Conservation Bulletins Animal Behavior Training See our Quicktime movie on this subject. This sounds like fun, but it is done for serious reasons. Zoo animals are wild and potentially dangerous. To successfully maintain their health and well-being they need to be closely monitored, cared for and sometimes treated for illness or injury. But physical or chemical restraint used to provide this care can be stressful or even dangerous to the animal.
Stress impairs the immune system, and can increase animals' susceptibility to disease.
The animal care staff must carefully weigh the costs and benefits of restraint when faced with the need to examine or treat an animal. Looking for volunteers. One way around this apparent dilemma is to train the Zoo animals to volunteer behaviors that will allow us to care for them without restraint. The trainers must be patient and consistent and carefully monitor and respond to the animal's behavior. The programs require clear goals and step-wise plans to reach the desired behaviors.