Australia/New Zealand Region: Lynn Allan
Learning Manager, Wellington Zoo
lynn.allan@wellingtonzoo.com
Lynn Allan is Learning Manager at Wellington Zoo, New Zealand, where she started as a Zoo Educator in 2011. Lynn works directly with educators and visitor rangers to connect people with animals in ways which drive them to take positive action for the environment. As a member of the Wellington Region Environmental Educators Forum, Lynn works with environmental educators across the region to ensure a collaborative and holistic approach to environmental education locally.
Lynn has a Bachelor of Communication Studies Degree (Public Relations and Business Communication) and a Post Graduate Diploma in Teaching (Primary), with a background in ESOL teaching, workplace training, and community education.
Lynn’s passion lies in working with the community to solve social problems, such as the loss of species worldwide. She believes everyone should be able to connect with their environment and develop a love for where they are living and of the biodiversity that exists there.
Some key projects Lynn has developed are The Warehouse Wellington Zoofari, which gives students from low-socio economic areas the chance to visit Wellington Zoo for free, and Wild Start, an early childhood programme for Zoo members, which focuses on celebrating the wonders of the living world.
Lynn loves exploring new places, both in New Zealand and abroad. With support from the Wellington Zoo Conservation Fund (WZCF), she traveled to Brazil in 2012 to establish a partnership with Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado, and assist with the translation of education material aimed at preserving the Golden Lion Tamarin and the Coastal Atlantic Forest. The WZCF also supported her to travel to Free the Bears in South East Asia in 2014, to conduct a review of their education initiatives at the Cambodian bear sanctuary, and create a project plan for a community engagement initiative to raise awareness of Moon Bears in Laos.