Junior Keeper Experience

Do you have a mini animal keeper in the making? Then Wild Encounters’ ‘junior keeper experience’ may be the perfect activity for them! Join one of the Wild Encounters keepers for the morning routine and help feed and look after many of the residents that call Wild Encounters their home.

Up to 2 participants max per slot.

8yrs+ minimum age limit (recommended 8-12yrs) – must be accompanied by 1 adult parent/guardian throughout the experience.

Time - 10am-12pm (approx) on weekends and holidays (subject to availability - must be prebooked)

What To Expect On The Day

When you turn up for your experience there will be a short induction where you will meet the keeper, go through the experience, what to do, what not to do, fill out some paperwork etc. Your keeper will then take you through part of their morning routine, feeding and meeting some of the friendlier animals on site and learning about what it takes to look after these amazing animals. You’ll have the keeper all to yourself so it’s the perfect opportunity to quiz them about any burning questions you may have always wanted to know.

Activities can include (but are not limited to)

• -feed and greet with the meerkats
• -critter fun on the farm
• -get up close and personal with a couple residents of the reptile house
• -and more!

Experience lasts approx. 2 hours and is from 10am-12pm

Price List

Price includes entry for participant/s and 1 adult spectator. Additional spectators are subject to normal admission charges and must also be prebooked in advance. Please be aware that additional spectators do not go into behind the scenes areas etc due to space restrictions but are able to watch much of the experience from public areas. Behind the scenes areas are unfortunately not suitable for wheelchair users.

Booking Your Experience

If you're ready to book your experience then simply click on the 'book now' button below and pick your date and time slot to purchase. If you don't have a date in mind yet or want to purchase it as a gift for someone else then you can purchase one of our monetary vouchers from our online shop to use at a later time.

Have a pre-purchased voucher ready to use? No problem, if its an experience specific voucher then just follow the same booking process and use your voucher number (top left corner of your voucher) in the discount code section on checkout and the cost of the experience will be removed from your booking! If its an open monetary voucher you have then unfortunately it cannot be used with our online booking system so please get in touch with us to use it against booking an experience.

Dates are subject to availability and must be pre-booked in advance

If the voucher is for two participants, then both participants must take part during the same booking slot, the voucher cannot be redeemed for two separate bookings.

Further Info

Although we promise an up close experience, animal welfare is our top priority and so we do not force the animals to do anything they don't want to do, therefore levels of interaction may vary between experiences. Wild Encounters reserves the right to alter experience activities should the need arise.

This experience involves indoors and outdoors activities and participants should bring clothing wear to cater for the elements as experiences will go ahead in all weather conditions, unless they are deemed dangerous to do so.

Please be aware that some of the animals involved in the experience are predators, and receive whole prey as part of their diet. We regret that these cannot be altered and therefore experience may not be suitable for participants with squeamish dispositions.

Participants will be interacting with a wide range of animals including birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates. Although the experience is partaken under the supervision and guidance of one of our trained keepers and therefore made as safe as possible, animals can sometimes be unpredictable and therefore there is a slight risk of the odd scrape or nip. Those booking experiences for themselves or other people should make sure that all participants are confident around animals in order for the experience to run smoothly and safely. Regrettably, certain guests will be unable to take part including people with relevant phobias or known allergies, pregnant women, and immunocompromised individuals. Whilst every effort is made to accommodate those with a disability or learning difficulty, due to practicality and health and safety this cannot always be achieved. Unfortunately, as much of the experience takes place behind the scenes or inside enclosures, this experience is not suitable for wheelchair users. Please contact us for advice before purchasing in such cases.

Once purchased, vouchers are non-refundable, even if not redeemed and have no monetary value, therefore they cannot be partially or fully exchanged. It is the responsibility of the voucher holder to book their experience. Wild Encounters cannot be held responsible for non-use of a voucher.

If a booking is made and you need to change the date, then the experience is transferable to another date (subject to availability) free of charge if we receive no less than 14 days notice of the booking date. If a cancellation is made with less than 14 days notice then we regret that a change of date would not be possible without a rescheduling fee of €20 to re-book. If Wild Encounters cancels (due to an animal welfare issue or other such scenario) then alternative dates will be offered. Wild Encounters will endeavor to give as much notice as possible in the event of an encounter booking being cancelled.