Guest Post by: Katie Kopinski
My latest adventure was as an Exotic Feline Intern at a private sanctuary near West Palm Beach, Florida. Many of my duties at this facility involved diet preparation, cleaning enclosures, daily training of animals, and giving guided tours to guests. Tours were made by appointment only, so that the cats didn’t become stressed; the animals are not in constant exposure to guests. While I was interning, I was able to enter the enclosures of Servals, Caracals, Clouded Leopards, and a Cheetah. However, nobody was allowed within the enclosures of the stronger animals: Cougar, Black Leopard, and Jaguar.
Enrichment was a big part of the daily routine of the lives of the animals. Each morning, cats would be shifted into an extra space attached to their enclosure (called a lockout) and we would be able to clean each enclosure. As we cleaned, toys would be rearranged to create more mental stimulation with for the animals; sometimes, we would spray perfumes on objects in attempt to increase their interest.
As I mentioned above, some of the cats would be trained on a daily basis. Like many other facilities, operant conditioning was used to teach new behaviors to the animals. When a behavior is done correctly, the animal is rewarded with a training treat and a click from the training clicker – training then becomes a very positive experience for the animal. At this facility, we train the animals to do simple behaviors like sit, down, give paw, and up (standing on their back paws and putting their front paws on the chain-link fence). This provides them with mental stimulation, and we are able to scan their bodies to see if there are any injuries that need to be viewed by the veterinarian.
This was a very enjoyable experience, and I feel I definitely learned a lot. Right now, I’m applying for animal care jobs in the zoo field and am hopeful that something will work out soon.
Best wishes, Katie, on your continued success!
You can read our past story of Katie here:
Update on Katie Kopinski, Former AquaNew Intern: Care of Baby Sea Lion and Now Cheetahs