Lettuce help: Unit Manager Michael Murphy and Zoo Stores Coordinator Willem van der Merwe.
Prisoners at Rimutaka Prison’s Reintegration Unit are doing their bit to ensure Wellington Zoo’s animals get their five plus a day by providing vegetables from the unit’s garden.
Unit Manager Michael Murphy donated the prisoners’ most recent crop of fresh veges to the zoo this month.
“Tending the garden gives the guys some responsibility and something to take pride in. We donate vegetables to the zoo whenever we can”, says Michael.
The vegetables are fed to various animals, including chimpanzees, porcupines and keas.
“It’s great our work is going to such a good cause. We hope to give the zoo a load of lettuce, cabbage and onions in a month,” says one prisoner.
The zoo’s Stores Coordinator Willem van der Merwe says the zoo appreciates Michael and his unit’s help.
“And I’m sure the animals do too! The chimps alone go through 13 kilograms of vegetables a day, so obviously we need a great deal of fresh vegetables,” he says.
Reintegration units aim to reduce reoffending by increasing a prisoner’s general competence, confidence, self-responsibility and self reliance before they are released into the community.
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