Don’t just care for animals – build the evidence of what you can do.

Animal keeping is a hands-on profession. Every day can bring new species, new responsibilities, new husbandry challenges and new opportunities to develop your skills.

But when you’re building a career in animal care, how do you keep track of all that experience?

The Zookeeping Record of Experience is designed to help zookeepers, animal keepers, sanctuary staff and developing animal-care professionals record their practical experience, skills, knowledge and professional development as they progress.

From daily husbandry and enrichment to animal behaviour, enclosure work, welfare monitoring and professional development, this portfolio gives you a structured place to record what you’ve done, reflect on what you’ve learned and demonstrate how your skills are developing.

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What’s inside?

The portfolio provides structured pages for documenting your animal-care experience, including:

Initial skills self-assessment
Animal care tasks
Animal welfare monitoring
Enrichment design and delivery
Animal handling and training
Record keeping and data management
Health, safety and biosecurity
Teamwork and collaboration
Communication
Problem-solving
Time management and organisation
Animal biology and health
Animal behaviour
Conservation and breeding
Legislation and welfare
Animal nutrition and diet
Zoo enclosure design
Professional and transferable skills

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Record your practical experience

Dedicated activity pages allow you to record the details of your animal-care experiences while they’re fresh.

Document:

Date of activity
Organisation or placement
Placement name
Activity performed
Species or habitats
Equipment used
Health & safety considerations
Methodology
Skills developed
Knowledge applied
Software and tools used

You can then reflect on what went well, challenges you overcame, what you would do differently and how the experience connects to your studies or career. There is also space for photographs, sketches, enclosure maps and other supporting evidence.

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Track your development

Your experience isn’t static, your skills change as you gain confidence, encounter new species and take on new responsibilities.

Use the self-assessment sections to identify your current strengths, recognise areas that need further development and think about which opportunities could help you progress.

Return to the assessment later to see how far you’ve come and where you want to go next.

The portfolio also encourages you to keep supporting evidence such as certificates, feedback, photographs, enrichment records, observations and other evidence of your development alongside your experience records.

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Ideal for

This resource is particularly useful for:

Zoo keeping students
Animal management students
Zookeepers and animal keepers
Wildlife and conservation learners
Sanctuary and rescue staff
Animal-care volunteers
Students completing animal-care placements
Early-career animal-care professionals
Anyone building a career in professional animal husbandry

Whether you’re just starting out or already working with animals, the portfolio can help you create a personal record of the experience and skills you’ve gained along the way.

Your experience is valuable. Make sure you can demonstrate it.

When applying for placements, volunteering opportunities, animal-care roles or future progression, being able to explain what you’ve actually done and what you’ve learned from it can make your experience much more meaningful.

Don’t leave those experiences scattered across notebooks, placement records and memories.

Record them. Reflect on them. Build your evidence.

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IMPORTANT: THIS IS A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD

This is an electronic, downloadable resource.

You will not receive a physical portfolio, and the resource will not be emailed to you.

Once your purchase is complete, you will receive access to a download link immediately, allowing you to download the portfolio to your computer or device.

You can then save and print the pages you need.

No physical product will be posted.

Printed version on images are a ‘serving suggestion’ only!

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Licence & permitted use

Your purchase provides a licence for the individual purchaser’s use.

Individual purchasers may:

Use the portfolio for their own learning, development and career progression.
Print copies for their own individual use.
Maintain their own personal record of animal-care experience using the resource.

Educators may:

Purchase and use the resource with one cohort of learners.
Print copies for use by that cohort as part of their teaching or learning.

Please do not:

Edit, alter or modify the resource.
Resell the digital file or printed copies.
Share or redistribute the digital file outside the permitted licence.
Pass the resource or licence on to another person, educator, institution or cohort.
Upload the resource to public websites or unrestricted file-sharing platforms.
Claim the resource as your own work.

One individual purchase = one individual user.
One educator purchase = one cohort of learners.

If you require a licence for multiple cohorts, multiple classes, departments or wider institutional use, please contact Hart-Kent Publications before purchasing.

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Your animals. Your experience. Your professional journey. Keep the evidence.

The Zookeeping Record of Experience helps you turn practical animal-care experiences into a structured record of your developing skills, knowledge, confidence and professional development.

zoo careers

Zookeeping / Animal Keeping Record of Experience – downloadable portfolio