10 adventures for animal lovers in Gloucestershire

Well if the little people in your life are into animals they are in for a treat as there are so many places in Gloucestershire full of furry friends.

Three Counties Show: You will be able to find thousands of fantastic beasts on display at the Three Counties Show this summer. This celebration of all things rural is taking place at the showground in Malvern between June 16 and 18 and there are plenty of activities for all ages from farming displays and a sheep marquee to a Medieval battle re-enactment.

Over Farm: The farm has a variety of farm animals including pigs, ostriches, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, donkeys and ponies. Admission is free, but if you wish to feed the animals you can purchase food in the shop, which is open 9.00am-5.00pm from Monday to Saturday and open 9.30am-5.00pm on Sundays.

St James City Farm: This is in the heart of Gloucester and is run by the charity The Friendship Café and by a group of teenage volunteers. Animals include goats, sheep, horses, cows, guinea pigs and owls. The farm is 18 years old and based on Albany Street. It is free to visit and is open 9.30am-5.00pm from Monday to Sunday. On rare occasions the farm will be closed, so if you're travelling far, call 01452 305728 to check.

Cattle Country: Cattle Country is an adventure park based in Berkeley which allows you to feed calves and goats, race ferrets and groom donkeys. Also, Cattle Country has other activities such as an indoor soft play area, an outdoor trampoline area, jumping pillows, a shallow splash pool, an outdoor assault course and a boating lake.

Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park: Adam Henson's Cotswold Farm Park is the winner of the 2014 Farm Attraction of the Year award; Cotswold Farm Park is the farm of Britain's most-loved farmer, Joe Henson, featuring animals like rare breeds of Cattle, Goats, Pigs and Ponies.

Birdland Park and Gardens: Birdland Park and Gardens is based in Burton on the Water. Here you can visit Penguins, Parrots, Owls, Flamingos and Birds of Prey. Day tickets are £9.95 for Adults, £6.95 for Children and £8.95 for Concessions, though this is cheaper online.

Cotswold Falconry Centre: Cotswold Falconry Centre is in Morton-on-the-Marsh. The Falconry Centre hosts Vultures, Hawks and Owls of varying breeds which you can see in the centre's aviaries or in one of their daily flying displays.

International Centre for Birds of Prey: based in Newent and was opened in 1967 by internationally-renowned falconer Philip Glacier. The birds are flown every day; in fact, up to 40 can be flown in the summer months.

WWT Slimbridge Wetland Centre: Visit animals such as Otters, Water Voles, Flamingos and Cranes. Adults are £12.26, Concessions £9.45, Children 4-16 years are £6.75, and children under 4 years old are free.

Cotswold Wildlife Park: Based over the border in Burford this family favourite boast giraffes, rhinos and all sorts of other animals. Don't forget a picnic to enjoy on the front lawn after you've explored.

How a Skate Business Came to the Aid of Shelter Animals

The inspiration struck in early 2011, as surf and skate enthusiast David Hendrickson was paddling around on his longboard with his dog, William, adopted three years earlier from an animal shelter in Orange County, Calif. During the adoption process, Hendrickson was told the pup--whose mother was poisoned by cleaning supplies while pregnant--had only a month to live.

William survived, but at a cost: Hendrickson ended up dropping out of college to work three jobs in order to pay $20,000 in veterinary bills. It was during this rough patch that he had his on-board epiphany. "I was just holding [William] out in the water, and I realized I wanted to take my passion for art and design, longboarding and helping animals and combine them," he says.

Hendrickson went home, sold his iPhone on Craigslist for $250, bought a used silk-screening machine and started printing the T-shirts that would later become a key component of his company, Hendrick Boards.

With William--who's doing fine now--as the brand's floppy-eared mascot, Hendrickson started his eco-friendly skateboard and apparel business in June 2011 with a mission to help rescue animals. Hendrick Boards donates as much as 40 percent of its revenue to some 200 animal shelters, rescues and sanctuaries--a generous amount considering that 2012 revenue hit $350,000 and sales are growing between 40 and 50 percent every month.

Hendrickson notes that proceeds from the sale of a single T-shirt will house and feed a shelter animal for a month. Each donation is sent to the organization located nearest the purchaser, in order to make a palpable difference in his or her own community.

Hendrick Boards crafts skateboards from sustainable bamboo and maple, stained with coffee grounds and handmade dyes (shortboards sell for $49.99; longboards for $99.99). Apparel is priced at $24.99 and up (the top seller is the "Keep calm and rescue on" shirt). From time to time, limited-edition products are designed to help specific animals deemed "high-needs medical cases."

The company and its mission have attracted plenty of interest--and quickly. In the first month, Hendrick Boards went from working with two nonprofits to 15; in just six months, the operation turned a profit. Hendrickson says the key to growth, besides "learning from every mistake," has been using social media to up engagement levels. The Hendrick Boards Facebook page boasts more than 70,000 Likes; in a nationwide small-business contest last year, Facebook and American Express Open selected the company as a top 10 finalist.

In February Hendrick Boards and its five employees moved to new 2,000-square-foot digs in Fullerton, Calif. The plan: to ramp up production to back even more animal-rescue initiatives. "When we started, I knew we weren't ever going to be a multimillion-dollar business," Hendrickson says. "I just knew we had to be profitable, because that was the way to save more animals."

What Kind of Sales Animal Are You

Salespeople can learn a lot from the animal kingdom. Every animal has dominant traits that allow it to survive in its environment--and so does every salesperson. When it comes to your selling style, what kind of animal are you?

Bear: The bear's strengths are leverage and power. Bears are also rugged, tough, determined and tenacious. Tenacity builds sales champions. The top sellers don't give up, no matter how many setbacks they face. Never under-estimate the power of tenacity. It offsets many deficiencies and sends a message to the prospect that you believe in your product.
Of course, there's a fine line between professional tenacity and obnoxiousness. Strength and power can be misused. The next time you contact your prospect to close the deal, don't just ask for the order--bring up a new idea or solutionthat ties into your pitch.

Chameleon: Chameleons know how to blend in with the environment and adapt to a situation. Great salespeople have an uncanny way of adjusting their style to adapt to their customers' styles. They listen for clues that help them understand a customer's environment, then customize their presentation to blend in with the customer's key needs and objectives. Many great deals have been made because the salesperson noticed things the customer didn't and recommended something new that brought the customer's business added value.
Watch out, though: Customers like salespeople who believe strongly in what they sell and don't change just to please them.

Dog: Dogs are known for their loyalty and friendliness. They're also quite persistent when they want something. Everything in sales comes down to the relationship and friendship you've developed with your customers. Whether it's finding ways to help them build their businessesor taking them to lunch, look for ways to strengthen that bond.
But you should also ask yourself, How many friends do I have time for? Be careful how you spend and manage your time with all your clients.

Elephant: Elephants have thick skin, great memories and strong emotions. Being thick-skinned in sales is a big plus for dealing with all the rejection you encounter. And like elephants, great salespeople don't forget things. When you hear something your prospect says during a casual conversation and repeat it back to him weeks later, it makes a lasting impression.
Be careful not to step on people on the way up, though. We tend to meet the same people on the way down, so always leave the door open with prospects who aren't initially a good match. Situations can change, and an account that is unqualified today can be an opportunity tomorrow.

Monkey: Monkeys are intelligent and have a great sense of humor. Humor breaks down barriers. Have you ever had a belly laugh with a client and felt like the relationship reached a whole new level afterward? Life is too short to be taken seriously. It also doesn't hurt to come up with intelligent ideas on how your product can move your customer's business forward. Doing your homework on your client's business can help your solutions hit home.
Just be careful with your humor. What you think is funny might be distasteful or insulting to others. It's safest to laugh at yourself to connect with customers and show your human side.

An Algae Serum Is Being Used to Treat Wounded Animals

Joe Landolina has always been a bit of a science nerd. Growing up he'd spend hours at his grandparents' winery, finding plants in the vineyard and trying to see what he could extract from them. It was while he was tinkering with algae that the then 17-year-old discovered a liquid that would change into a solid quickly. "I always knew I wanted to go into medicine, so I thought of stopping a bullet wound [using that liquid]."

Now 22, Landolina has started his own company called Suneris which makes Vetigel, a plant-based serum that, when applied to wounds, stops bleeding in seconds. It's a product bigger than his initial aspirations.

"[Liquid bandage] doesn't stop bleeding. It'll seal the surface of a small cut but is not effective for traumatic bleeding." Landolina says. "Vetigel makes a mechanical plug that holds the pressure in and also helps the body make its own clots."

While Landolina, along with his co-founder Isaac Miller and 25-person company, are still about a year away from being able to use its product on humans (if all goes well in the approval process), the entrepreneur has found an unexpected industry for Vetigel: animal health care.

"Vets don't have most of the tech that's available to human patients," Landolina says. He explains the standard of care for animals with traumatic bleeds is to use a gelatin sponge, but this method can take 10 minutes to staunch the bleeding, compared to seconds with Vetigel. This coupled with the fact that there are fewer federal regulations required to administer products to animals (as opposed to humans) has helped Suneris quickly break into the field.

There are 3,500 veterinary clinics enrolled to use Vetigel once it's distributed in the coming months. The company's focus continues to be getting its product -- retailing for $150 for five syringes -- into the hands of surgeons, a high-use customer, as well as general practitioners (so they can begin do basic surgeries, rather than providing a referral to another doctor).

With Vetigel's current use and the possibility that it could one day be used on humans has caused a lot of interest among investors. The company has more than 60 investors, and they were easy to find. After Landolina hosted a Ted Talk (see below), Suneris had more interest than they could take on. "We had 1,200 accredited investors that asked to invest," he says, adding that he and his team eventually asked potential backers to apply to be considered via a selection process. They whittled that batch of applications down to 40 (adding additional investors later on). Though Landolina wouldn't give names, he says the backers are private individuals with high net worth, most of whom he had never met or had a connection to prior to investment. "We want someone who is not a VC, who's passionate about the product, trusting of the team and has a network that's beneficial," he says.

The funding Suneris has received is going toward research and development, along with focusing on the next step: getting FDA approval for human use. Everyone from military members to surgeons and emergency medical technicians could benefit from Vetigel's abilities but that's still a bit down the road. FDA approval for military and emergency use is expected within the next year or two and surgical use could be approved as soon as three years from now. To that end, the company is working on a new facility where they can work on researching, testing and manufacturing the version of Vetigel that would be used on people. Suneris hopes to find a suitable facility by early next year.

For their launch event this summer, the backdrop was the Brooklyn Zoo. As vets and other guests filed in, a sea lion surfaced on a rock in his tank and barked. It was a happy sound, perhaps signaling approval.

What you can learn about teamwork from these animals' traits

Teamwork can be described as the process of working collaboratively with a group of people in order to achieve a goal. It involves subordinating personal prominence to the efficiency of the whole. Over 200,000 years of evolution, mankind has survived the ice-age, famines, and plenty of other adverse conditions to reach the evolved state of civilization we are in now. We survived the worst of times because we worked together and supported each other. The basic ground for survival was to ‘be together or perish’.

We may say that mankind is more evolved because human cognitive abilities are much higher than that present in the animal kingdom. However, there are certain species of fauna that display traits, which we can learn from when it comes to working as a team.

1. Trust from Meerkats

Remember Timon from the famous Disney movie, Lion King – well, he is one. Meerkats live in the harsh and dangerous conditions of Africa. They have adopted a very smart survival strategy, which is based on mutual trust. One member is assigned the job of guard while the mob feeds. As soon as they spot any danger, they alert the whole clan, which then has enough time to run for safety. The amount of trust the mob places on each other is massive; one slip of alerting the mob can be the difference between life and death, but they still do it with a high rate of success.

Learning: Similarly, trust in each other is the most basic requirement in a team. You cannot grow or achieve much individually until you trust your team and work together.

2. Communication from Wolves

Wolves have a highly evolved social structure with roles defined for each member of the pack. They utilize every channel of communication at their disposal – right from their bone-chilling howl to miniscule eye movements. Researchers say that wolves pay close attention to all types of communication. Their power of observation is honed so finely that they record even the most subtle changes in each other's behaviour.

Learning: This is the kind of approach that works wonders in teams as well – understand each other well and communicate so effectively that the scope of miscommunication becomes absolutely less whenever there is task at hand.

3. Coordination from Killer Whales

Killer Whales are the most dangerous predators that roam the seas. They understand the power of collaboration and coordination to increase their success rate in finding preys. They hunt down whales much bigger in size than them as easily as they pick up unsuspecting seal on an iceberg. In fact, they are the only species to have perfected the art of picking up prey from the beach without getting beached.

Learning: Coordinated efforts play a major role in completing any task, simple or complex. Irrespective of who is gets more recognition for the same task, what matters is the bigger picture of completing a task which is going to add value to your organization.

4. Conflict resolution from Chimpanzees

Chimpanzees, who have been in conflict with each other at a previous occasion, are likely to be near each other in a conflict against another. This close proximity allows the exchange of grooming, hugs and kisses, which serves to diffuse the chances of future conflict. After fights, the chimp who comes off worse in a conflict is the one who initiates reconciliation.

Learning: Since teams are composed of people with different personalities, there are always chances of conflict occurring over differences. We must remember that conflict does not only affect the people involved in the argument, but also the entire team, thereby creating negativity. It is essential to understand the importance of resolving conflicts and maintaining amiability.

5. Empathy from Elephants

Elephants are one of the most intelligent animals and are very social too. They have an innate ability to remember and act empathetically towards other herd members. If any member of the herd is injured or sick, the others will try to pick them up with their trunk. If a member is dead, the rest of the herd mourns for the one gone.

Learning: When you empathize with your team members and understand their joys and sorrows, you tend to create bonds which are very important for the team to perform better. Making an effort towards going that extra mile always reaps benefits at some point or the other.

To conclude, it doesn’t matter where you are or what you do, you are always going to work with others to make things happen. No task can be accomplished without teamwork and a good way to learn how to do so is to observe the traits offered by nature itself. Observe, learn and implement.

4 Low-Cost Business Ideas for Animal Lovers

If you're an animal lover you know you've said that once or twice before. What if that dream could become your next business?

"With so many people having dogs instead of children, products and services that help people care for their four-legged family members are in a growth pattern that I don't see slowing down for the near future," says Matthew Osborn, doo-doo guru and owner of Pooper Scooper Services.

Since 1994, the pet industry has nearly quadrupled in sales. In 2015, Americans spent over $60 billion on their pets, according to American Pet Products, a nonprofit trade association serving the pet industry. It's estimated that 2016 will see an increase of $3 billion in sales.

If you're an animal lover looking to go into your own business, these are 9 low-cost business ideas that can start you on your way. The paw-ssibilities are endless!

1. Pet photographer

Do you have experience with a digital SLR camera? Love hanging out with animals? A pet photographer might be the business for you.

"The most important thing in establishing such a business is to create a memorable, identifiable style of pet photography that appeals to dog lovers," says Mark McQueen, owner of phoDOGraphy, a New York City-based business that specializes in dog photography with a city feel. He adds that being a pet photographer requires a lot of patience.

Some ideas for how you can cut down on costs? Take photos of your subjects outside of a studio, which can be a fun way to catch them in a unique environment with natural light but also presents some challenges in a less-controlled environment. Or use the owner's home as a setting. Another way to save is to rent camera equipment until you have the funds to purchase.

2. Pet sitter

Starting a pet-sitting service requires little in startup costs, but you do need credentials, such as past or present pet ownership, as well as other pet-related experience, including working at a pet retail shop, an animal hospital or another animal-related work.

You'll also need to be able to build the "trust" credential, sometimes referred to as "honesty insurance." Owners often regard their pets as children, so bond with your client's precious pet by offering a brief but important "meet-and-greet" with both the client and pet to get to know each other and go over your policies and ask questions about the pet's needs.

Consider what services you'll offer by researching the services that other pet sitters offer, such as overnight stays and/or private dog walks versus non-private services (such as walking multiple dogs at once); plus, come up with your own set of policies to protect your business, such as cancellation and payment policy and what sort of management system you'll use to record your clients' information and keep track of your pet-sitting schedule.

3. Gift basket service for pets

Finding a niche to corner is the best way to start out in the gift basket business. And if you love animals, why not create a gift basket for pets?

Will you focus on homemade tasty treats for brachycephalic dogs (that have flat faces, such as French bulldogs and pugs) that have sensitive stomachs? Or a starter puppy kit, full of safe toys and snacks -- and a booklet containing 10 important training tips?

Will your basket be filled with goodies for dog grooming?

One company that has capitalized on this idea is Bark & Co. through its BarkBox product. The BarkBox is a monthly subscription service that sends dog treats and toys to pet owners every month.

"One of the reasons so many startups in this industry fail is that they act like humans and not as dogs," Henrik Werdelin, co-founder at Bark & Co. said. "We have from day one built BarkBox with dogs values like contagious optimism. We are always trying to please and not be too serious."

Try cutting down on costs by marketing through social media. BarkBox uses its customers on social media to market their brand. "Try asking on Twitter 'should I get a BarkBox?' and you will find that our amazing customers do the branding for us," Werdelin says.

4. Pet clothing and accessories designer

Kitty couture. Designer hoodies for dogs. The entrepreneurial possibilities for pet clothing are vast.

"Coats and pajamas are a mainstay, as well as Halloween costumes and fun holiday wear," says Madelena Perrelli, owner of Diamond Collar, a pet attire store in Brooklyn.

According to Perrelli, this business is beneficial for small animals in particular. "They need comfort from the cold in winter, and in the summer as well due to air conditioning," she says, so there is a large market geared towards smaller animals.

And for ideas on how to cleverly market your pet threads, check out Lucy & Co., an online store that specializes in signature dog clothing classics, such as puffer vests and hooded sweatshirts, which uses Instagram, Facebook and Pinterest to show off its adorable wares.