This group of men, women, and teens are volunteers. An increasing number of them come from the ranks of senior citizens. At Henry Doorly Zoo, they can be found working with horticulture, cleaning small animal enclosures, preparing diets, and swabbing down aquarium tanks, among other things. Volunteers willingly accept special assignments, from library to nursery to animal watches. They give of their time to perform routine tasks so that zoo and aquarium personnel can concentrate on more specialized activities.
Volunteers also function in other, less direct roles.
They add manpower to membership drives, support the zoo or aquarium financially, as well as vocally, and serve on advisory committees. They donate skill and experience with very little thought of reward or recognition. Perhaps the most visible are the docents, volunteers with the education department that work with school children and the general public. They obligate themselves to many hours of continuing training so that they are qualified to carry the zoo's or aquarium's conservation message and goals into the community. They do it with very little fanfare.