Training, Interpretation & Interpretation Workshop

If you ever got a chance to read my blog from last summer, I mentioned Jay Pratte. Pratte is the head of ATC (Animal Training Committee) of the zoo. I really admire his work because I hope someday, I can do the same work as him. I love doing training and enrichment. Something new that Pratte wanted to do for the zoo was to target summer keepers, interns, new hires, and/or as a refresher for current keepers to have a basic understanding about training, enrichment and interpretation. Having my prior experience as an intern last summer and having a psychology minor, this workshop was not as new information to me. A lot of the information that was shared, I have already had a background in.

However, I did learn new things, especially with interpretation. Interpretation can be almost seen as training itself. Every encounter you have with an animal can make or break trust with that individual. It is not only just in training sessions. After realizing that, I feel that I'm more involved with the training process than I thought. During training sessions, they do not let interns (especially with cats and bears) be part of it. However, in a different way I am. From the time I walk and have an encounter with an animal, that animal is constantly learning something from me.