Hullo, I’m Chris, the new manager of the Oasis, and it’s lovely to meet you! Jack, who has captured life at the zoo so vividly this far, has moved on to a teaching role at Askham Bryan, a specialist land-based college in Yorkshire.

Readers will understand how excited Jack is about the challenge of inspiring the students there, who will go on to work in agriculture, conservation, education, and food production. I bet his students are in for some much more exciting animal encounters than they’ve been used to.

I’ve worked in the zoo industry for- crikey- about 20 years. I really love it, the years have passed in a flash. It can be a cliché to say no day is ever the same, but when you work with animals (and children), that really is true, and you never stop learning.

I’ve come to the Oasis from ‘Jimmy’s Farm and Wildlife Park’ near Ipswich yes, the one off the telly! Don’t be fooled by the word ‘farm’, there are over 80 different species and breeds, so I’ve kept my hand in with exotics such as Barbary macaques, camels and lowland tapirs.

However, the Oasis contains some animals I’ve never worked with, which is really exciting.

I’ve never worked with Snow Leopards before and as they are the “face” of the Oasis, I’m looking forward to getting to know this breeding pair more.

I have worked with Fossas before, but not for a long time. Fossas are really unusual, so I count myself lucky that I get work with them again. To find Perdy celebrated her 22nd birthday earlier this month is really impressive. It’s a species I’ve always really liked so looking after Mango and Perdy will be a treat.

Jack has huge wellies to fill, but many of our passions align really well. I’m also passionate about conservation and education (let’s face it, the owners, Jo and Dave would have chucked any application in the bin that wasn’t!), and see so much potential in the next generations, so I’m right behind the zoo’s vision to engage and inspire.

I also loved writing for Jimmy’s Farm magazine, so the opportunity to continue this diary with you was the icing on the cake.

Until next week- I’ve got to go and untangle a python! In at the deep end