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Enrichment Committee
In May of 1994, the American Association of Zoo Keepers, Inc. (AAZK) Board of Directors approved the establishment of the AAZK Enrichment Committee with five founding members. The purpose of the Committee is "to provide animal caregivers the means in which to enrich, stimulate, and challenge the lives of the animals in their care." Our intention is to augment the "Enrichment Options" column in the Animal Keepers' Forum and in "The Shape of Enrichment" newsletter to provide a means for communicating ideas, techniques and information about enrichment. Additionally, the Committee assists animal caregivers in establishing enrichment committees at their facilities, provides resources to help locate and acquire enrichment materials, maintains a "networking" list of fellow professionals, and lends advice on staff/management support, fundraising, budgeting and utilizing volunteers. The Enrichment Committee hosts an informal video session and enrichment workshop at the AAZK National Conferences, has compiled a "living" compendium of ideas (the AAZK Enrichment Notebook) and offers updates and supplements for the notebook at AAZK Conferences. It also jointly operates with "The Shape of Enrichment" editors an enrichment/training video library. Our goal is to promote the attitude that enrichment should be an integral part of the animals' daily care and not just an afterthought.
CURRENT PROJECTS INCLUDE:If you are interested in assisting Committee members with current projects, you may contact any of them listed below:
| Tammy Root(Board Oversight) Indianapolis Zoo 1200 W. Washington St. Indianapolis, IN 46222 |
| Amy Burgess (Co-Chair) Disney's Animal Kingdom P.O. Box 10000 Lake Buena Vista, FL 32818 |
| Dawn Neptune (Co-Chair) Utah’s Hogle Zoo 2600 Sunnyside Ave Salt Lake City, UT 84108 |
| Rachel Daneault Disney's Animal Kingdom P.O. Box 10000 Lake Buena Vista, FL 32818 |
| Brad Lympany North Carolina Zoo 4401 Zoo parkway Asheboro, NC 27205 |
| Nichole Bouwens Zoo Atlanta 800 Cherokee Ave Atlanta, GA 30315 |
| Ric Kotarsky Tulsa Zoo 5701 E 36th St. North Tulsa, OK 74115 |
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