References
Training zoo animals for better welfare, better nursing
Abstract
Background:
Historically, methods used to carry out veterinary procedures in animals within a zoo usually involved manual restraint or darting as a first choice.
Aim:
To see whether any animal can be trained and if that trained behaviour will improve animal welfare through allowing veterinary procedures to be carried out.
Method:
A range of species were looked at retrospectively to establish if they could be trained and how that affected welfare. A study was then carried out using a group of Zebras, who were trained for hand injection for their annual vaccination.
Results:
Case studies indicated that any animal can be trained and the results of using training could improve their welfare. The use of remote delivery systems, such as darts, resulted in pain, stress and deferred aggression.
Conclusion:
A number of different species can be trained to carry out a behaviour, if this is applied in all animals the need for restraint and general anaesthesia could be reduced. This would result in improved welfare to zoo animals, but can be applied to all patients, exotic and small animal.
Historically, methods used to carry out veterinary procedures in animals within a zoo usually involved manual restraint or darting as a first choice. This approach comes from the idea that the quicker the procedure is carried out the better for the animal; however when this approach was taken animal welfare was usually compromised. Darting and manual restraint have a long-term effect on the animal, for example, constant anxiety as they cannot leave the enclosure where the event, darting, took place. The keeper–animal bond is also vulnerable and may be permanently damaged.
Training a behaviour in an animal will allow a procedure to be carried out, without these unwanted consequences, and as a result, improve animal welfare. An example of this is training the animal to receive an injection by hand reducing the need for darting. This study aimed to see whether a number of different species of animal could be trained. It then looked at a small group of zebra to see whether they could be trained for their annual injection, negating the need for darting.
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