Animal Unit and Conservation Area

Students studying Animal Care have access to a wide variety of animal species.  Most of the animals are housed in the Animal Unit adjacent to the main building and range from meerkats to micro-pigs, marmosets to miniature ponies, pigmy goats to guinea pigs, together with all the common companion animals.  The Unit also has teaching and assessment areas, and space to grow food for the animals, with any excess going to College catering outlets.

Within the main building there are rooms to house our ‘exotics’ and aquaria, as well as a dog grooming room fully fitted out with all the necessary equipment.  Students also have access to a life-sized model horse; a range of veterinary equipment, including a K9 resuscitation dummy, anaesthetic machine and an x-ray viewer; handling and restraint equipment; and laboratories for dissection, microscopy and other experimental work.

The site incorporates a number of different habitats, including woodland and ancient hedgerow, that can be used to support the delivery of environmental and conservation topics.  A new conservation site, complete with a large pond, is being developed with the help of Lottery funding.  The surrounding area has examples of a wide range of habitats and the College works closely with organisations such as Shaldon Zoo, Paignton Zoo and Environmental Park, and Torbay Country and Costal Trust.