Tuesday, June 3, 2014

First day and training with Manny

Between my first official day working with the big cats, bears and a humongous storm, I’m glad to say that I survived it all. Having my previous experiences from last summer has really helped me a lot. However, there are some differences. The key thing I learned today is how serious safety is. Working with large, carnivorous animals is very important to the zoo crew. The big cats may appear friendly, but we still need to treat them with respect and space. The snow leopards did not seem to mind me as much, but I had to pay special attention to the leopards and jaguars as they like to fixate on things and go into a pouncing mode.  


I really enjoyed watching the training session that we did today with our jaguar, Manny. I remember stopping by during my after hour runs through the zoo last summer to find him waiting for me to hang out with him for me to catch my breath. It is really cool to see how he is in training action. He is very intelligent and fast to grab his reward for a correct command. Even though today I had to watch, I hope at some point this summer that I can work with him as well. J
First day!

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