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Elaine Bensted

Elaine Bensted – Caring for 3,000 animals in surreal times

Today we are joined by EB, Elaine Bensted, the Chief Executive of Zoos SA, including Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Safari Park.

We hear about EB’s childhood growing up loving animals, then having a successful corporate career and passion for education, with her role prior joining Zoos SA, the CEO of TAFE SA. EB discusses finding joy in the chaos, and how a complex like Zoos SA, with its 3,000 animals needing care irrespective of visitors, adjusts, makes some hard decisions, and positions itself for short term survival and long term success.

Elaine is a member of the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA) Membership and Ethics Committee and sits on the writing committee for the WAZA Sustainability Strategy.

Elaine was elected as Vice-President of ZAA in December 2018 and also chairs the Finance, Audit and Risk Committee. In her role on the ZAA Board, Elaine aims to strengthen our relationships and representation of members and ensure the association is helping improve the profile and standing of our industry.

Find Elaine via LinkedIn!

More about Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Safari Park here or watch some KeeperTalks on Facebook Adelaide Zoo / Monarto Safari Park and YouTube.

KeeperTalk - Orangutan

Real People is a podcast hosted by Jason Dunstone, the founder and managing director of Square Holes. Subscribe to Real People on your favourite podcast player.


Jason builds on his 25 years of conducting human-centred research, interviewing average and not so average people (rich, poor, old, young, content and vulnerable) to understand what they believe and how they behave.

Best listened to via iTunes

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Real People is a podcast hosted by Jason Dunstone, the founder and managing director of Square Holes, 25 years conducting research and interviews with average and not so average people, as well as interviews with key leaders such as innovators, politicians, scientists and experts. He has have been lucky to meet such wonderful and intelligent people, and have such fascinating discussions, but these are often largely deciphered down to research findings, insightful quotes, statistics et cetera for reports. Real People opens up such conversations for people like you

Subscribe to Real People on your favourite podcast player.

Best listened to via iTunes

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