Animal Traning In The Time of COVID-19: Words of Wisdom By The Welfare and Husbandry Innovative Training

The COVID-19 Pandemic has not been kind to the zoo and aquarium community, for it has seen many facilities be forced to either furlough or layoff their staff members. Meanwhile, some facilities have begun to experience some serious financial problems to the point where they were forced to shut down for good. Those facilities are currently struggling to re home their animals at surviving facilities, who would otherwise be euthanized if such facilities were not found.

Aside from the struggle, many zoo and aquarium professionals at all of these facilities have been continuing to provide good-quality care for their animals and ensuring that they are kept stimulated throughout the day. So, even with no guests around, life goes on at these facilities for the animal care professionals and the animals they love.

As zoos and aquariums slowly begin to reopen after months of just having to rely on public donations during the early days of the pandemic, zookeepers and trainers continued to care for the animals and live by the words of the Welfare and Husbandry Innovative Training based on the following advice they provided them on their Facebook page.

First, let’s start with the four actions that both zookeepers and animal trainers continue to take during this global pandemic.

1. It’s Time to Train Something New

Both keepers and trainers alike have had something planned for quite some time now but they have not been able to develop it. At this point, they are now free to develop training for new skills in their animals, due to not running frequent educational sessions and shows for park guests on top of their regular training and husbandry duties. Educating the general public on the animals they share this world with is important but that can intervene in the logistics of training a new skill in their animals.

2. Enrich Your Animals

Since animals do not know about pandemics, the lack of visitors taking part in interactive programs with them can serve as the opportunity to have extra time to discover new enrichment that their keepers and trainers provide them. This enrichment first needs to be developed to encourage behaviors that animals would normally display out in the wild before being approved by a veterinarian. If all goes as planned with a little improvement along the way, keepers and trainers can then provide the animal this new enrichment. This would also require more observation time.

3. Optimize the Use of Available Resources

Since there are still several facilities that remain closed, all animal care professionals need to be open to having as many resources as possible that are optimized. This includes food, cleaning materials, substrates, chemicals, and water. Some facilities have some of the most effective emergency planning policies when disasters and pandemics strike and it shows that it never really hurts to spare some resources.

4. Use the Epidemic to Study

For zoo and aquarium professionals who are forced to stay home during the pandemic, it’s the perfect opportunity to learn more about the animals that live under their care by finding new ways to develop new training techniques, come up with new ideas on how to improve the habitats they reside at and work on new educational material. Some zoo professionals have opted to take online courses on animal training, husbandry, and care.

At the same time, keepers and trainers are also finding new ways to grow as members of the zoo and aquarium community as this pandemic continues. Not only are they looking for new ways to keep their animals healthy and active during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they are also looking into better ways to help members of the education department educate the public about the animals living under their care through “virtual” presentations on social media with the intent to both inspire and empower them on how to become better stewards of the environment. This also includes social media posts on how the animals are doing and answering questions people might have about the species they work with.

After all, the facilities they’re working at might be closed, but the will to become better members of the community continues.

How to Help Zoos, Aquariums, and Rehabilitation facilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic:

1. Please donate to your favorite facility.

2. If a facility does an “adopt-an-animal” program, please consider sponsoring one of the resident animals that live there.

Remember, every dollar helps facilities stay open and provide good quality care for the animals.

Big thanks to the folks of the Welfare and Husbandry Innovative Training organization for letting me share their take on how the zoo community continues to overcome the pandemic.