animal management and care.
Creature Ark are fully licensed to present our animals in all areas of the UK.
In England it is a legal requirement to be licensed under the Animal Welfare (Licensing of Activities Involving Animals) (England) Regulations 2018. Our license number is LN/202200215.
We are also fully regulated to present in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland under our Performing Animals license.
We also have animal transporter authorisation under our license no UK/LEEDS/T1/00109644
Q. Are you DBS checked.
A. All of our rangers are STEM ambassadors and are therefore DBS checked. Paperwork will be available for inspection upon arrival.
Q. What are the arrangements for hand washing?
A. Hand gel is no substitute for a thorough hand washing routine. It is current health and safety advice from our licensing authority that participants should thoroughly wash their hands before and after touching our animals. Our rangers will clearly re-iterate this message during our visit and arrangements will be organised with any venue about handwashing facilities.
Q. I've never met animals like this, how do I stroke or hold them?
A. Our fully qualified rangers will provide a full initial health and safety talk at the beginning of sessions or presentations. This will cover areas of health and safety such as noise levels, holding/touching and handwashing amongst others subjects.
Q. What animals will you bring to our event?
A. Our animals welfare is our main priority. We will endeavour to bring along your requested animals to any event, however this is dependant on various factors including animal health, rest periods and travel restrictions. We will try our best to find a suitable replacement and have many different animals to educate and engage.
We may ask for more in-depth information about your event to help achieve our animal welfare goals and to ensure the best environment and care for our animals. All aspects of our visits are structured to ensure that we meet the highest possible animal welfare standards as set our by DEFRA under our licensing guidelines and also to meet our ethos of education and conservation.
*Please note that we may require a deposit (paid in advance)to attend your event. This is to cover essentials such as travel costs, animal feed costs and other expenses such as insurance.
*We endeavour to attend every booked event. There are, however, some circumstances which are out of our control which mean we may need to rearrange or cancel. These include accident/ illness of our rangers, traffic congestion and road closures and extreme weather conditions. We work closely to the advice given from APHA regarding animal transportation to ensure the highest standards of animal welfare. Any reservation fee in the event of cancellation will, of course, be refunded.
*Please note our privacy policy is available upon request.
Useful links:
STEM Learning https://www.stem.org.uk/
ARG UK https://www.arguk.org/
British Hedgehog Preservation Society https://www.britishhedgehogs.org.uk/
Hedgehog friendly campus https://www.hedgehogfriendlycampus.co.uk
British Veterinary Association https://www.bva.co.uk/
Countryside Learning https://www.countrysidelearning.org/
Yorkshire Agricultural Society https://yas.co.uk/
Eureka! The National Children's Museum https://www.eureka.org.uk/
Contact details
Email: info@creatureark.co.uk
Telephone: 07521 389607
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