Summary of Offering Our Animal Residents Meaningful Choice and Control:
This content discusses providing zoo animals with meaningful choices and control over their daily lives. It explains that giving animals choices relevant to their needs and interests, such as selecting their habitat or participating in activities, can decrease stress levels and promote positive behaviors. The content also highlights the various options available to animals in the Zoo, including different habitats to spend time in, enrichment activities, and the ability to participate or not in certain activities. The overall goal is to ensure the well-being and health of the animals in the Zoo.
A sense of awe and appreciation for our efforts to provide our animal residents with meaningful choices and control. It’s not just about making their lives comfortable and fulfilling but also about ensuring their overall well-being and allowing them to express their natural behaviors.
When you visit our Zoo and find an empty habitat, it can be disheartening. But rest assured; it is not because we are neglecting our animals. It is quite the opposite. We allow our animal residents to choose where they spend their time, what they eat, and how they interact with our guests.
The concept of meaningful choices for animals under human care is not just about giving them options but giving them opportunities to choose things that matter to them. For example, our giraffes naturally desire to strip leaves from tree branches, so we provide trees in their habitat that allow them to fulfill this behavior. On the other hand, our alligator Martha has no interest in eating leaves, so giving her the same opportunity would not be a meaningful choice.
Choice and control are two concepts that contribute to the well-being of our animal residents. Choice refers to deciding when faced with multiple possibilities, while control refers to the power to direct a course of events. Animals who do not have choice and control often experience higher stress levels, which can lead to negative behaviors such as pacing, swaying, or over-grooming.
We provide options throughout their habitats to ensure that our animal residents have the opportunity for choice and control. For example, we offer them a variety of hammocks or hides to choose from, or we give them the ability to turn on and off a mister. These small decisions may seem inconsequential to us, but they significantly impact our animals’ well-being.
In addition to providing our animals with choices, we allow them to participate in their care. Many of our animal residents are trained on behaviors necessary for their well-being, such as receiving voluntary hoof trims or remaining in place for injections. By giving them the option to participate, we avoid the need for sedation or restraint, which can cause stress and injuries.
Our Animal Ambassadors, like our prehensile-tailed porcupine Shelley, play a special role in educating our guests. We give them the choice to participate in public activities and closely monitor their behavior to ensure their comfort. Their well-being is paramount, and we prioritize their needs above their role in education.
Enrichment is crucial in providing our animal residents a fulfilling and engaging life. We strive to give them opportunities that elicit natural behaviors, such as changing their habitats to keep them fresh and stimulating their senses with different scents or substrates. Food enrichment is also important, as it allows our animals to engage in foraging behaviors, just like their counterparts in the wild.
Ultimately, providing our animal residents with meaningful choice and control is vital for their well-being. It goes hand in hand with providing them with comfortable habitats, nutritious food, and good medical care. We are committed to ensuring that every animal in our care has the best physical, mental, and emotional health.
As you visit our Zoo, we hope you will appreciate our efforts to create a positive and enriching environment for our animal residents. The next time you see an empty habitat, remember that our animals are exercising their choices and enjoying the opportunities we give them. And who knows, you might find our giraffes hiding in the trees, indulging in a moment of privacy.
