Let's talk ideologies. All of us have them, whether it's about politics or religion or sports. I'm going to introduce, very briefly, some different groups of thought about animal welfare.


Contractarianism: Animals used in ways that benefit humans
Utilitarianism: Animals used in ways to benefit a majority – the human or animal majority
Animal rights: Animals are not to be used for human gain, animals have the same right as humans
Contextual: Animals used in the context of the animal-human relationship (example: treating pets better than wildlife because of the relationship humans have with them)
Respect for nature: Animal used in the context of animal importance to nature


You may have a good sense of which camp you belong in already. If not, you might get a hint from your gut reaction to reading these descriptions. So how do these ideologies come into play when working with animals in captivity? I would argue that they influence what people perceive as good animal welfare. Animal welfare being both the physical and psychological state of an animal.


Different people have different ideas about what constitutes good animal welfare. If you've got your eyes set on a career as a zoo keeper you're going to need to learn how to deal with visitors, organizations and professionals who have differing opinions on what good animal welfare looks like.


I'll use my own personal experience as an example. I've had to deal with representatives from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) while I was a zoo keeper. Some one you might be thinking “the SPCA? How could you possibly have an issue with them.” Well it's because my stance on what good animal welfare looks like is different from theirs. I respect the work they do with domestic animals but they know very little about how a zoological environment works and how to deal with captive wildlife. I personally feel that the SPCA should have no say in animal welfare matters concerning captive wildlife in zoos and aquariums, instead decisions and actions should come from an organization similar but autonomous to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) - but that's a discussion for another day.

Poor welfare or just stork male patterned balding?

The SPCA's animal welfare guidelines are based on one measure of animal welfare called The Five Freedoms.

1. Freedom from hunger and thirst
   
2. Freedom from pain, injury, and disease
   
3. Freedom from distress
   
4. Freedom from discomfort
   
5. Freedom to express behaviours that promote well-being.
   

Sounds pretty good right? But using the Five Freedoms as a catch all assessment for animal welfare is tricky when you're dealing with wild animals. The Five Freedom are pretty cut and dry for domestic animals but not wildlife – even those in captivity.


Let's end with an little exercise to hopefully help you see why it's such a difficult topic discuss. Rank these animals from WORST welfare to BEST. Compare your rankings with mine. How are they different? In what ways do you agree or disagree?

1. A fearful dog housed in a small pen in a rescue centre, getting good food and vet care
   
2. A well-cared for, content and pampered dog, confined indoors with a terminal illness
   
3. A moose living free in the wild, hungry, in poor condition and fearful of wolves
   
4. A tiger in a large enclosure, getting good good and vet care, occasionally scared by machinery noises and pestered by obnoxious guests
   
5. A loved Labrador, overweight and with congestive heart failure, allowed to run free in a big garden
   
6. A dog kept for hunting, health, well fed and allowed to roam but fearful of his punitive master
   
7. A much-loved beagle, showered with affection, healthy and allowed to roam free
   

After thinking about it, and debating with myself (because these issues are never black and white) I would rank these:

WORST 1 – 2 – 6 – 5- 4- 7- 3 BEST

You can support wildlife by encouraging them to live in your backyard. Here's a rough overview on how to build a bat box. There are a ton of great websites that go into more detail if you're interested in building a box for your own backyard.

Bat boxes

Dimensions:

• At least 2' (60.1cm) tall, and at least 14” (35.6cm) wide.
  
• There can be multiple roosting chambers. Roosting chambers should be 1.9-2.5 cm apart.
  
• Partitions and landing areas need to be roughened or covered in a durable plastic mesh (do not use metal, it will rush and break off).
  
• Vents should be included if July temperatures surpass 30 C. Vents on the front should be 1.3cm wide and side vents should be 15cm tall and 1.3cm wide.
  

Materials:

• Plywood and cedar (do not use pressure treated wood).
  
• Exterior paint: colour will depend on July temperatures. (27-30°C (80-85°F) black, 30-35°C (85-95°F) dark brown or gray, 35-38°C (95-100°F) medium or light colors, over 38°C (100°F) white).
  

Placement:

• Place the bat box in a location where the box will receive at least 6 hours of direct sun.
  
• If possible, place box within one kilometre of water.
  
• Mount on a pole or a building at least 10' off the ground.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Sources:
  
• http://cwf-fcf.org/en/do-something/challenges-projects/take-action-factsheets/outside/putting-up-a-bat-house.html
  
• http://www.bcbats.ca/index.php/bat-houses/where-to-install-a-bat-house

The holidays are upon us!

I have this thing with wrapping paper. It only exist to wrap gifts, to conceal the contents. Yes it's pretty, yes it's shiny but reeeeally it exists to exist. It's a waste of resources and there are plenty of other materials you can use to cover presents so what's inside remains a surprise.

I use

Newspaper
IKEA instruction manuals
IKEA paper that comes with the furniture you buy
Magazines

I re-use

Bags
Boxes
Wrapping paper

You can get creative this season and think of fun ways to wrap gifts that doesn't involve buying brand new wrapping paper. With newspaper, it's easy to save the comic section. Or you can be a Christmas troll like me and wrap some gifts using the obituaries.

My second hand Christmas tree with my IKEA paper gifts.

Some of you may have heard of animals referred to as “critically endangered” or “vulnerable.” But what does that really mean? Where do these statuses come from?

The IUCN has a “Redlist of Threatened Species” which is where the official classifications of species comes from. Species are classified in this way:

But what's the real difference between a critically endangered animal and a vulnerable one? Well I'm glad you asked. Animals are categorized based on:

1. Population decline
   
2. Geographic range
   
3. Population size
   
4. Number of mature individuals
   
5. Probability of extinction
   

There are more specific subcategories within all these but we won't get into that today. Here is a comparison between critically endangered and vulnerable species:

	Critically Endangered	Vulnerable
Population decline	Reduction of more than 90% over the last 10 years or three generations	Reduction of more than 50% over the last 10 years or three generations
Geographic range	Occurrence = less than 100 km2	Occurrence = less than 20,000 km2
Population size	Less than 250 individuals	Less than 10,000 individuals
Number of mature individuals	Less than 50 mature individuals	Less than 1000 mature individuals
Probability of extinction	Probability of extinction in the wild = 50% within 10 years or three generations	Probability of extinction in the wild = 10% within 100 years

As you can see, species with a much smaller range, population size and a much higher chance of extinction are classified as critically endangered. Many species remain to be evaluated because doing in-depth analysis of species requires time and resources.

Hopefully I've helped you understand the these terms! You can look into the statuses of local animals in your community by visiting the IUCN Redlist.

Hippo (Hippopotamus amphibius) - Vulnerable

The day in the life of a zoo keeper:

7:00 - Arrive at work. Get changed and talk to co-workers about their weekend/life/need for coffee

7:15-9:00 - Morning health checks. Feed baboons, lynx, caracal, coyotes, cheetah, cougars, eagles, Arctic fox, Arctic wolves, and any other wildlife that steals your food

9:00 - 9:30 - Coffee break. For me, since I don't drink coffee, it was a granola bar break

9:30 - 11:30 - Feed jaguar, clean baboon stalls, feed bears, projects! (project include: cleaning beds, pooper-scooping, trimming blackberry bushes, weed-whacking, organizing the cat house, or enrichment)

11:30-12:30 Lunch. Unless it's Wednesday then I would be with the vet out in the field, not eating and frowning

12:30 - 15:55 Grab food for the afternoon.

13:00 Lion and Tiger feeding/pubic talk. Feed baboons, bears and bat eared foxes. Projects and afternoon health checks.

16:00 Home time! (Unless there's an animal emergency, then I'm still here.)

That's pretty much how my days goes but everyday is different depending what the animals want to throw at you - both figuratively and literary. My schedule also varies depending on the time of year. In the winter I have more project time because the bears are sleeping (I only have to check on them every 2 days), no blackberries growing like weeds and no Lion and Tiger feeding. In the summer I run around like a maniac trying to fit everything in but I get to talk to public after my shows and that's always lovely. Sometimes I also have committee meetings which I have to make time for so I go twice as fast.

And that's my day!

Really cool video of what the inside of a wolf's den looks like! I've always wondered what Brutus and Cleo's den is like. Theirs has 3 entrances and could go just as deep as this one. Incredible.

What IS this?

What are you animal friend?

It's a mara (Dolichotis patagonum)! A mara is a South American, herbivorous mammal that is common in Argentina. They are the fourth largest rodent in the world and they can run at speeds up to 29 km/hr.

I often tell our guests that maras are like jackalopes without the horns since most people know about the mythical creature rather than the real animal that inspired it.

Same thing right? (Art by VisionCrafter)

They are monogamous - meaning they have one partner for their whole lifetime. Males mark their chosen females with urine. Sexy!

Today I'm going to introduce you to ethograms. I think they're a fun activity to do at the zoo for those of you who have young, budding biologists or if you're a science nerd yourself.


An ethogram is inventory of behavior exhibited by an animal. To get started, list behaviors and describe them accurately. You can do this by observing animals at the zoo first and writing down what they do; or looking for examples online or in textbooks. Here's mine for the pigmy hippos at Bristol Zoo:

Then go to the zoo an observe the animals. There are different kinds of sampling methods, but lets just pick between two of them. You can 1.) either watch the animal(s) and record every time they do a behavior or 2.) you can record behavior at time intervals – like every 5 minuets. If you're doing this with young children just cater to their attention span. If 10 minuets of watching animals and writing down behaviors is enough then awesome.


If you're super enthusiastic, you can even make charts and graphs! Here's mine for the pigmy hippos.

They did a whole lot of nothing and that's to be expected with hippos. If you're doing an ethogram for the first time, especially with a child, pick an animal that's active - like pretty much any species of monkey.


And have fun! Feel free to share your results with me :D

[1] Bowers, T. E., Waterman, J. M., Kuhar, C. W & Bettinger, T. L. (2010). Social behaviors within a group of captive female Hippopotamus amphibus. J. Ethol. 28: 287–294. DOI 10.1007/s10164-009- 0184-6

Here's a decent article about zoos - their role in conservation and what they do for animal health and care. Worth a read!

During my Master's degree overseas, I went home for the holidays and had the chance to see my tiger, Sweetie, one last time. I actually saw her the day before she was euthanized. The moment I saw her I knew she wasn't doing well. Keepers always know how their animals are feeling just by looking at them because we spend so much time watching over them during our shifts. Sweetie lived to be 18 years old which is way up there even for captive cats. She was also living with a life long hiatal hernia so it was amazing for her to survive for one year let alone 18.

Work it girl.

Sweetie was the kind of cat that didn't like a lot of fuss. She preferred to either be away from the public or terrorizing them. She was strikingly beautiful - and she knew it. Sweetie was only friendly to keepers when she was in heat or when it suited her. Even though she put up front I think she enjoyed being acknowledged and told she was beautiful. I would always say good morning to her and she would stare back at me like she preferred it if I would roll over and die. But I said it anyway because it would have annoyed her even more to be ignored.


I should know better than to look at the comments on online articles by now but once again there were people claiming that she was better off dead than in a zoo. These people have mostly likely never even met Sweetie and yet the feel like they can speak about her life. She wasn't unhappy. She rarely ever displayed any stereotypical behaviour and her keepers never forced her to do anything she didn't want to – except vet check ups. She was a great cat and I can say that because I knew her personally.

RIP Sweetie. You were the definition of fierce.

 Honor Sweetie by educating yourself on the plight of Siberian Tigers and take action towards conserving this beautiful cat.

I have been a little less active lately and that will most likely continue until August. It's because I'm doing a masters degree. Whoa! I'm doing a Master of Global Wildlife Health and Conservation Biology through the University of Bristol. Some of my courses are taught through Bristol Zoo Gardens. It's been fantastic so far.

Here's a another comic. For those of you whole aren't keepers, this might not be that funny but for those who are, you know exactly what I'm talking about. That darn hose. It gets caught on everything!!

 The holidays are upon us! If you're thinking about getting one of your family members a pet this year make sure you do your research.

Let me tell you a little Christmas story about Optimus the Sulcata tortoise. Optimus was donated to our zoo when her family could no longer take care of her – in fact our zoo has never really had to pay for reptiles because there are plenty of people who buy them with out knowing what they're getting themselves into. Optimus is half the size she should be for her age. This is because when her previous family purchased her they didn't want a pet that would get very big. Sulcata tortoises grow to 18 inches in carapace length and can weight 70-100 pounds. The pet shop owner told the family to feed Optimus once a week to keep her from getting too large, and it worked. Sulcata tortoises are grazers and they eat constantly through out the day. Since Optimus was only fed once a week, her growth was stunted and she will never grow to her full size.

Here's Optimus enjoying some tasty rose petals with our junior zoologists. Notice how bumpy her shell is, this is a sign of nutrition deficiencies in tortoises and turtles.

Never buy a pet that you are not willing to take care of. For example, ball pythons can live for almost 50 years. Same with Parrots. They can live for 50 -100 years depending on their species and that, combined with their intelligence, means you're stuck with a 3 year old that will most likely out live you.

Once you've done your research about the animal itself and you're sure you can give it adequate care, then make sure you're getting the animal from a human source. Many small exotic pets are smuggled into the country using inhumane methods. See the pictures below.

Remember that no wild animal makes a good pet. If you're interested in owning an animal, go down to you local shelter and adopt a cat, dog or bunny!

Happy Holidays!

Images from: The Huffington Post

It's international cheetah day!

Our resident cheetah is Duma. He's 5 years old. Duma's claim to fame is that he was featured on cheetah diaries. At that time he was called Yankee.

Duma eats about 2 Kg of meat six days a week. He enjoys purring and being told that he's gorgeous - he already knows it but it's nice to have a daily reminder.

 

 

 

Duma's cool with having a day dedicated to him

I often get costumer complaints along the lines of “I didn't come all this way to see the animals lay around and sleep.” I find this very entertaining. There's a huge possibility that people have been watching nature shows – where it's all action all the time – and then they come to a zoo only to be disappointed not to see the same thing. Actually, animals spend a lot of their time resting.


Cats sleep 13-14 hours a day. They do most of their moving about and hunting during the night.

I'm pretty sure she snores

 Canines sleep for 16 hours a day.

Zzzzz

Bear hibernate in the winter. If you come to the zoo in December, you will not see them. Grizzly bears even give birth during their winter nap. No big deal, right?

Shadow prepares for her winter nap

Ironically enough, it was hard for me to find pictures of my animals sleeping. That's because I'm their keeper and when I'm around, it's food time and that's worth being awake for. If you want to make the most out of your zoo experience, attend shows and talks to see the animals in action!

Say good night to the hippo bums!

In November 2011 our zoo lost two giraffes. Their deaths would mark my introduction to the media frenzy that follows the death of a charismatic animal. Amryn's death hit us all very hard, but before we were given even a second to process his passing it was time to answer to the media. His mother, Eliah, died only five days later and once again the shock had hardly even begun settle before people wanted answers. When a keeper is faced with an animal death, we aren't given very long to process our feelings before it is time to get back to work. Everyone wants to know the who, what, where, when and why of the “incident” before the tears on our face have dried. I reacted very strongly to Amryn's death for a number of reasons. He was an amazing animal. He had such a strong presence at the zoo and I knew it would take a long time before it dissipated. Even months later I'd still catch myself look for him out in the field. Another reason I reacted so strongly to Amryn's death was because, as a keeper, it was the firs time in my career that I had experienced the flood of news clips and public comments that followed a big event like this. I felt I was being attacked by both corporate and public communities. I felt a lot of anger as a result and though it's impossible to change what's been published on the event, I can at least offer up my take on the situation.

Oh Amryn. You were such a muffin.

 It seems to me that there is an assumption floating around that animals that live in captivity are immortal and this is simply not true. All living things have the potential to die before their maximum life span for a number of reasons. They can be killed by conspecifics or predators, or contract a disease. Giraffes are especially tricky to treat in captivity because their anatomy doesn't allow us to treat them in the same way as other animals. For example, it is very dangerous and usually fatal to sedate a giraffe because their circulatory system doesn't do so well if they aren't standing. This means we can't operate on them to treat health problems like we're able to with other animals.
 

With Amryn, he was only five, so of course his death would be considered premature. What bothered me was the contradiction between the interviews about Amyrn and those regarding Eliah. The Humane Society said Giraffes can live to 20 years of age in captivity in an interview regarding Amryn, however, in the interview about Eliah the same guy said that Giraffes can live to 26 years of age so Eliah's death was also premature. Eliah was 23 years old when she passed away. I think it's a little unfair to, first of all, to be allowed to change your facts during an interview to suit your agenda of making the zoo look bad and second to suggest that the death of a 23 year old giraffe was premature. It's like saying that the death of a 117 year old man was premature because the world record for the oldest human is 122. I suppose the news is the news, I have issues with it even without all the coverage of the zoo, but I think it's ridiculous that people who aren't authorities on exotic animals (like the representative from the humane society) are allowed to make their claims without being held accountable when they change their facts.

There were also some questions as to why we didn't notice that our animals were sick. I believe comments like this come from a lack of knowledge. Most animals don't show their weaknesses. A lion with a tumor the size of a basketball will only develop a slight limp near the end of of its life because if they displayed their vulnerability in the wild they would be the target of predation. This goes for animals in captivity too – the instinct for self preservation never leaves them. We do our best to monitor the health of our animals, but we can't fix a problem that their instincts refuse to show us. As far as we knew, both Amyrn and Eliah were happy and healthy.

One of the most frustrating comments for me were the ones suggesting that our zoo should be shut down. I think comments like these also come from a place of ignorance. If you are a person that wants animals to be treated in a humane manner then why wouldn't you consider how much stress it causes an animal to be transported to and live at another facility? It's not just as easy as closing the doors of the zoo to the public and calling it a day. There would be a lot of animals that could die during transport. They would be stressed in their new home until they grew accustomed to it. Plus, there would animals that would be euthanize simply because other zoos don't have the space to house them.

There is a lot of public misconception about why zoos exist. Perhaps back in the 70s, zoos were responsible for taking animals out of the wild solely for display purposes but that's no longer the case. I feel that most zoos work really hard to fight this image and reestablish themselves as conversation centers. For example, all the animals in my care are either

1. wild disable. Meaning they were injured in the wild and wouldn't be able to survive on their own.
   
2. former pets. Meaning they were kept in someone's home until authorities confiscated the animal or the owner donated the animal too the zoo.
   
3. born in captivity. Meaning that whether they were raised by their parents or by Keepers, these animals have only ever known a life with human interaction.
   

None of my animals were plucked from the wild, and they live at the zoo because of the circumstances that brought them there. I work really hard to educate people on the issues that each species faces, but I find myself spending more time combating people's outdated misconceptions.
I could go on for days, but I think I'll wrap it up. I know that people are entitled to think what they want but all I am asking is that public considers two things when reading and interpreting news about a zoo animal's death. Firstly, the sadness that the keepers are feeling over the loss of an animal that they loved like their own child and secondly the potential that you are being hypocritical. Make sure you are buying free range chicken, donating to wildlife rehabilitation centers or supporting the conservation of exotic animals before you get on your high horse about the practices of zoos.

I like where this is going - Discovery news. Zoos are an integral part of animal health and conservation and it's great that many of them are continuing to be innovative with their animal care.

Tiger cub born at London Zoo!

If you ever find yourself in Denmark I highly recommend vising Odense zoo. Their zoo is amazing! There are so many unique enclosure designs. The animals have lots of space and they've used crates, burlap bags and other objects for make their enclosures both look cool for the public and dynamic for the animals that live in them.

Wake up because I adore you!

 Their animals seem to be well taken care of. They tiger they have may be very old - or at least he or she was acting old when I was there. I didn't get a chance to ask the keepers about its age, but he or she was so cute!

Their giraffes have lots of space and a great yard to stroll around in.

They also have their share of funny signs. Seriously, don't stick you fingers in there.

Chomp chomp goes your fingers.

Their educational talks were great. The keeper did the seal presentation in Danish and English, with opportunities to ask the keeper questions afterward. I was super impressed with the entire zoo. My only compliant is that I didn't get to see the red panda. Those bugger are always so elusive!

Dinner time!

When you're walking around the zoo you may hear an array of sounds. It's hard to know what they all mean but today I'll share with you what I've learned while working with animals.

When tigers are in heat they make a calling noise that sounds like a deep groan. A lot of people ask me if tigers roar and the answer is no. Tigers chuff - sounds sort of like an puffy exhale. Sometimes tigers will chuff back if you chuff at them. Lions also making a calling noise that sounds slightly similar to a tiger's call, but a lion's call isn't meant to call for mates. It's for communication in general. Male and female lions call to one another. It sounds very cool to hear a pride all talking to one another. We have three lions and the sound of all of them calling to one another is amazing. It gets you right in the chest. Lions also roar. Their roar is very loud, it can be heard up to 8 km away and is used to warn any outsiders against attempting to enter or take over the pride and round up any lost family members.

A lot of people are surprised to hear our cheetah purr. Cougars purr as well. They are the largest cat that can purr. They also growl and chirp. When I come to feed my cougars in the morning they run along the fence, chirping away. It sounds kind of like a “meow” which is very weird coming from such a big cat.

Another common sound around zoo is alarm calls. You'll hear these mostly from primates or prey animals. I often hear the lemur alarm calling it there's a heron or mink in the area. My baboons alarm call when they they sense a disturbance as well, it's especially common when the vet is driving by.

Interpreting sounds is very important. I've been told that a costumer once informed her daughter that our tiger's mating call was actually the sounds of her crying because she was so sad to be in captivity. This is incorrect, the tiger is calling because she is looking for a mate. If you're unsure what a sounds means and you're worried about the animal, then ask a keeper. We'd be more than happy to explain any strange noises you might hear!

I think the sounds you'll hear most often at zoos is the sound of keepers talking to our animals. Zoo Story explains it best. There are keepers that are “bunny huggers” and those that are not. Bunny huggers name their animals and talk to them constantly. You'll likely hear keepers chatting away as if they're talking to a friend. Animals respond to our voices and I think talking to your animals helps you establish a good working relationship with them. Once our guests learn the names of our animals, they'll often try calling them over. You'll probably notice that calling an animal by name doesn't guarantee a response, since the animals don't associate you voice with food – like they do with their keepers - but it never hurts to try and say hi!

Something I hear quiet often when I'm going about my day is the notion that animals look sad or depressed in captivity. I read an interesting article about it recently and I thought I would share my thoughts.

As a keeper, I have the privilege of feeding my animals every day and seeing their reaction when I drive up. They aren't happy to see me, they're happy to see food. When keepers are around, animals behave very differently than when we're not. While walking around a zoo you might notice a lot of animals laying down, sleeping, or looking “bored.” This behavior is in fact normal. Most animals, especially cats, sleep several hours a day. In the wild, they try to save energy for hunting and those instincts are still in them even when they're in captivity. This misconception that animals run around doing fun and exciting things all the time is fueled by documentaries about wildlife. I love documentaries, they're great educational resources, but they do tend to show lions hunting or fighting constantly by string together lots of footage that they're gathered other several days or months into an hour of action packed cat behavior. They rarely make a documentary about an 8 hour cat nap.

Brutus is resting after running around like a goof ball. It's hard being such a handsome wolf.

People have a tendency to anthropomorphizing as well. We see our own emotions in the eyes of animals. To us, cages symbolize being trapped and suppressed where as animals don't view them the same way. Animals only know the life they live. They don't long for the open field their ancestors enjoyed because they have no concept of previous existence or “what could have been.” That being said, it's important as a keeper to make sure the lives your animals are living are the best ones possible. Animals in captivity need lots of enrichment and stimulation and if you don't give it to them they can develop stereotypical behaviors. Stereotypical behaviors are behaviors that are repetitive, such as pacing. These behaviors need to be addressed and changed.

Feeling sad Hani? Nah, her face always looks like that.

As a guest at a zoo, the best thing you can do if you're concerned about an animal is ask a keeper. We know our animals very well because we spend so much time with them. My female lions pace the fence after the cat show because they were waiting to be fed inside. I have lots of guests ask me about it and I tell them why the behavior is happening. If the girls paced at other times of the day I would be concerned, but this type of pacing is acceptable. I also know, when I arrive in the morning, how my animals are doing. Their excitement for food is a great way to determine if they're feeling tired or disconnected on any particular day. I take care of a very old jaguar and I know instantly if he's feeling his age that day. On those days I would expect him to stay inside and sleep most of the day and while that's not what guests want to see, it's what he wants to do and I'm not going bother him just so you can take a picture.

Remember to always look at animals objectively. Ask a keeper about behaviors you don't understand or might be misinterpreting. If you see any negative behaviors let us know so we can work together to make the lives of animals in captivity better!