This week we are going to introduce you to Lauren Pickthall, who is our Carnivore Keeper, which means that Lauren is responsible for the meat-eating animals. Although most of them look very cute and cuddly, some of them have sharp teeth and long claws! Lauren is often told that she has the best job in the world, spending her day with some very exciting animals. It would be hard to disagree with this!

Lauren cares for our beautiful Red Pandas, Charu and Mei Li and our loveable Asian Short Clawed Otters, Amber and Koji who are favourites with our visitors. Also, in Lauren’s care are our stunning Lynx, Cae and Elva, our mischievous Polecats, and our Servals.

Our Scottish Wildcats, Skye and Jura arrived at the Park a couple of years ago to also be cared for by Lauren.

Lauren says about her job: “I have always loved being around animals so when I was a teenager, I volunteered at the Lake District wildlife park.

After 2 years of working with different species of animals I took on the role of carnivore keeper. This allowed me to build close bonds with the animals I now spent every day with. The two Eurasian Lynx, greet me at the gate every morning with purrs and chuffs in excitement for their training session. The Otters soon became my favourite animals at the park, with their playful mischievous nature and high-pitched shouting whenever I dared to walk past without feeding them.”

It is now nearly 11 years since Lauren first volunteered at the park and she does agree with people when they tell her she has the best job in the world. However, what people don’t always to realise is how much time Lauren actually spends cleaning up poop. Her daily routine consists of diet preparations, cleaning, feeding the animals, cleaning, Keeper talks, cleaning, enrichment, training and more cleaning!

When we are open again, pop in and say hello to Lauren. She is always keen to share stories about her animals…and she doesn’t bite!