General Session 3 Abstracts
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FROM EXOTIC ANIMALS TO DOMESTICATED PETS - EVENING UP THE ENRICHMENT PLAYING FIELD
Nicole Nicassio-Hiskey Oregon Zoo Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
For decades, improving environmental enrichment opportunities for exotic animals in zoos and aquariums has been the primary focus in the captive animal industry. Research and experience has shown the vast improvement environmental enrichment has made for captive animals in reducing stereotypy, boredom and destructive behavior. If enrichment is so successful with exotic animals why not offer more opportunities for enrichment to the millions of domesticated pets within our own homes? Traditionally, domesticated animals have guarded territory, herded livestock and worked farms. These animals had jobs and were stimulated daily. Today, similar pets live in small fenced-in yards and spend a large portion of their days alone and waiting for their owners to come home. Many pets become bored and boredom leads to destructive behaviors like barking, chewing and house soiling. This paper will discuss some of the similarities and differences between enriching exotic and domesticated animals and the challenges, risks and benefits for both. It will also present to professional pet trainers/handlers several examples of enrichment opportunities for domesticated animals. |
ENRICHMENT WORKS BETTER WHEN WE WORK TOGETHER! Amy Davis, Woodland Park Zoo Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
We are better able to care for our animals working together with different departments around zoo grounds. Zookeepers can collaborate with different zoo programs for the betterment of the animals. Working together we can:
At Woodland Park Zoo, we have several multi-departmental enrichment programs including: Browse Gardens: Zookeepers work together with Horticulture and Administration staff to create enrichment gardens. Communicating with horticulture the needs and preferences of the animals and then collaborating with them to get gardens started, afterwards either keepers or administration staff care for the gardens. Keepers care for animal specific gardens and administration staff cares for the zoo wide garden, with assistance as needed from Horticulture. Meerkat Enrichment: WPZ has an Overnights program, in the Education Department, where families make enrichment for meerkats and keepers give it out before our zoo opens during a private showing for the artists who created it. Piñatas: In Educations’ Day Camps program, kids make piñatas; after a few days of assembling and decorating the Keeper adds treats and gives them to the animals. People and animals involved in each example benefit from working together. Our animals receive enrichment, and people gain better understanding on our animals’ natural behaviors and the importance of enrichment to their well-being. |
Full Abstract
The number of zoos and other facilities that continue to house their animals on bare surfaces is alarming. For more than 2000 years zoos have been keeping animals in captivity yet the picture today could be the same for the most part. Empty cages with solitary animals staring at nothing, shivering in the cold or trying to find some shade from the heat, hiding in crevices and doing whatever they can to protect their feet from the hot, cold, wet, hard concrete. Lack of stimuli often causes them to sway or pace back and forth until their feet crack from the unforgiving surface. This in turn results in them licking their wounds, which of course will only cause further problems. If the animals are lucky, they have some of their conspecifics sharing the same misery, although aggression is more likely increased due to boredom and breeding is often decreased due to lack of proper surface. This presentation will discuss the many negative effects of lack of substrate and will point out not only the simplicity of providing deep litter but the numerous positive effects providing substrate can have on animals. |
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CREATIVE EXHIBIT ROTATION AS AN ANIMAL MANAGEMENT AND ENRICHMENT TOOL Marla Tullio Seattle Aquarium Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
The marine mammal exhibits at the Seattle Aquarium have housed northern sea otters (Enhydra lutris kenyoni) and northern fur seals Callorhinus ursinus since opening in 1977. Pacific harbor seals (Phoca vitulina richardsii) were originally housed in this complex but now live in a separate exhibit. For decades, exhibit design insufficiencies limited animal management options. Although the main sea otter exhibit includes a small adjacent holding pool, which can be used for brief separations and shifting during pool cleans, the fur seals could not be separated and all animal training, exhibit cleaning and maintenance was accomplished with the entire collection remaining on exhibit. This paper will outline how exhibit limitations were overcome using creative training and enrichment strategies. Individual animals as well as groups were trained to transfer between exhibits using keeper service areas in various sequences in order to successfully rotate animals among the exhibits to meet our management needs. Communication tools such as the use of magnetic boards, dry erase boards and radio calls between staff ensure the safety and success of temporary rotation and avoid the potential of inadvertently mixing species. Training, enrichment and husbandry protocols had to be evaluated and modified in order to make successful rotation possible. Due to limited public viewing of the marine mammal exhibits, temporary rotation has allowed us to move highlighted species to prime viewing locations during heavy crowds and provides our guests and animals with variety. |
PARROT ENRICHMENT IN MIXED SPECIES ENCLOSURES: SOCIAL AND COGNITIVE ENRICHMENT AS IMPORTANT ASPECTS OF ANIMAL WELFARE
Nadja Ziegler, Ombuds Office for Animal Protection, Austrian Parrot Protection Society Watch Video (Login required) Full Abstract
The Parrot Sanctuary Vienna, operated by the Austrian Parrot Protection Society, keeps about 130 large parrots in mixed species exhibits. To ensure a high standard of animal welfare, a wide range of enrichment tools and methods are used. Social enrichment is provided by conspecifics, human visitors and researchers who conduct non-invasive studies on animal cognition biology. Cognitive enrichment (game playing) is very well received by the birds, considerably improving the results of scientific studies. Furthermore, to meet the needs for chewing and gnawing, the birds are provided with natural structures, man-made materials and other objects including dog beds made of willow or cat trees. Food enrichment is included in the daily routine: fruit spears, sugar cane swings, food-rewarding toys and the dispersion of palm fruits represent the highlights of the day. Indoors, showers and baths are provided by the keepers; the outdoor aviaries are equipped with a spray-irrigation system. Aviary structures must meet a variety of requirements; the materials need to be diverse (wood, rope, stone, etc.), sufficiently abundant, safe, chewable, preferably fresh and strategically positioned. Human furniture such as shelves, tables, chairs and cupboards will always be of interest for the birds. Changes in the position of objects are made under consideration for parrot territories and neophobic behaviour. The sanctuary further offers two specialities: the socialisation of former single-kept private birds, which are provided with “free mate selection” within a group of parrots, and the successful keeping of a group of handicapped parrots. |