Animal Training Adventures

I know I haven’t written in awhile but really I didn’t want to bore anyone. The day to day stuff is just that: day after day after day of doing very similar things. However, there is some really exciting stuff that gets thrown in too!

Where to start….. ok well here is the typical week of an Eatm student who is taking 21 units (or in my case 24). Everyone’s schedules vary a bit, this is just my schedule to use as an example.

Monday:  at school by 8:30am to find parking, class starts at 9. Classes all morning (Wildlife Education Lecture and Lab – this is the class where we learn how to put on animal shows in front of audiences. We do a lot of speeches in this class.).

Tuesday: at school by 8, class starts at 8:30 (Animal Anatomy). Break for a few hours, then next class starts at 1:00 (Animal Diversity). Another few hours break then Wildlife Conservation starts at 5:30, goes until 6:50. RUSH to lower campus to get to First Aid class that starts at 7 (goes until 10pm). This is not normal as all other students have already taken this class. I had to take it in my first semester here to stay in the program as the Canadian equivalent was not acceptable as my pre-req for the program (cause it couldn’t be taken at a college).

Wednesday: early early mornings start. Alarm goes off at 4:45am. At school by 6:10 in preparation for roll call at 6:30. (no one wants to be late to this as we get points deducted if we’re even seconds late). After check in, we disperse to whatever area we are assigned to for the week (it’s different each week). We clean enclosures, dump garbage, scoop poop, make animal diets, rake grounds, sweep the cement, walk the emu, the dog, the mini horse, haul wheelbarrows full of stuff, clean drains, and the list goes on and on (of course duties vary on the different areas). We start off in the dark and watch the sun rise as we work. Usually by the time we are done, it’s already warmed up so much outside that all our hoodies and fleeces are taken off.  We are done at 8:20 am. Class starts at 9, then in classes until noon. 2 hour break, then Day Watch from 2-4. Day Watch is time spent at the zoo at the same time each week to do various duties such as answering phones, entering info into the database, picking up produce from Whole Foods, doing rounds (checking all animals every hour), etc. At 4, rush to check in for PM area. This is where we go to the same area we were in, in the morning to do closing duties. We are dismissed at 4:50pm.

Thursday: same as Wednesday – up super early, at the zoo by 6:10am, same morning duties, but class starts at 8:3o today. 2 hour break late morning then next class at 1. In classes until 3:45, then rush to PM area for check in, area duties until 4:50. Next class starts at 5:30. Class dismissed at 6:50pm.

Friday: Same as previous day but classes only until 1:00pm. Check in at 4pm for PM area and dismissed at 4:50.

Saturday: at school by 7:40 for AM area check in at 8:00am. Morning area duties until 10:45am. Usually we will be scheduled in some shows so we need to stick around. It’s usually 2 shows per person per day.

Sunday: We may or may not be scheduled for All Day Area which means we’re at the zoo from 9:45am until 5:00pm, rotating our duties each hour. (various things such as: phones, rounds, ticket sales, nutrition, trash, primate watch, Galapagos tortoise watch, etc). We are usually scheduled for 2 all day areas per month. Sometimes just one.

The zoo is open to the public on the weekends so we put on 4 shows each day, plus there is sometimes an extra show if there is a private birthday party scheduled. The various positions we can be scheduled for are: show Emcee, show supervisor, sound booth, handler (means you come out on stage with certain animals). The 4 shows are at 12, 1:00, 2:00, and 3:00. usually if there is a special show scheduled, it will be at 10:30 and it will be a longer show than the others.

So with that above schedule, there was a lot I left out. In between all those classes and areas, there are also the extra stuff. We have to complete 12 volunteer hours during this semester to get some of our final points. AND we have been learning how to care-take on certain animals for when the 2nd year students will be away. There were away all last week so the few weeks prior to that, we were working closely with the trainers of the animals we were assigned to, to learn how to properly feed them, and with some of the animals, how to continue with their training behaviors. A lot of the animals, we were still not allowed to touch : (

So amongst our regular schedule, we had to put in a lot of extra time with these trainers, and then last week while they were away, it was a little crazy rushing around feeding the animals we were care-taking on. Some of them we have to make their diets, others are made in the AM area by whoever is in Nutrition that week. A lot of the animals get medications added to their food which the care-takers had to do. Feedings must be done within a certain time frame, and then signed off in the office or we get points off. I do have to say that I think the first years did an awesome job last week!! Oh and I forgot to mention we have constant assignments, animal observations, and tests each week. There is hours of homework to be done each day.

The second years are back now but just for one week, then they are gone again next week. We are all assigned to different animals this time, so this week is crazy busy with all of us learning how to care-take for a completely new set of animals. It’s so very cool though!

So last week while they were away, we had a very sad thing happen. Eatm’s star animal, Schmoo the Sea Lion, had to be put down. She was very old and quite sick. There is an article about it here