NS Rangers

Night Safari Volunteer Rangers

Who are the Volunteer Rangers (VRs) ?

We are part of the Singapore Zoo Docent Group and we serve our voluntary stint at the Night Safari.

Our Mission

To complement NS's effort in the education & promotion of conservation.

Our Objectives

- To bridge the gap between guests & wildlife through our interaction with the guests.
- To educate guests on special adaptations of nocturnal animals.
- To raise awareness for the need for conservation.
- To promote NS as an educationally enriching place.

Our Roles

- Interact with guests at the Leopard Trail and help guests spot animals in the exhibits with the aim of enriching their experience of seeing animals in a natural environment.
- Encourage interest in the animals by sharing interesting facts, focusing particularly on nocturnal adaptations.
- Show and tell about animal exhibits at the Rangers' Station
- Assist the guests in their queries
- Provide guided tour on the trail when the opportunity arises
- Spread the conservation message. This is done by focusing on the role of the animals in their natural habitat e.g. pollination, seed dispersal, predator and prey relationships, role of scavengers , the uncontrolled hunting of animals in the wild and destruction of natural habitats - basically the importance of the whole ecosystem.
- Raise awareness of the threats the animals are under.

Our group photo taken during BBQ gathering on 23 August 2008.

Who make up the VRs?

The VRs comprise a motley bunch of about 30-odd guys and gals between the ages of 21 to 45 and are from all walks of life.

We have amongst us fulltime mothers, undergraduates, expatriates and busy career people.

The VRs are managed by a small team of full-time representatives from Wildlife Reserve Singapore, and with the help of a core team of about 5 VRs.

Together, they keep the us updated on the who, what, where and why stuff; organize keeper attachments (so that we know the real tough work that goes on to make the Night Safari so magical), social outings and meetings.

In fact, all meetings take place over dinner which gives us plenty of excuses to socialize and have good food, apart from discussing Ranger matters!

The VRs are also a busy lot of folks... other than our regular diurnal activities and our evening duties at the Night Safari, we are involved in projects to revamp and enhance the Ranger Station.

What is the VRs' mascot?

For good measure, the VRs have adopted the owl called Bubo (Eagle Owl to be precise) as our mascot.

It symbolises knowledge, wisdom and a nocturnal lifestyle - all VRs are nocturnal by the way...meetings start late in the night and end in the early hours of the morning!

This website you are looking at, is of course, yet another one of our projects! We look forward to meet new changes and challenges to accomplish our mission of raising awareness of the plight of wildlife in today's world of diminishing and fragmented habitats.

If you have any queries about the VRs, our website or have friends who would like to join us as a volunteer and become part of the Night Safari Magic, email us at volunteers@nsrangers.com