Guest Speakers
We are extremely excited to showcase the line-up of impressive guest speakers
Ken Ramirez, Tim Sullivan, Rick Hester and Susan G. Friedman (virtually)!
Ken Ramirez, Tim Sullivan, Rick Hester and Susan G. Friedman (virtually)!
Ken Ramirez
EVP and Chief Training Officer
Ken Ramirez is the EVP and Chief Training Officer for Karen Pryor Clicker Training where he helps to oversee the vision, development and implementation of training education programs. Previously, Ken served as EVP of animal care and training at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. A nearly 50 year veteran of animal care and training, Ramirez is a biologist and behavior specialist who has worked with many zoological organizations and dog programs throughout the world. He is past president of the International Marine Animal Trainers Association and has been active in various leadership positions within IMATA for over 40 years.
Tim Sullivan
CURATOR of BEHAVIORAL HUSBANDRY
Tim has worked for the Chicago Zoological Society at Brookfield Zoo for the last 40 years. He spent the first half of his career as a keeper/trainer in the marine mammal department and later as a supervisor in the pachyderm department.
It was here that he helped develop an elephant protected-contact behaviour management program and began teaching training to zoo staff. This experience led to his current role as the Zoo's Curator of Behavioural Husbandry. Tim's primary responsibilities are to manage the Zoo’s animal training and environmental enrichment programs developing the knowledge and skill of over 100 animal keepers.
It was here that he helped develop an elephant protected-contact behaviour management program and began teaching training to zoo staff. This experience led to his current role as the Zoo's Curator of Behavioural Husbandry. Tim's primary responsibilities are to manage the Zoo’s animal training and environmental enrichment programs developing the knowledge and skill of over 100 animal keepers.
Rick Hester
CURATOR OF BEHAVIORAL HUSBANDRY
Rick oversees all the zoo's behavioral programming. His work includes the zoo's animal training for husbandry, medical, and public show behaviors, enrichment, developing programs to improve problem behavior situations, the zoo's formal animal welfare assessments, and exhibit design for behavior goals.
In 2015, he started working with Dr. Susan Friedman and began to understand the importance of behavior analysis and its application for animals in human care.
Rick is adjunct faculty at Colorado State University in the Department of Biology and a consultant and course co-instructor for Susan Friedman's Behavior Works LLC.
In 2015, he started working with Dr. Susan Friedman and began to understand the importance of behavior analysis and its application for animals in human care.
Rick is adjunct faculty at Colorado State University in the Department of Biology and a consultant and course co-instructor for Susan Friedman's Behavior Works LLC.
Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D.
BEHAVIOR WORKS, llc
Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D. is a professor emeritus in the Department of Psychology at Utah State University and owner of Behavior Works Consulting, LLC. Susan has co-authored chapters on behavior change in five veterinary texts. She teaches seminars and courses on animal learning online (How Behavior Works: Living & Learning with Animals). Susan consults with zoos and animal organizations around the world and teaches yearly for the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) Level 3 Animal Trainer Accreditation program. She was appointed to the Fish & Wildlife Service’s California Condor Recovery Team from 2002 – 2010, after which time the team was retired due to the success of the birds in the wild. In 2022, Susan was honored to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of Pet Dog Trainers.
Conference Theme
Original conference logo design by Nicholas Bishop
Schedule
Each day attendees are advised to meet at the front entrance to Sea World, Please note the Icebreaker will be at a different location, so attends should meet at The Boatshed at Sea World Resort,
Throughout the conference, attendees are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes and bring a hat and sunscreen, as some parts of the day will be spent outside. There will be outdoor activities each day which will involve a fair amount of walking.
Unfortunately, printouts of the schedule will not be available at the conference, so please organise this prior if you would like a hard copy. Otherwise, the schedule will remain on the website throughout the event.
Throughout the conference, attendees are encouraged to wear comfortable shoes and bring a hat and sunscreen, as some parts of the day will be spent outside. There will be outdoor activities each day which will involve a fair amount of walking.
Unfortunately, printouts of the schedule will not be available at the conference, so please organise this prior if you would like a hard copy. Otherwise, the schedule will remain on the website throughout the event.
Icebreaker - Tuesday 23rd May
5.30pm - Registrations Open for Conference - Sea World Resort Lobby
Attendees must register and sign in for the conference prior to the icebreaker. Please arrive with enough time to check in prior to the icebreaker commencing.
6pm - Icebreaker Event - The Boatshed - Sea World Resort
The Icebreaker event is an opportunity to meet fellow conference attendees.
Cocktail food will be provided. Soft drinks and alcoholic drinks can be purchased at the bar.
Cocktail food will be provided. Soft drinks and alcoholic drinks can be purchased at the bar.
Day 1 - Wednesday 24th May
7am - 5.15pm
Sea World - Paradise Room
Sea World - Paradise Room
| 7am | Registrations Open - Paradise Room Sea World Attendees that missed the icebreaker event can register and sign in for the conference. The Paradise Room is located to the left of the main entrance at Sea World. |
| 7.45am | Welcome - Opening Ceremony Join the ASZK Animal Training Community Committee and Sea World's Curator of Mammals and Birds for the opening ceremony of the 2023 conference. |
| 8.15am | INVITED SPEAKER Ken Ramirez Executive Vice-President and Chief Training Officer - Karen Pryor Clicker Training Welfare and Behavior Management: The Perfect Match! As Ken reflects on his nearly 50-year career, he has witnessed the growth in the value and the scope of what a good training program can accomplish. Ken will use his career as a reflection of the growth and changes in our community from advances in domestic animal training to the expansion within the zoological profession. Ken will look at the highlights and challenges he’s witnessed and discuss how those opportunities have aided in advancing animal welfare and care. Ken will share some examples including a look at the cornerstones of animal care, the growth of husbandry training, the spread of positive reinforcement, and advances in research and conservation training. Training and behavior management have made dramatic impacts on our profession and been key influences in improved animal welfare. |
| 10.15am | Morning Tea Break |
| 10.40am | Presenter Block 1 |
| 10.45am | Bonnie Doege – Sea World Using objective data to assess dolphin training activity budgets Positive reinforcement training can contribute to positive welfare through physical, mental, and social stimulation, with many zoos using positive reinforcement training for guest encounters. Zoo animal encounters have been shown to inspire positive behavioural change in guests, however some animal rights activists have claimed that the animals are ‘forced to work all day for food’. Even though we know this is false on many levels, zoos and aquariums can use objective data to dispute these claims and improve husbandry outcomes. For the past three years we have been recording how long each Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin Tursiops aduncus spends in both formal training sessions (e.g. guest interactions, husbandry, learning, maintenance) and supervised enrichment sessions using The Animal Welfare App. The results have revealed that in 2022 the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins spent an average of 18 minutes per day participating in guest interactions, with an average of 60 minutes per day in formal training sessions (excluding enrichment). Through this software we have also been able to record and monitor each individual animal’s response to the various sessions through a 5-point Likert scale rating system. This type of data collection has been used across multiple species at Sea World, and therefore we encourage other zoos and aquariums to collect similar data to assess the time spent and willingness of individuals to participate in training sessions. |
| 11am | Bianca Papadopoulos – Melbourne Zoo Refining My Training Philosophy, Knowledge and Skills Toward Better Welfare Having spent the last 17 years working with a wide variety of species in zoos, aquariums and marine parks, I have seen various different training styles and heard a lot of training jargon along the way. It would be obnoxious of me not to admit that at one point in my career I thought I was a pretty hot shot trainer that knew how to get animals to do what I wanted, when I wanted. But I am happy to report that my ego was parked in 2015 when I was awarded an international fellowship to explore global best practice in animal training in a zoo setting. This fellowship opened up, my then very narrow training views to the world of the science of behaviour change. From that point, I started to incorporate the science into not only my work with animals but people as well, this meant changing some of the tools on my training belt. This presentation will explore a snippet of that voyage, including examples of the practical components of that change and what that looks like in my current role as the Animal Training Coordinator at Melbourne Zoo and consultant for Behavior Works. |
| 11.15am | Lisa Tuthill – Moonlit Sanctuary Flying high with Valhalla Moonlit Sanctuary has a pair of rescue Brown Goshawks. In 2020 the pair hatched two chicks in a purpose-built breeding aviary, one chick was hand raised for the purpose of training a hawk encounter. This encounter was based off a memory of mine from an event that occurred before my keeping career, where I was able to participate in taking some raptors out in the UK walking through the bushland with them. That encounter stuck with me for life. I wanted to be able to help people connect with animals on a different level to the regular animal encounter experience. To be outside in the Goshawk’s natural environment, a species that is cryptic in the wild and yet is participating in flying from trees to your glove, is unique and awe inspiring. We have trained many animals for our Conservation in Action show, including free flight birds. These birds were trained in a relatively-controlled arena setting with few distractions. Moving into a wild woodland habitat, training a goshawk to ‘follow on’ and dealing with obstacles such as wild raptors and natural prey brought its challenges, all this whilst going in and out of Covid lockdowns. 18 months of rearing and training, culminated in a successful and thrilling Goshawk encounter, involving a 30-minute meander through native bushland with Valhalla flying from the trees to the customers' gloves. Being able to spend half an hour out in the bush, free flying Valhalla and watching the excitement on the visitors’ faces was the highlight of my day. In my presentation I will discuss: training challenges I met during my journey to that end goal; the use of positive reinforcement; and an unexpected challenge that arose when Valhalla reached sexual maturity. |
| 11.30am | Karen Bailey – Dog Solutions Reactive Dog Rehabilitation (the Grumpy Program) Reactivity in domestic dogs has become an escalating problem in the community. Each year an increasing number of people are seeking professional assistance to rehabilitate their pet dogs. Traditional rehabilitation treats the symptom rather than the underlying cause of these behaviours. Many traditional programs require the handler to punish the dogs “bad behaviour”. Educated trainers have moved away from this style of training seeking protocols that address the reason why the dog is behaving aggressively. The majority of the dogs in these programs have proven to be fearful. Developing programs tailored to individual animals using desensitization and counter conditioning methods has resulted in successful and reliable rehabilitation of these dogs. We have accelerated our program by adding scent detection to our rehabilitation sessions. The relaxation effect this has on the dogs significantly reduces the length of our rehabilitation programs. By harnessing the natural and instinctive behaviour of the dogs we help them learn to decompress and self-soothe in a way that is a normal and natural behaviour for them. The overall effect of these combined techniques ensures that the underlying emotions of the dog are addressed and as such, the behaviour adjusts accordingly. These techniques differ significantly from the traditional “reaction to a reaction” style of training. These methods see us working with the learner, and improving welfare outcomes for the learner, by providing safe, predictable, increments of exposure to build confidence to triggers formerly too difficult for the learner to overcome. Adding the scent work additionally enhances the sessions for the dog by adding relaxation activity. |
| 11.45am | Caitlin Gilchrist – Werribee Open Range Zoo Co-operative care with Australia’s animal icons Join me as I share my team’s journey of changing our keeping practices to include co-operative care training initiatives to help achieve a positive welfare state for our native animals. With the assistance of our organisations Animal Training Coordinator we have created species specific training plans for our Emu, Kangaroo and Koala. We have since taken on more of a focus of training during our normal husbandry procedures to bring around positive change in our animals care. Australia’s iconic native animals are often labelled within our industry for being ‘lazy’, ‘too flighty’ or ‘slow’. We want to change this stigma by providing these animals with the opportunity to express their capabilities. Our Emu, Kangaroo and Koalas have all improved in their training since being given a consistent routine with strong communication, choice and control in their sessions. Training with these species takes patience and with keepers listening to what makes each individual comfortable comes great rewards. I am keen to share with you the struggles, setbacks and successes we have experienced over the last year on our ongoing journey to inspire behaviour change through training. |
| 12pm | Ryan Cartlidge – Animal Training Academy Limited Get UNSTUCK! - Five Ideas To Help When You Hit Rough Patches In Your Training At Animal Training Academy, we know you want to master your personal animal training skills using a positive approach. And that in order to handle the variety of challenges you face, you need a broad knowledge & experience base. The problem is that we all get stuck and hit rough patches in our training which can leave us feeling overwhelmed & helpless. We don’t want anyone feeling like this, though, as we believe everyone should be empowered to positively impact the lives of the animal and human learners they come into contact with. And having been here many times myself, I understand how challenging these situations can be. However, over the years, I have learned multiple tools/skills to cope with setbacks, help me gain clarity, become more organised, build my confidence and end up with well-trained animals and happy managers/clients. This presentation, therefore, will share Five Ideas To Help When You Hit Rough Patches In Your Training so that you can avoid embarrassment, overwhelm and burnout and instead build resilience to setbacks, get more organised, and grow your training skills and knowledge. In short, enjoy more confidence in yourself as a trainer and lead a fulfilling life, positively impacting the welfare/lives of the animal and human learners you work with. |
| 12.15pm | Questions for Presenter Block 1 |
| 12.30pm | Lunch Break |
| 1.20pm | Dolphin Beach Training Demonstration Conference attendees will walk down to Dolphin Beach to watch a training demonstration. |
| 2.10pm | Presenter Block 2 |
| 2.15pm | Kelly Hobbs– Werribee Open Range Zoo Inspiring change through Animal Training at Uganda Wildlife Education Centre Zoos Victoria’s sister zoo, Uganda Wildlife Education Centre in Entebbe recently hosted Kelly Hobbs, Animal Training Coordinator from Werribee Open Range Zoo for a 4-week visit. Kelly’s visit was an extension of her role with Zoos Victoria – to coach and support UWEC staff for behaviour change through training applications. Advanced training outcomes were proposed by UWEC to address during Kelly’s visit including tiger and lion blood draws, chimpanzee body part presentation and giraffe tactile and hoof care. But of utmost importance was creating an understanding of animal training theory for keepers and leaders through multiple workshops. With focus on communication between animal and trainer and providing choice that leads to control, UWEC keepers were empowered to ‘think outside the box’ when it comes to animal care. What transpired were positive welfare improvements not limited just to animals, but to UWEC staff and for Kelly herself. Learn more on how supporting our fellow teammates and shaping relationships through successive approximations can create positive welfare for humans and animals alike and how training truly does inspire change. |
| 2.30pm | Daisy Barrett & Jess Hart – Sealife Sunshine Coast Husbandry Training Programme for Little Blue Penguins With little training being done across the country with Little Blue Penguins, we wanted to inspire change in mindsets, that a prominently flighty species can be trained common husbandry behaviours that so many other species have learnt. We’ve developed a comprehensive husbandry training programme and to assist we conditioned a verbal bridge along with name recognition. This programme includes target training & stationing with some individuals as well as voluntary weights and crate training. We’ve also been able to transition our target work from land to in water, in turn encouraging our colony to swim and dive more frequently. One of our most progressive accomplishments was our voluntary pick up’s. What started as conditioning the birds to have a single hand close to them whilst being fed, eventually progressed to being able to pick them up, manipulate their feet, check their wings, and complete body condition scores. As we continue, we’d like to work towards being able to apply treatment to bumblefoot sores. Asides from the SLIGHT challenges that included training 16 birds at once and of course, social dynamics, within 12 months we were able to train a voluntary pick up with each penguin. With so much success so far within our colony, we’re excited, as a team, to progress our husbandry training programme for Little Blue Penguins and continue to prioritise their highest welfare. |
| 2.45pm | Christie Trerice – Melbourne Zoo The Welfare Benefits of Choice and Control in Medical Procedures: Voluntary Ultrasounds and Restraint Training in a herd of Asian Elephants at Melbourne Zoo Incorporating the ZV Welfare, Elephant Management and MPLIE training philosophy, the elephant department has undergone significant changes in its training space in recent years. Most noticeably, the introduction of choice and control for elephants in medical procedure training. Transvaginal ultrasounds are an important reproductive medical diagnostic tool in the elephant herd; and until recently were often performed under physical and chemical restraint. Shifting to our newest philosophies, we have been able to perform voluntary ultrasounds on all 5 female members of the herd; tracking pregnancies and monitoring reproductive organ health in all individuals. However, when restraint is absolutely necessary (such as for a general anesthetic for a tusk extraction in a young bull elephant) the ability to be able to guide down the animal with ropes to prevent injury, on the correct side to perform the procedure, in the right location to allow access, is vital. Darting was used previously- but as well as being high risk, it did not allow for these requirements. The ability to have trained the animal to willingly step into restraints and remain there whilst a sedative was administered and took effect, was essential. And such was the case with our young bull who had both tusks extracted over multiple procedures, each and every time the animal choosing to participate by stepping into the restraints- even the day after a procedure. It is in giving these opportunities for our elephants to participate willingly in their own healthcare that we have witnessed the benefits of choice and control for the welfare of the individuals. |
| 3pm | Rowena Fraioli – Hamilton Zoo Positive Reinforcement Training Progression Results in Stress-free Chimpanzee General Anaesthetics Recent progression with injection training of the Chimpanzees at Hamilton Zoo has resulted in improved welfare of both the chimpanzees and the keepers. We always aim to use positive reinforcement training to make medical procedures as relaxed and as positive as we can for everyone involved. In the past a general anaesthetic has been quite a stressful scenario for our chimpanzees. We have separated animals by shutting slides fast and using bribery, and then the anaesthetic has been given by a mixture of darting, pole syringing and most recently hand injecting with keepers pushing the needle into the animal’s shoulder. Being fortunate to have been allowed some extra preparation time before our next chimpanzee, Lucifer’s procedure, we were motivated to make some valuable progression with our training. Now the chimpanzees control both the slide movements and the injections. The whole troop is aware of the separation into our GA den, and then Lucifer is controlling the slides shutting and also being separated for up to 8 minutes. While separated a keeper no longer needs to inject the chimps, instead holds the needle up to the mesh and cues them to push their shoulder into the needle, thus allowing the chimp to administer the injection themselves. Giving the chimps more control over the situation has had extremely positive outcomes for the troop. |
| 3.15pm | Questions for Presenter Block 2 |
| 3.30pm | Afternoon Tea Break |
| 3.45pm | Presenter Block 3 |
| 3.50pm | Rebecca Baldwin – Taronga Zoo Cooperative care needs a cooperative partnership Creative shaping plans and carefully arranged antecedents will help guide animals to positive reinforcement. But this presentation will also demonstrate how strategically shifting control from the trainer to the animal, while still staying safe and building a solid foundation of core behaviours will enable those animals to more efficiently respond because they have the skills and motivation to do so. Discussions on how to implement Cooperative care training plans into everyday keeper routines with examples of ultrasound training red pandas, hand injection training Francois' Langurs and crate training fishing cats. Also, sharing ways to break complicated projects into manageable sub-projects to decrease errors and increase success, whilst still incorporating elements of fun. |
| 4.05pm | Jessica Ratcliff - Healesville Sanctuary Training Buzzards to Initiate Conversations Traditional training used “commands” to tell an animal what to do “or else.” Modern training has shifted to “cues” to ask an animal if they would like to do something instead. This paper details going to the next step: allowing the animal to initiate the training conversation; to communicate “I’m ready”. In this example, with free-flight Black Breasted Buzzards to begin a dialogue with “I’m ready to go home” whenever it suits them. The Black Breasted Buzzards have been flown in free-flight presentations at Healesville Sanctuary for over 20 years. Previously the way they exited the arena was instigated by the trainer, and required the buzzard to fly to the trainer’s glove and be carried. If they attempted to leave the glove, they were blocked, as the birds were restrained. In some cases, they wouldn’t want to fly to the trainer at all, resulting in long hold-ups during the presentation, cancelled shows, or “fly-offs.” We are moving beyond historical methods, towards a more hands-off approach to raptor training. We trained our buzzards to fly themselves home via a hatch. But instead of putting it on cue and stopping there, we challenged ourselves to find a way for our buzzards to let us know when they wanted to go home. We trained the buzzards to land on a “signal perch” during presentations, which acted as a cue for us to open the hatch, any time they wanted. There were multiple benefits to this training: improvements in safety, smoother flowing presentations, reduction of fly-offs and financial savings. An unexpected bonus of this training was that the relationship between trainers and buzzards has improved: due to the removal of aversive restraints, and the more positive welfare that the birds experience through having more agency and control over their daily lives. |
| 4.20pm | Clint Karger and Rachel Free – Sea World Target Training Stegostoma tigrinum For Voluntary Husbandry and Positive Welfare Stegostoma tigrinum is a well-known species due to its wide distribution across the Indian and Western Pacific oceans and to its ability to thrive in captivity. Recent studies have contributed to the biological knowledge of the species, including its demography (Dudgeon et al., 2008), group seasonality (Dudgeon et al., 2013), population genetics (Dudgeon et al., 2006, 2017; Dudgeon and Ovenden, 2015), and reproduction (Kunze and Simmons, 2004), including parthenogenetic reproduction (Robinson et al., 2011; Dudgeon et al., 2017). Still, numerous basic morphological characters and their ontogenetic variation are not described in detail. Displaying healthy elasmobranchs comes with many challenges, but improvements in husbandry techniques have enabled aquariums to have success with a variety of species (Grassmann, et., al. 2017). The leopard shark (Stegostoma tigrinum) is an important and popular Elasmobranch species in reefs and as an aquaria species. Sea World, Australia houses three individual leopard sharks that have been obtained as part of the Stegostoma tigrinum Augmentation and Recovery (StAR) conservation project and are currently a key part of their collection at the Shark Bay exhibit. The Shark Bay husbandry team have developed a list of husbandry practices as per the StAR projects requirement and Sea Worlds own husbandry and welfare program. An elaborate preventative medicine program set the challenge to obtain voluntary participation from the three individuals. The husbandry team recorded all training sessions including success of criteria, time of day, repetition, reinforcements provided, and outcomes obtained. This presentation aims to highlight the challenges, successes, and opportunities that this unique species of shark possesses with regard to training voluntary participation in husbandry practices. The presentation will outline the challenges that an open-air multi-species exhibit present and the pathways chosen to success. The results indicate the possibilities for voluntary participation in husbandry behaviours for this species. In addition to identifying a novel set of husbandry practices, these outcomes may be used to better inform management decisions with minimally invasive husbandry techniques. References Grassman, M., McNeil, B. and Wharton, J. (2017) ‘Chapter Four – Sharks in Captivity: The Role in Husbandry, Breeding, Education, and Citizen Science in Shark Conservation.’ Advances in Marine Biology. Vol. 78. Pp. 89-119. The Sandy Zebra Shark: A New Color Morph of the Zebra Shark Stegostoma tigrinum, with a Redescription of the Species and a Revision of Its Nomenclature Rikke Beckmann Dahl, Eva Egelyng Sigsgaard, Gorret Mwangi, Philip Francis Thomsen, René Dalsgaard Jørgensen, Felipe de Oliveira Torquato, Lars Olsen, Peter Rask Mølle |
| 4.35pm | Jess Stockton – Melbourne Zoo Go Get ‘Em Tiger: training a voluntary tail-flick behaviour to obtain blood from a Sumatran Tiger (Panthera tigris sumatrae) using choice and control. At the start of 2019, Melbourne Zoo had never trained a voluntary blood draw in any species of big cat. When developing a training plan for voluntary blood draws from our nine-year old Sumatran Tiger ‘Indrah’, we wanted to ensure that she always had the choice and control to both; participate in the training, and actively consent to her tail being held and manipulated by keepers and vets. This led to us training a tail-flick behaviour so she could give us her tail when she was comfortable and we were able to use this behaviour to gauge her willingness to participate before we moved to the next steps. When we had set-backs or regression in the blood-draw behaviour, we used the information Indrah was giving us to tell us that she wasn’t ready for the next step. This led us to build a really solid behaviour has resulted in us being able to reliably take blood every six months for routine health checks. Indrah’s blood-draw training has also given us the ability to use her results as a control when we see unusual results in other big cat species such as snow leopards, lions, and especially when her brother Hutan was unwell. Following this training, many of our other big cats are now trained for voluntary blood draws which has been a significant help in monitoring and maintaining the health of these species. Following this training program being so successful, we will continue to inspire change through positive welfare. |
| 4.50pm | Danielle Ridgway and Eliza Baker – Werribee Open Range Zoo Motivated Meerkats – Voluntary x-rays, hand injections and paw checks Step inside the mind of a meerkat and discover what motivates this species to remain still within a small chute to receive voluntary hand injections by keepers, to station or target on an x-ray plate and present their paws on a podoscope. Is it a wriggling mealworm, a smear of peanut butter or a combination of both? Immerse yourself in the journey where five meerkats with different personalities, reinforcement preferences and confidence levels, learn how to allow for voluntary x-rays and injections on exhibit while participating in their own health care. From food preference testing, to eight insightful x-ray images, to ten successful COVID vaccinations, join us in exploring the possibilities of choice and control while achieving a positive welfare outcome. The meerkat chute, podoscope and surveying tripod fitted with an x-ray machine were specifically designed to allow meerkats to enter and exit freely during their training sessions while visitors can watch from the display window. This created more opportunities for the meerkats to experience choice; the ability to stay in or on the chute/plate/podoscope, to move away from the aversive stimuli, to leave the training mechanism or to leave the training session completely. By doing this, we have provided the mob with control of their environment which is essential for their wellbeing. Management of the meerkats was once a stressful practice, involving capture and restraint and the meerkats waiting inside boxes in unfamiliar areas. This training has been vital in enabling the option of addressing injuries in individuals and highlights how far this species and the way we consider their welfare has improved. We have built trust accounts between trainers and meerkats through positive reinforcement, while developing a more positive and less intrusive way to handling the meerkats when we need to do EUA’s or other visual vet checks. |
| 5.05pm | Questions for Presenter Block 3 |
| 5.15pm | End of Day 1 |
Day 2 - Thursday 25th May
7.20am - 8.15pm
Sea World - Paradise Room
Sea World - Paradise Room
| 7.20am | Registrations Open - Paradise Room Sea World Attendees that missed the icebreaker or day 1 can register and sign in for the conference. |
| 7.40am | Welcome and Presenter Block 1 |
| 7.45am | Nora Tenbrock – Sea World Implementing advanced medical training in a protected contact setting Medical and Husbandry Training have advanced greatly in the Zoo Industry over the past decade both in free contact and protected contact settings. Challenges remain for training advanced medical behaviours in protected contact settings, especially where duration and tactile are required. Sea World has a Preventative Medical Plan (PMP) for all their collection animals. Current aspirations are to have the animals participating in their own preventative health care voluntarily and on cue. Thus, Sea World Marine Animal Trainers have been prioritising husbandry behaviours to allow for this. Polar Bears in current state are reliably doing an open mouth present, eye and ear present, tactile rump and shoulder present. Unreliably but successfully, we have had voluntary venepuncture. The Polar Bear Team are now working on additional voluntary behaviours such as a back-up genital present for Mishka which we aspire to evolve to a point where we can do gross inspection of the genital region and take vaginal swabs for cytology and bacteriology. This presentation aims to outline the PMP for six-year-old female Polar Bear Mishka. I will discuss her repertoire of medical behaviours and how Keepers are advancing her medical training for preventative care. |
| 8am | Georgie Greig – Melbourne Zoo Voluntary X-ray training; revealing the tooth about giraffe dental health For the past few years, the ungulate team at Melbourne Zoo have been working to proactively monitor the dental health of our giraffe using most positive, least intrusive effective training techniques. As suggested by a previous study, giraffe in captivity mostly do not attain the longevity possible for the species and often have problems associated with low energy intake and fat storage mobilization, with dental health being a primary cause suggested as an underlying problem (Clauss et al, 2007). Given this information, and at the time an aging collection of giraffe, we put our brains to the test to look at ways to effectively achieve voluntary dental radiographs with our giraffe, using a most positive least intrusive approach. Today, we have been able to continue to build on these learnings and implement a successful dental monitoring program for each of our herd members. This presentation will talk through these training processes, challenges, learnings and the increased positive welfare outcomes for our animals. |
| 8.15am | Questions for Presenter Block 1 |
| 8.20am | Shark and Polar Bear Training Demonstrations Conference attendees will be split into two groups. One group will observe a shark training demonstration and the other group Polar Bear demonstration. These demonstrations will be repeated on Saturday where the groups will swap, so all attendees will be able to observe both demonstrations. |
| 9.15am | INVITED SPEAKER Rick Hester Curator of Behavioral Husbandry - Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Behavior Consultant - Behavior Works Measuring Behavior in Action: Examples of Data-Informed Training This presentation is a discussion of the critical role data can and should have in guiding dynamic behavior interventions. We will explore examples of behavior-change programs with African elephants and African penguins. Each program was informed by systematically collected data. This adherence to data-informed decision making allows us to see quickly the relationship between the changes we make to the environment and change in the behavior of interest. In this way we improve success and reduce bias, assuring we see what is and not just what we want to be. |
| 11.15am | Morning Tea Break |
| 11.30am | Invited Speaker Workshops Rick Hester, Tim Sullivan and Ken Ramirez will host a 90-minute workshop. Attendees will be split into 3 groups and attendees will rotate through the workshops each day ensuring they get a chance to attend all 3 workshops. Rick Hester - You Want More? How to Collect Data in an Already Over-the-Top Day Paradise Room The prospect of collecting data to improve our training decisions can seem like an insurmountable goal in our already hectic days. However, once you become familiar with the many well established behavioral sampling methods, all of which were designed for situations where you can’t watch everything, you may find collecting data is realistic. Systematic data collection allows us to evaluate the success of our behavior interventions and make real time, informed improvements as needed. In this workshop, we will explore and practice the most relevant behavior measurement strategies, including momentary time sampling, partial interval recording, ABC descriptive recording, and measuring latency and duration. We will also discuss how to best match each sampling method to the behavior you want to measure in context. Tim Sullivan - Training X-Factors: Understanding Extraordinary Variables that Affect Animal Learning Sea World Resort Congratulations- you’re at the Australasian Animal Training Conference! That means you’ve already discovered the incredible power of positive reinforcement training to ethically change behavior and to strengthen the relationship between you and your animals. Beyond the science of behavior change, there are a variety of circumstances and variables that can significantly affect the results of your efforts. Trainers who are aware of these “X-factors” and can adjust accordingly can positively influence the learning process. This workshop will address several of these X-factors including resilience-building, managing self-fulfilling prophecies and structuring training for life-long learning. This talk is meant to expand a trainer’s awareness of these learning-enhancers which can benefit participants of any skill and experience level. Ken Ramirez - Secrets of Successful Medical Training Sea World Resort This session will explore essential tools for training and maintaining successful medical behaviors. The first half of the Session will focus on key training tools such as stationing, targeting, desensitization, gating (kenneling), recalls, and improving general tactile acceptance. The Session will then shift to focus on specific techniques for successfully training behaviors for blood-taking, injections, medication administration, working around the mouth and head, removal from the environment, and passive restraint. Throughout the presentation, common questions will be addressed: How do you keep a behavior with any type of discomfort from breaking down with frequent use? How do you prevent an animal from discriminating against the medical team? Can you teach animals to anticipate the novelty associated with medical behaviors? When restraint is needed, should that be done by the primary trainer or is it better handled by someone else, to prevent a breakdown in the relationship? |
| 1.30pm | Return to Paradise Room and Lunch Break |
| 2.10pm | Presenter Block 2 |
| 2.15pm | Deane Jones – Sydney Zoo “What’s That Smell!? Elephant Cognition Training at Sydney Zoo” The natural world poses a number of problems for animals to solve. On a daily basis, animals must find food, evade predators, navigate landscapes and seek shelter. Solving these problems requires a toolkit of cognitive capacities. In contrast to their wild counterparts, animals in human care tend to live a more predictable life, in a highly structured environment. Whilst efforts are made to counteract this, the processes in which this can be done are limited. The past decade has witnessed important research on the link between cognitive challenge and the improved well-being of animals in a zoological setting. In May 2022 a cognitive training program was established with a bull elephant at Sydney Zoo to take the current training program to a whole new level. The initial stage of this program utilizes the elephants’ natural cognitive abilities of memory and olfactory senses and has had some predicted and surprising aspects to its success. |
| 2.30pm | Raelene Hobbs – Melbourne Zoo The Reptile Revolution: Embracing Reptiles in the Melbourne Zoo training Philosophy Historically, training reptiles has not been a high priority in the zoo industry. They were commonly thought to be poor learners. Often, husbandry practices, like transporting of animals, daily husbandry requirements and veterinary procedures, were done under manual restraint. Recently, with more interest in incorporating the science of behaviour change into reptile training programs, reptiles are more commonly included in zoo-wide training programs. The Herpetology team at Melbourne Zoo have worked very hard to empower the reptiles to use their behaviour to be active participants in their own care. Through arranging antecedents, high rates of reinforcement, selecting training sessions based on reptile physical and behavioral cues and ensuring the trainers adjust their behaviour dynamically, based on the animal’s responses, a great deal of progress and welfare improvements have been made. This philosophy has also empowered staff with embracing reptile training when there are observable positive welfare outcomes. This presentation will explore the evolution of reptile training at the zoo and showcase a few examples in the program including a Rhinoceros Iguana (Cyclura cornuta) scale, recall, crating and nail trim behaviors. A Philippines Crocodile (Crocodylus mindorensis) target, recall and crating behaviours and the Aldabra Giant Tortoises (Aldabrachelys gigantea) scale, recall and blood draw behaviours. |
| 2.45pm | Erin Oakley – Sea World Concept Training with Pinnipeds; the Value of Introducing Novel Cognitive Concepts into a Variety of Structured and Predicable Scenarios. Seal Theatre at Sea World, Gold Coast Australia is home to 10.4 pinnipeds, of 3 different species and a variety of ages. Within this dynamic collection each animal has different abilities, personalities and all enjoy the value and excitement of operant conditioning. Whilst we aim to provide a large variety of socialisation, learning and enrichment opportunities each day, some sessions may be predictable due to the nature of encounters, presentations or husbandry requirements. The introduction of novel cognitive concepts which ultise a generalised conditioned stimulus as a cue to elicit different responses according to the types of concept, have been shown to provide variability and add intellectual stimulation and enrichment within these sometimes predictable sessions (Rocho-Levine et,.al 2014). These concepts have a basic framework in which we have used to teach the animals to ‘repeat’ the previous behaviour cued, then extend to ‘wait and go’, where the animal is asked to wait while the cue is delivered until the presentation of a go cue, and finally a ‘marked behaviour’, where the animal is challenged to commit a behaviour to memory, and slowly increased the duration of memory. We have also had great success with a ‘Who am I?’, an individual trainer recognition concept with a geriatric California Sea Lion who is limited in his physical abilities due to age related aliments, showing how incredibly important these intellectual stimulation sessions can be. These cognitive concepts were inspired by other marine animal facilities such as Dolphin Adventure at Puerto Vallarta, Dolphin Research Centre in the Florida Keys and Dolphin Quest Oahu, and Sea World Australia hope to further inspire other zoological facilities who use operant conditioning of the benefits and fun that can be had for both animal and carer, with the ultimate overall benefit of improving animal welfare. References Rocho-Levine JR, Conti DG (2014) Wait and Go: Creating Variability with new concepts in behavioural sequencing. Soundings, 39(4). |
| 3pm | Laura Reed – Gumbuya World Flying High – The creation of a Free Flight show at Gumbuya World At Gumbuya World, we are a privately owned theme park with access to an array of Australian and some exotic species. In February 2022 we started to establish a free flight bird show. Our team had no previous experience in building a free flight program, so we enlisted the help of an external animal training consultant and within 6 months we had the birds flying outside. Traditional weight management techniques were not used in the process of establishing the program. Our birds were given complete choice and control in what they did, if they were displaying negative body language when cued for a behavior then the trainers would adjust the training environment or would adjust their own behaviors based on what the birds were communicating. This presentation will detail the methods we used during the process and the details of the positive welfare outcomes that were achieved through the free flight training. |
| 3.15pm | Questions for Presenter Block 2 |
| 3.30pm | Depart Sea World and bus ride to Paradise Country Attendees will board a bus and head out to Paradise Country. |
| 4pm | Training Demonstrations at Paradise Country Training demonstrations throughout the park. |
| 5pm | Free time around Paradise Country |
| 5.45pm | Activity Time |
| 6.30pm | Buffet Dinner at Paradise Country A buffet dinner and soft drinks will be provided. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase. |
| 7.45pm | Bus departs Paradise Country and back to Sea World The bus will arrive back to the main car park at Sea World, which is the same pick up location. Attendees staying at the resort will need to walk back to the resort, which is only a short 5 min walk away. |
| 8.15pm | End of Day 2 |
Day 3 - Friday 26th May
7.45am - 5.15pm
Sea World - Paradise Room
Sea World - Paradise Room
| 7.45am | Registrations Open - Paradise Room Sea World Attendees who are just attending day 3 can register and sign in for the conference. |
| 8am | Welcome |
| 8.15am | INVITED SPEAKER Tim Sullivan Curator of Behavioral Husbandry - Chicago Zoological Society at Brookfield Zoo The Power of Mentoring…the Foundation and Fuel for Your Career Mentors are a valuable resource to be discovered or to be sought. They are essential to help gain a maximum return on your investment in your professional development and to help you advance in your career. Mentors are by far the most effective way to expand your knowledge and create professional opportunities. Mentors will broaden your perspective, make you a better trainer and ultimately benefit the animals that you work with. This presentation will provide a retrospective look at how my mentors have positively affected my career. This presentation will demonstrate why it is so important to always be thinking about mentors because…you never know when you will find one, need one or be one yourself. |
| 10.15am | Morning Tea Break |
| 10.40am | Seal Theatre Training Demonstration Conference attendees will walk down to Seal Theatre to watch a training demonstration. |
| 11.25am | Presenter Block 1 |
| 11.30am | Nicholas Bishop – Zoos South Australia Lions, Labradors and Linking: Exploring Collaboration, Inclusion and Change at Zoos SA Our zoos and aquariums are places where we can experience ourselves as a part of nature, rather than apart from nature; an opportunity to recall our heritage and ignite a sense of stewardship. As part of Zoos South Australia’s (ZSA) inclusion and accessibility program, realising these engagement goals means supporting diverse visitor needs – some of which may also see us welcome their assistance animal companions. To develop effective approaches, our challenge has been to address multiple strands of enquiry: how will we develop a setting that simultaneously promotes visitor engagement and safety, manages biosecurity considerations and supports animal welfare? In essence: just what might happen when a Labrador meets a lion? To begin our quest, ZSA joined with the Royal Society for the Blind (RSB) Guide Dogs program to bring RSB trainers, dogs and our diverse animals together to innovate a program of four visits across Adelaide Zoo and Monarto Safari Park. We explored carefully considered itineraries with five different dogs of both genders to ensure a broad sample of responses, with four trainers added to the mix to further glean their diverse insight. We filmed behaviour at each encounter, capturing crucial detail and building a catalogue of the entire trial series. This has enabled an improved understanding of what general behaviour outcomes may occur between canine visitors and animal residents across a range of contexts, with shared resources to inform discussions and steer policy direction in support of a more inclusive wild experience for all. |
| 11.45am | Zoe Rowell – Melbourne Zoo Parrots, Pigeons and Passerines – Station training in a small mixed species Aviary Parrots, Pigeons and Passerines – Station training in a small mixed species Aviary . Mixed species aviaries and habitats allow the opportunity to showcase a range of species for visitors and guests. However, whilst there can be many benefits to this, it also presents several challenges – including training. Using antecedent arrangements, varying cues and reinforcers can capture the ability to cater for individual and species needs. At Melbourne Zoo one such space is a bush bird themed Aviary – which until January housed a pair of eclectus parrots, a male helmeted honeyeater and a male squatter pigeon. Training parrots, pigeons and passerines requires different antecedent arrangements, cues and reinforcement that are species appropriate. For bush bird themed aviary the squatter pigeon’s station training is at ground level on a rock station, cueing with a wooden musical clacker and reinforcing with crushed peanuts. For the Helmeted honeyeater stationing we use a T perch with a plastic cup mounted, cueing with the presentation of the reinforcer, and the reinforcer being a liquid nectar mix. For eclectus we have a branch station, pointing as cue and sunflower seeds as reinforcer. These training programs can be managed without interfering with the other species’ programs and allows keepers to have birds that are proactive in their own health care through positive reinforcement and choice and control over their training sessions. Training in such a way also fosters the varied species being able to live harmoniously together. This type of training inspires change through positive welfare. |
| 12pm | Lauren Irving – Werribee Open Range Zoo Shifting stereotypes for a bird with eyes larger than its brain Ostrich may be one of the most labelled animals within our zoos. From being called annoying, dumb, and with eyes larger than their brains, they come with their own well-formed stereotypes. I want to highlight the learning achievements and welfare milestones of ostrich at Werribee Open Range Zoo, and how their new training has further improved their welfare and keeper safety practices. Due to welfare concerns, safety issues for staff and behavioural concerns, we have been looking closely at the common ostrich, to come up with some uncommon methods to improve their training, welfare, and address behaviour. This presentation will demonstrate the steps taken to help ostrich to self-hood for medical procedures, target into chutes and step onto weigh scales. The achievements the ostrich have made has improved their welfare by allowing them choice in their training, and control over their situations. This has also had an added bonus of shifting people’s minds on what the ostrich can do and change our safety practices around ostrich here at WORZ. Many issues were faced along the way, with more ground yet to cover; however, we have shifted from initial issues of fighting labels that ostriches are not intelligent and may lack the ability to learn and remember their training; to time restraints and behavioural issues becoming the primary issue. |
| 12.15pm | Cath Atkin – Sea World Conditioning Marine Mammals and Turtles in Rehabilitation for Release A good understanding of the principles of operant conditioning and positive reinforcement is integral to the successful rehabilitation of marine mammals and turtles for release and reintegration to wild populations. Marine mammals and turtles quickly learn to recognise stimuli that may predict positive experiences such as feeding or negative experiences such as restraint for medical treatment. When free-ranging marine animals are rescued and brought into human care for the purposes of rehabilitation, great care should be taken to avoid inadvertent or intentional conditioning that may result in dependence on carers or behaviours incompatible with reintegration. Operant conditioning and positive reinforcement can be used as part of a rehabilitation program to shape feeding behaviour, social interactions and to develop physical conditioning in preparation for release and reintegration. |
| 12.30pm | Questions for Presenter Block 1 |
| 12.45pm | Lunch Break |
| 1.30pm | Invited Speaker Workshops Tim Sullivan, Rick Hester and Ken Ramirez will host a 90-minute workshop. Attendees will be split into 3 groups and attendees will rotate through the workshops each day ensuring they get a chance to attend all 3 workshops. Tim Sullivan - Training X-Factors: Understanding Extraordinary Variables that Affect Animal Learning Paradise Room Congratulations- you’re at the Australasian Animal Training Conference! That means you’ve already discovered the incredible power of positive reinforcement training to ethically change behavior and to strengthen the relationship between you and your animals. Beyond the science of behavior change, there are a variety of circumstances and variables that can significantly affect the results of your efforts. Trainers who are aware of these “X-factors” and can adjust accordingly can positively influence the learning process. This workshop will address several of these X-factors including resilience-building, managing self-fulfilling prophecies and structuring training for life-long learning. This talk is meant to expand a trainer’s awareness of these learning-enhancers which can benefit participants of any skill and experience level. Rick Hester - You Want More? How to Collect Data in an Already Over-the-Top Day Paradise Room The prospect of collecting data to improve our training decisions can seem like an insurmountable goal in our already hectic days. However, once you become familiar with the many well established behavioral sampling methods, all of which were designed for situations where you can’t watch everything, you may find collecting data is realistic. Systematic data collection allows us to evaluate the success of our behavior interventions and make real time, informed improvements as needed. In this workshop, we will explore and practice the most relevant behavior measurement strategies, including momentary time sampling, partial interval recording, ABC descriptive recording, and measuring latency and duration. We will also discuss how to best match each sampling method to the behavior you want to measure in context. Ken Ramirez - Secrets of Successful Medical Training Sea World Resort This session will explore essential tools for training and maintaining successful medical behaviors. The first half of the Session will focus on key training tools such as stationing, targeting, desensitization, gating (kenneling), recalls, and improving general tactile acceptance. The Session will then shift to focus on specific techniques for successfully training behaviors for blood-taking, injections, medication administration, working around the mouth and head, removal from the environment, and passive restraint. Throughout the presentation, common questions will be addressed: How do you keep a behavior with any type of discomfort from breaking down with frequent use? How do you prevent an animal from discriminating against the medical team? Can you teach animals to anticipate the novelty associated with medical behaviors? When restraint is needed, should that be done by the primary trainer or is it better handled by someone else, to prevent a breakdown in the relationship? |
| 3.30pm | Return to Paradise Room and Afternoon Tea Break |
| 3.55pm | Presenter Block 2 |
| 4pm | Sue Jaesnch – Zoos Victoria Zoos Victoria’s Animal Training Program – 5 years on and going strong Since 2017, Zoos Victoria’s focus on animal training has led to positive outcomes for animals, visitors and staff. Along the way there have been challenges and celebrations, there have been times when we have felt like we are not making progress and other times that we have enjoyed the highs of teams achieving goals that they wouldn’t have dreamed that they could achieve. This presentation will share stories about our journey and provide you with some key learnings, with the aim to inspire and help other parks and zoos to set up successful animal training programs of their own. |
| 4.15pm | Caitlin Ondracek – Moonlit Sanctuary Wildlife Conservation Park Lost in Translation; The pursuit of providing choice for koalas in human encounters As a private wildlife sanctuary, offering up-close encounters with wildlife including koalas is an important source of funding for Moonlit Sanctuary’s conservation programs. It also offers visitors an opportunity to build closer connections with our animals and leave with a sense of purpose in helping to protect their new best friends. To offer our encounter koalas choice and agency in these interactions, they have been trained to station in their enclosure in order to access their encounter space, crate trained as an alternative to carrying for safe and easy transport, and given the option to return to their enclosure at any time. Victor, a six year old male southern koala, has enjoyed interactions with keepers and visitors alike for over four years, and is our only koala who will climb onto keepers for transport. However, he has presented some training challenges along the way. His tendency to run laps of his enclosure or wait by his gate right before encounter times required constant explanations to visitors, as well being potentially hazardous to keepers entering the gate. This led to some creative station training and problem solving to provide reinforcement from outside the enclosure. With one challenge on the way to being solved, Victor then developed a tendency to nip keepers on the shoulder, not before or during encounters, but when the time came to take him home. We started searching for reasons, patterns, ways to understand what he was communicating. A number of techniques have been explored, including reducing the number of regular handlers, tag-teaching new handlers to create consistency in our pick-up technique, wearing a physical shoulder shield as a short-term solution to a complex problem, and finally brainstorming a new way of picking him up to help him unlearn his bitey ways. |
| 4.30pm | Erin Davidson and Christopher Jackson – Taronga Zoo Building Confidence: The Four C’s There are many factors that lead to successful animal training, but ultimately our aim is to develop a confident learner by the end. This paper identifies four principles that assist in achieving this outcome. Coined as “the Four C’s Principle”, these relate to calmness, choice, cognition, and consistency. The Four Cs are a tool that can be applied to each of the stages of training, allowing for consideration of different techniques that may assist with this process. These principles will also look at the three different thresholds a learner can have and revisiting the concept of consistency, “where different is normal.” Not only will this paper explore processes to help develop a confident learner, but it will also explore ways in which we ourselves can look at sessions, to best help us to become a confident trainer. |
| 4.45pm | James Chiefalo – Melbourne Zoo Putting your heart on your sleeve – Conscious Echocardiograms on Western Lowland Gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) at Melbourne Zoo Many, if not all great ape species are threatened with extinction. Understanding the diseases these species are prone to could continue to aid conservation efforts for both captive and wild populations of these species. Cardiac disease is now established as one of the major health concerns for great apes in captive environments. It is the major cause of death in captive housed Western Lowland Gorillas. Melbourne Zoo currently houses a family group of gorillas including Otana, a 22 year old silverback male. Previously Melbourne Zoo has housed several males all of which have presented with cardiac disease which were all monitored via general anesthetics. Recent studies have revealed that some of the drugs used to anesthetize gorillas have been shown to have an effect on the heart’s ability to move blood into the arteries, this may cause an incorrect diagnosis of heart disease. Hence the decision was made to train Otana for a conscious cardiac ultrasound, as the resulting scan would be a more accurate representation of Otana’s heart function. The completed report would then be submitted to the Great Ape Heart Project (GAHP). The GAHP is an organisation which focuses on reducing mortality and improving the health and welfare of captive great apes. This presentation will go into detail of the approximations taken to achieve the awake cardiac ultrasound. In addition to the challenges and hurdles that were overcome to achieve the result. Using Zoos Victoria’s training philosophy of most positive, least intrusive effective procedures we were able to achieve the great result of being able to submit Otana’s complete ultrasound results to the GAHP in October 2022. Through this training we are inspiring change with how we manage the gorillas and improving the welfare of our gorillas by avoiding regular anesthetics. |
| 5pm | Questions for Presenter Block 2 |
| 5.15pm | End of Day 3 |
Day 4 - Saturday 27th May
7.30am - 10pm
Sea World - Paradise Room
Sea World - Paradise Room
| 7.30am | Registrations Open - Paradise Room Sea World Attendees that are only attending Day 4 can register and sign in for the conference. |
| 7.40am | Welcome and Presenter Block 1 |
| 7.45am | Sarah Taylor-Robinson – Auckland Zoo Positive reinforcement training techniques to enhance the care, management and welfare of orangutans at Auckland Zoo. Positive reinforcement training is a tool used to improve the welfare and quality of life for animals in zoo managed environments. Training can help promote a more fulfilling life as well as positively impact physical health and wellbeing. Training strategies in the zoological community have helped caretakers evolve traditional methods in animal husbandry by teaching the animal to voluntarily participate in their own care. Training allows caregivers to work with animals to provide preventative health care, assist with resilience and preparation for change such as transfer, reproduction and introductions to conspecifics, daily cooperative husbandry, and management of injury and illness. Auckland Zoo’s primate team train their Bornean orangutans daily using innovative ways to help reduce stress for medical procedures or with cooperative and voluntary health checks which reduces the frequency and risk of having to put animals under general anesthetic. The orangutans have been desensitized to a range of medical devices that help monitor their health non-invasively. Newly designed training crates have given the team opportunities to train new behaviours such as voluntary x-ray, blood withdrawal as well as maternal behaviours and pregnancy support. The process of this training and positive impact on welfare will be detailed within the presentation. |
| 8am | Louise Ginman – Taronga Zoo Using counter conditioning to improve relationships in Zoo carnivores We all learn about the 4 quadrants of operant conditioning and hopefully use operant conditioning to improve the lives and welfare of our animals in our daily work and of course we all know that Pavlov is on our shoulder. But what's he doing there and what does that even mean? Ivan Pavlov discovered classical conditioning way back in the late 1800's and through his work, we have at our disposal a wonderful way to improve animal welfare that doesn't rely solely on our use of operant conditioning. Counter conditioning (a form of classical conditioning) is still a very under-utilised tool for animal care staff. This paper will focus on how Taronga Zoo carnivore team has used counter conditioning to in an attempt to build a better relationship between two female meerkats, father and son Small Clawed Otter, as well as a Sumatran tiger, Red Panda and Fennec Fox who all worry about people. The applications for counterconditioning in a Zoo setting are endless and it is hoped that more animal care staff will feel confident to be able to utilise this tool in addition to operant conditioning to further enhance our relationships, husbandry, training and the welfare of the animals in our care. |
| 8.15am | Questions for Presenter Block 1 |
| 8.20am | Shark and Polar Bear Training Demonstrations Conference attendees will be split into two groups. One group will observe a shark training demonstration and the other group Polar Bear demonstration. These demonstrations will be repeated on Saturday where the groups will swap, so all attendees will be able to observe both demonstrations. |
| 9.15am | INVITED VIRTUAL SPEAKER: Susan G. Friedman, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Psy Dept. - Utah State University Founder - Behavior Works Control: The Other Primary Reinforcer Behavior analysis (BA) is the study of the processes by which animals learn, i.e. change their behavior as a result of interacting with the environment. From a behavior analysis perspective, the ability to learn is an evolved tool, part of our biological endowment. Simply, it is our nature to behave for effect – to be effective. Learning and welfare are compromised to the extent that effective behavior is blocked. We can enhance learning and welfare by increasing animals’ control over their valued outcomes. The focus of this talk is an overview of the science-based principles and practices relevant to improving learners’ effectiveness by providing more control, safely and practically. |
| 11.15am | Morning Tea Break |
| 11.30am | Invited Speaker Workshops Ken Ramirez, Rick Hester and Tim Sullivan will host a 90-minute workshop. Attendees will be split into 3 groups and attendees will rotate through the workshops each day ensuring they get a chance to attend all 3 workshops. Ken Ramirez - Secrets of Successful Medical Training Paradise Room This session will explore essential tools for training and maintaining successful medical behaviors. The first half of the Session will focus on key training tools such as stationing, targeting, desensitization, gating (kenneling), recalls, and improving general tactile acceptance. The Session will then shift to focus on specific techniques for successfully training behaviors for blood-taking, injections, medication administration, working around the mouth and head, removal from the environment, and passive restraint. Throughout the presentation, common questions will be addressed: How do you keep a behavior with any type of discomfort from breaking down with frequent use? How do you prevent an animal from discriminating against the medical team? Can you teach animals to anticipate the novelty associated with medical behaviors? When restraint is needed, should that be done by the primary trainer or is it better handled by someone else, to prevent a breakdown in the relationship? Rick Hester - You Want More? How to Collect Data in an Already Over-the-Top Day Sea World Resort The prospect of collecting data to improve our training decisions can seem like an insurmountable goal in our already hectic days. However, once you become familiar with the many well established behavioral sampling methods, all of which were designed for situations where you can’t watch everything, you may find collecting data is realistic. Systematic data collection allows us to evaluate the success of our behavior interventions and make real time, informed improvements as needed. In this workshop, we will explore and practice the most relevant behavior measurement strategies, including momentary time sampling, partial interval recording, ABC descriptive recording, and measuring latency and duration. We will also discuss how to best match each sampling method to the behavior you want to measure in context. Tim Sullivan - Training X-Factors: Understanding Extraordinary Variables that Affect Animal Learning Sea World Resort Congratulations- you’re at the Australasian Animal Training Conference! That means you’ve already discovered the incredible power of positive reinforcement training to ethically change behavior and to strengthen the relationship between you and your animals. Beyond the science of behavior change, there are a variety of circumstances and variables that can significantly affect the results of your efforts. Trainers who are aware of these “X-factors” and can adjust accordingly can positively influence the learning process. This workshop will address several of these X-factors including resilience-building, managing self-fulfilling prophecies and structuring training for life-long learning. This talk is meant to expand a trainer’s awareness of these learning-enhancers which can benefit participants of any skill and experience level. |
| 1.30pm | Return to Paradise Room and Lunch Break |
| 2.10pm | Presenter Block 2 |
| 2.15pm | Lydia Whiteway – Zoos Victoria The methods used to train Maremma Guardian Dogs to avoid Eastern Barred Bandicoots Zoos Victoria has been working on the recovery of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot (EBB) for 30 years, but reintroductions on the mainland have failed due to predation by Foxes. The Guardian Dog Project, which ran between 2016 and 2022, aimed to test if Maremma Guardian Dogs could alter fox behavior and reduce predation to allow EBB populations to persist. This presentation focuses on the training program and principles used to successfully train 6 Maremmas to recognize and ignore or avoid EBB in their natural habitat without human guidance or supervision. The training program used positive reinforcement strategies, which is an experimental approach in this context as typically positive punishment is used to teach avoidance behavior. The use of positive reinforcement allowed the keepers to maintain a positive welfare state for the dogs throughout their training. The Maremmas avoidance training with EBB took place over 3-4 years at Werribee Open Range Zoo, and at the same time, they were also bonded with Sheep in the traditional manner used for stock. The dogs were then deployed to 2 field sites alongside 20 released EBB, where they carried out typical guardian dog duties while at the same time protecting the reintroduced EBB. The project’s findings are important because the method could be applied to other species in the future, providing a promising solution for conservation efforts by using positive reinforcement training to teach Guardian dogs to avoid or ignore specific target species. |
| 2.30pm | Nicole Newell – Melbourne Zoo “Beyond the boundary”- Allowing animals the opportunity to thrive outside of their habitat. This presentation focuses on inspiring positive welfare for our animals by using training as a tool to allow animals out of their habitats to explore different areas of the zoo. At Melbourne Zoo we provide our animal’s choice and control to participate in their own healthcare programs. By thinking outside the boundaries and using this choice philosophy we also have been able to provide them with opportunities to leave their habitats to further enhance their healthcare. This has offered additional physical and mental stimulation in an enriching environment. Some measured outcomes that have arisen from doing this have been - health benefits, diet adjustments and changes of how animals interact with existing enrichment back in their habitat. Species featured in the presentation will be Common coati, Blue and gold macaws, Eclectus parrots, Rainbow lorikeets and Long nosed Fur seals. |
| 2.45pm | Jackie Cantrall – Taronga Western Plains Zoo “Ivory – what is it worth to you?” Asian Elephant Tusk Husbandry at Taronga Western Plains Zoo The husbandry of Asian Elephant bulls in Zoos has improved significantly over the past few decades, with more effort put into their physical and social welfare. One area of bull care that can present challenges, has been the management of tusks. At Taronga Western Plains Zoo, there is currently three Asian Elephant bulls of varying ages, all with tusks, as well as three of the four cows having tushes – the Asian Elephant female form of ivory. The proactive approach to training the bulls for regular conscious tusk trims often involves various stages depending on whether the bulls were born here as a calf, or transacted into the TWPZ facility. Majority of the tusk trims are in our protected contact Elephant Restraint Device (ERD) with elephants in a ”trunk up” position. Elephants are also able to take use of short breaks as required. Sabai – born at TWPZ – 6yr old. Begun some training as a calf, starting with using some sandpaper on the ends of the tusks. This is done with a clicker and a target stick. A small foldable saw was then introduced for tusk trims. To condition for the saw, keepers use something of a similar size, thickness etc, often the back of a Leatherman blade, for a visual conditioning, and then rub the back/blunt side across the tusk, recreating a vibrating sensation on the tusk. For an actual trim, only a few saw strokes at a time before the blade is removed and reinforcement given. Then the process begins again until the trim is complete. Pathi Harn – born at Taronga Zoo – 12 yr old. Had previously been sedated for trims before arrival at TWPZ. Pathi Harn began his training with using a bone cable wire. We moved away from using the wire and began using the hand saw. Pathi Harn has trims 2-3 times per year. Gung – born in Thailand, then TZ – 22yr old. Gung has a slightly different approach with tusk trims, as Gung does show some nervousness in our ERD, and due to his minimal aggression to keepers, can still have his trims done whilst laying down, and using the same saw as the other bulls. This care now, particularly for the bulls, will become more important as the bulls mature and their musths become more intense and pose increasing challenges. The care of elephant ivory has ultimately led to better welfare of the herd – allowing safer social interactions, decreasing chances of breakages with enrichment items, and again decreasing chances of breakages from around the facility. |
| 3pm | Jose Gomes – Melbourne Zoo 6 Learnings from the Best Animal Trainers in the World Animal training and behaviour modification skills are currently essential for a modern-day zookeeper. Providing animals under human care with agency, choice and control leads to tangible animal welfare gains. This presentation will explore the learnings and skills that the best animal training professionals use to attain those welfare gains. Specifically, it will explore how antecedents, antecedent modification and creativity can create learning opportunities that benefit the welfare of the animals. It will explain why our mechanics matter and how practising without the animal first can benefit the outcome of a training session later on. It will share some examples and anecdotes of error minimisation during training sessions and describe instances in which behavioural rehearsal is helpful and other instances in which it should be avoided. Considerations on how to keep a shaping session fluid, dynamic and successful for the learner will be offered with a few practical examples. It will explore the idea that the best animal trainers are curious about other colleagues’ work and strive to continuously improve their knowledge and skills. Finally, it will explain why teamwork, cooperation and praise are essential in a high-functioning modern-day zookeeping team. |
| 3.15pm | Questions for Presenter Block 2 |
| 3.25pm | Afternoon Tea Break |
| 3.40pm | Panel Discussion - ATC Committee and Invited Speakers The ATC Committee will host invited speakers Ken Ramirez, Rick Hester, Tim Sullivan and Susan G. Friedman to a panel discussion, inviting questions from the audience. The questions may arise from learnings from the conference, specific training techniques, general behaviour-change or animal welfare topics. |
| 4.40pm | Closing Remarks |
| 5.45pm | Meet in lobby of Sea World Resort |
| 6pm | Evening Dolphin Presentation |
| 6.30pm | Conference Celebration Dinner – The Boatshed at Sea World Resort Get ready for a great night of music and socialising with fellow conference attendees. An Aussie BBQ and soft drinks will be on offer. Alcoholic beverages will be available for purchase. A silent auction will also be held with all funds raised go towards a regional scholarship that ATC will further grow the skillset of a trainer at a USA workshop to be advised. |
Location
Sea World - Paradise Room
Sea World Drive, Main Beach QLD
Sea World - Paradise Room is located to the left of the main entrance of the park.
Attendees staying at Sea World Resort will be escorted down to the Paradise Room each day.
If attendees are arriving from elsewhere, please park in the main Sea World carpark.
Sea World Drive, Main Beach QLD
Sea World - Paradise Room is located to the left of the main entrance of the park.
Attendees staying at Sea World Resort will be escorted down to the Paradise Room each day.
If attendees are arriving from elsewhere, please park in the main Sea World carpark.
Additional Events
We have 2 additional events at the 2023 conference. Please see details below. The below events are at an additional cost and participants can register during their conference registration process. Once you select your conference registration ticket, you can select these additional events on the next page.
Enrichment Workshop with Tim Sullivan
SOLD OUT
Tuesday 23rd may 9am - 4pm
Sea WORLD RESORT
Join Tim Sullivan, Curator of Behavioral Husbandry at Brookfield Zoo, Chicago, for a learning filled day on all things enrichment!
Tim's primary responsibilities in his role at Brookfield Zoo are to manage the zoo’s animal training and environmental enrichment programs developing the knowledge and skill of over 100 animal keepers.
Tim is currently on the instructor teams of the Association of Zoo and Aquariums (AZA) annual Animal Training Applications and Environmental Enrichment in Zoos and Aquariums courses.
This workshop will include topics such as:
Tim's primary responsibilities in his role at Brookfield Zoo are to manage the zoo’s animal training and environmental enrichment programs developing the knowledge and skill of over 100 animal keepers.
Tim is currently on the instructor teams of the Association of Zoo and Aquariums (AZA) annual Animal Training Applications and Environmental Enrichment in Zoos and Aquariums courses.
This workshop will include topics such as:
- Brief History of Environmental Enrichment
- Principles of Environmental Enrichment
- Goal-Setting Activity
- Welfare - Enrichment at the Individual Level
- Enrichment walk through at Sea World
- Time Management- Making the Most of Your Valuable Time
- Putting it All together and Looking Ahead
Crickey! Day trip to Australia Zoo!
SOLD OUT
SUNDAY 28TH MAY 8AM - 6PM
SUNDAY 28TH MAY 8AM - 6PM
Enjoy a day at Australia Zoo which is located 2 hours north of the Gold Coast, on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. Attendees are to meet at Sea World Resort Conference Centre car park no later than 7.45AM.
The bus to Australia Zoo will depart promptly at 8am.
Our expected arrival at Australia Zoo is 10am.
The Australia Zoo visit opportunities will include:
The day will also include exclusive training demonstrations by the Australia Zoo team including:
Komodo Dragon Training Session
Jabiru Free Flight Session
Just to name a few!
We will depart from Australia Zoo at approximately 4pm with an expected arrival time back at Sea World Resort is 6pm.
The bus to Australia Zoo will depart promptly at 8am.
Our expected arrival at Australia Zoo is 10am.
The Australia Zoo visit opportunities will include:
- Tigers LIVE!
- Elephants LIVE!
- Australia Zoo Wildlife Warriors Show
- Birds of Prey LIVE!
- Explore the zoo yourself… there is soooo much more to discover.
The day will also include exclusive training demonstrations by the Australia Zoo team including:
Komodo Dragon Training Session
Jabiru Free Flight Session
Just to name a few!
We will depart from Australia Zoo at approximately 4pm with an expected arrival time back at Sea World Resort is 6pm.
Accommodation
Sea World Resort
Sea World Resort
Sea World Resort is our host hotel. Located at the rear of the theme park, conference attendees are encouraged to make a reservation at Sea World Resort for a more inclusive conference experience.
Conference attendees will be given a discounted rate.
Room rates for Tues - Thurs nights are $189 per room/per night.
Room rates for Fri - Sat nights is $214 per room/per night.
The above is room only and is subject to availability at the time of booking
Conference rates can be extended up to 3 days before and 3 days after the conference subject to availability.
Onsite Hotel Parking
Limited free car parking is available onsite at Sea World Resort.
More information click on the Sea World Resort logo above or click the button below to secure your hotel reservation, which will automatically apply the conference discount.
Conference attendees will be given a discounted rate.
Room rates for Tues - Thurs nights are $189 per room/per night.
Room rates for Fri - Sat nights is $214 per room/per night.
The above is room only and is subject to availability at the time of booking
- Making an early reservation is strongly encouraged, as there are only a limited number of discount rooms available.
Conference rates can be extended up to 3 days before and 3 days after the conference subject to availability.
Onsite Hotel Parking
Limited free car parking is available onsite at Sea World Resort.
More information click on the Sea World Resort logo above or click the button below to secure your hotel reservation, which will automatically apply the conference discount.
Sponsors
We are proud to announce that Encore and Kong are our conference sponsors. Encore are our AV suppliers at the conference, click on their logo below to find out more information.
Kong have worked since 1976 to bring you and your pet the most innovative and safe toys made from the finest materials that will last, click on their logo below to find out more information.
We thank both companies for their support.
Kong have worked since 1976 to bring you and your pet the most innovative and safe toys made from the finest materials that will last, click on their logo below to find out more information.
We thank both companies for their support.
