Margaret Hawkins

 

Positions: Shape of Enrichment Secretary, Core Group

 

Margaret has been involved in the work of Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia for more than thirty years. She started there as a volunteer, manning the information centre and taking visitors on tours of the zoo. She quickly became involved in the volunteer organisation and training. Keeping staff asked her to carry out some animal observation, firstly on primates, and this led to MargaretÕs return to university to learn more about animal behaviour and to the formation of TarongaÕs Animal Watch program. This program has expanded to play an important operational and research role and has now become the Behavioural Studies Unit, a section of the Scientific Research and Wildlife Conservation department. Margaret became a member of zoo staff and remains the zooÕs Behavioural Biologist. Highlights of her zoo career have been her involvement in the introduction of rescued chimpanzees to Ngamba Island Sanctuary in Uganda and the first successful breedings of platypus at the zoo.

 

In the mid-nineties Margaret became involved in environmental enrichment in the zoo and this quickly became one of her passions. As well as facilitating enrichment at Taronga she runs workshops at the Australasian Society of Zoo Keeping annual conference and has been involved in keeper training. Taronga was host to the 5^th International Conference on Environmental Enrichment in 2001 and Margaret has served on the International Environmental Enrichment Conference (ICEE) Committee ever since. She has now taken on the position of secretary for The Shape of Enrichment, Inc.

 

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