This class has made me question everything we have learned as zookeepers/animal lovers, honestly. I started thinking about how we breed animals, how we house them, and how we feed and clean them. The biggest change I have made personally is to not clean the entire ferret cage in one day. Since it is 4 stories, I now clean 2 stories at a time. I noticed that their behavior towards the clean section is different and they spend less time in it compared to the section that I did not clean. This makes me wonder how much stress I used to put them under when I would clean their entire cage in one day. It explains why they would seem to “freak out” when they noticed I was cleaning it. I also noticed a huge difference in how they act after I washed
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I realize now that maybe we as keepers need to rethink how we care for them. We should consider when they would normally eat or sleep and adjust our schedules around them. As a keeper, we should advocate for top quality animal care and I feel this should be the next step. We also need to rethink how we explain things to guests as well. It is easy to sugar coat things, and not be fully honest with guests. I think if we want to be leaders in this field, we need to stop doing this. We need to be fully honest with guests about what we do, and why we do it. If we want funding in the future, we need transparency. On the same note, we need to stop trying to bring animals into zoos that do not make a great fit. Yes, people want to see certain animals like elephants, zebra, and rhinoceros but unless we can care for them correctly, certain institutions shouldn’t have them. I really think it is on keepers to be informed about this, as they can/will eventually become curators or higher. It is because of this class (and program) that I feel informed enough to give my opinion on these issues. I foresee a shift in how zoos do things in the future. We need to decide if we really are what we tell people (there to help species survive human impacts) or if we are in this for entertainment. It is my hope that we move more towards animal welfare and less towards
I realize now that maybe we as keepers need to rethink how we care for them. We should consider when they would normally eat or sleep and adjust our schedules around them. As a keeper, we should advocate for top quality animal care and I feel this should be the next step. We also need to rethink how we explain things to guests as well. It is easy to sugar coat things, and not be fully honest with guests. I think if we want to be leaders in this field, we need to stop doing this. We need to be fully honest with guests about what we do, and why we do it. If we want funding in the future, we need transparency. On the same note, we need to stop trying to bring animals into zoos that do not make a great fit. Yes, people want to see certain animals like elephants, zebra, and rhinoceros but unless we can care for them correctly, certain institutions shouldn’t have them. I really think it is on keepers to be informed about this, as they can/will eventually become curators or higher. It is because of this class (and program) that I feel informed enough to give my opinion on these issues. I foresee a shift in how zoos do things in the future. We need to decide if we really are what we tell people (there to help species survive human impacts) or if we are in this for entertainment. It is my hope that we move more towards animal welfare and less towards