Whilst the majority of the more significant construction work within and modifications made to enclosures at the Deer Centre is carried out by the Maintenance Team (including the Head Keeper), keepers do also have the freedom to design and construct new features within enclosures which is not as reliant on heavy labour or machinery. 

The designs for two projects I seen through from the inception of the idea to its final construction are shown to the right. Both are working drawings with the relevant dimensions detailed, and were used as the basis for the end products created, with some minor alternations. 

The first shows the design for a large sandpit for the otters, intended mainly as an enrichment feature though also to make use of an an old sprainting (latrine) site which had seen limited vegetation regrowth despite restorative work attempted. A more detailed account of the enrichment benefits of the sandpit is described under 'B - Provision of Enrichment', however in summary, it was hoped that the provision of a loose, soft substrate would help to elicit more natural rubbing, rolling and grooming behaviours from the otters. 

I initially pegged out the area with stakes to mark out the dimensions for the sandpit, before roughly digging out the section to a depth of 20cm, as planned. Once the site was prepared, I measured out lengths of pre-treated softwood rail (pre-treatment important to limit degradation once in the ground) and cut lengths to the dimensions set out in the plan. Instead of cutting short sections for some of the smaller parts of the design, I elected to use large rocks sourced elsewhere in the park to plug the gaps they would have filled, for practical reasons. Using a mallet by hand, I drove eight corner posts measuring 40cm long x 8cm² into the corners of the prepared site to a depth of 20cm to ensure the length protruding from the ground would match the depth of the sandpit and the height of the rail. I then drilled screws through the cut rail lengths into the corner posts they were matched up with to affix the edging in place in the desired shape, and finished by barrowing in just under a half tonne of non-abrasive children's play sand. The results are shown in the video in 'B - Provision of Enrichment'. 

The second design came about after I raised concerns with the Head Keeper that due to two otters' tendency to dip food items in their water bowl (replicating a natural feeding behaviour) and the need to clean out the bowl after each feed, spilled water and waste food were accumulating in a non-draining and increasingly calcified puddle below the bowl. I proposed that drainage channels were dug into the ground and led away from the bowl to encourage water and food to drain properly, and that the section be covered over in a permeable substrate to make the site easier to clean, improve drainage further and enhance enclosure aesthetics. After advice to construct drainage in a delta system, I proposed the design shown to the bottom right, featuring five channels 20cm deep leading out into a delta concluding 1.5m away from the bowl. I chose pea gravel as the substrate to cover the channels as this would fulfil all purposes intended and would also provide the otters with more small, non-abrasive items to play and 'juggle' with. 

I dug out the drainage channels by initially marking out the channels with a spade, and then widening them as required by moving the spade back and forth to break up the ground. This immediately began to drain the site, and once satisfied that the design was having the desired effect, I then wheelbarrowed in the pea gravel and covered over the site in a 2m x 2m circular coating. This modification, like the sandpit before it, has also proven to be an ongoing success, as it has continued to have the desired effect since construction in early January 2016.

Record sheets based on the template shown to the left are maintained for all of the Deer Centre's carnivore species to document types and aims of enrichment provided and their results.

Designed for keepers to keep track of enrichment used and also as an example set for students and volunteers to refer to when invited to come up with new enrichment ideas, it aims to encourage better planning, more consideration to the aims and how the activity may benefit the target animal(s) and provide part of the basis for evaluation of enrichment. 

The sheet shown to the left details all of the aforementioned information pertaining to a range of enrichment activities I have undertaken with the otters to date in 2016. All but the final enrichment shown - an olfactory enrichment - have successfully met their aims.