Chad Staples has been at Featherdale for 7 years. As well as his Education duties, Chad is also a part-time media star and a great father - or so the dozens of animals that he has hand reared tell us!
Chad has taken time out of his busy schedule to write us a diary of one of his recent, very busy days...
6am - Wake up! Is it that time already?
6.10am - make up a supply of milk for the baby Tiger Quolls I am rearing and feed them.
6.40am - head off to WSFM for a live interview on the breakfast show with Jonesy & Kayley. (Was famous for a week or two afterwards - friends kept coming up saying they'd heard the interview!)
8.00am - arrive at Featherdale and check all the Tiger Quolls in our breeding programme. This level of care is one of the main reasons why Featherdale has had amazing success in breeding Quolls.
8.30am - prepare for an interactive Education lesson. I check the type of class I'll be teaching and collect all the animals I need. This morning I use Don the Koala, Itty Bitty the Wombat, Stumpy the Shingleback Lizard and Cuddles the Python.
9.30 - taught the lesson which went well. Teachers were pleased with what the kids had learnt.
10.30 - collect fresh animals to accompany me on one of my Wildlife Wanderer mobile education visits which I do when schools are unable to arrange transport to the Park
11.15 - leave Featherdale in our Wildlife Wanderer van
12.00 - Arrive at school and give baby Tiger Quolls their 2nd feed of the day. Like human babies, they need to accompany me everywhere.
12.30 - Give the interactive education lesson at the school
2.30 - Return to Featherdale and lunch
3.00 - Check on and feed all the Tiger Quolls again. Clean cage and plant grass tussocks which the Quolls will use for nesting.
4.30 - Clean & tidy education area ready for tomorrow's lesson
5.00 - Go home but no time to rest just yet!
5.30 - clean Baby Quolls enclosures at home
6.00 - 3rd Quoll feed of the day
6.30 - time for a shower and something to eat - for me!
8.00 - a quick sponge bath for the baby Quolls
8.30 - a chance to relax in front of the TV
10.30 - go to bed
Midnight - Wake up to feed Quolls for the 4th time of the day. Back to sleep pretty quickly though!
