<p style="text-align: left;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1923" title="bhc_training_tales" src="http://aecetia.net/gws/aazk/wp-content/uploads/bhc_training_tales.jpg" alt="bhc_training_tales" width="562" height="229" /><em>By
Matthew England, Predator Keeper
Birmingham Zoo, Birmingham, AL</em>

<strong>Introduction</strong>
The Birmingham Zoo houses 0.2 North American River Otters (<em>Lontra canadensis</em>) in the Children’s Zoo.  Bernice and Lenora are eight year old sisters and are worked protected contact. In order to maximize animal husbandry, keepers used training to establish desired behaviors for proper captive animal management.  One of the most important behaviors needed was shifting into a crate/induction tube.  This behavior also proved to be the most challenging for a variety of reasons. Between the years of 2007-2010 keepers employed a number of ideas and training methods in search of the best way to train this behavior.  There were various obstacles that had to be overcome, and in some cases, methods were tried and then re-tried.  Keepers were challenged to be creative and stay focused on the task without getting discouraged, but also had to be patient with the changing dynamics of the zoo.

As trainers we face many different forms of adversity.  Often times we encounter problems with the animal being trained, or we find that we have areas we need to improve upon as trainers.  However, many times unforeseen circumstances present themselves that we could never have prepared for or anticipated.  This paper discusses such circumstances faced by the Children’s Zoo keepers at the Birmingham Zoo and how they were able to overcome these problems to achieve success.

<strong>Early Challenges</strong>
In the spring of 2007, I was a brand new part time keeper only on the job for five months and had no prior zoo experience in training animals.  I was brought in as a trainer for the otters, and shortly after, the two primary trainers of the otters left to take positions at other institutions.  I had to make a quick transition from a new trainer learning to maintain established behaviors to the primary trainer of new behaviors.  Fortunately, I was not alone in this endeavor as many of the full-time keepers in the Children’s Zoo assisted in the training and offered advice and help wherever they could.

At the same time, the Birmingham Zoo went through a period of flux.  The Children’s Zoo hired a new Zoological Manager who also took over managerial duties of the sea lions.  A significant amount of her time was dedicated to the sea lions because the zoo débuted the Sea Lion Splash Show that spring.  Consequently, otter training could not progress as quickly as our staff would have liked while our resources were spread thin.

It is important to note here that these are expected occurrences in zoos.  Turnover of staff happens and managerial positions will change.  It may be necessary to put more time and effort into some areas than others, such as a new animal show or exhibit (usually these happen during the busy seasons of spring and summer).  That does not mean that other areas are being neglected.  It is our responsibility as keepers and trainers to keep in mind, while our area or animal may not be the top priority [at the moment], it still has importance.

<strong>Crate Training – Why It Failed</strong>
When we were able to set our training program for the otters into motion, we decided that a high priority for the otters was to train a way to easily transport them as needed.  The otters were crate trained by the previous trainers, and had also been trained to go into an induction tube.  We discussed which direction we wanted to go and decided to stick with the crate.

There were some benefits to the crate.  It was something that had been recently trained and used, thus the otters were willing to enter the crate.  It was also much easier to get the otters out of the crate when immobilized.  Despite these benefits, however, two major hindrances caused us to strongly reconsider the crate.

The first, and most obvious problem, was the method used to crate the otters.  The crate utilized a sliding guillotine door to secure the otters inside and had to be placed inside a small indoor holding [area].  In order to work the door, a string was tied to it, trailed up through the top of the holding, and down to the keeper on the other side. This was a complicated procedure, and since we had to hold the string while cueing the otters into the crate, it made training very difficult.  Besides this, the crate was actually too large to fit inside the holding.  Because of the size of the otters and their propensity to leave their tail hanging out the door, we had to use a slightly larger crate than normal.  As a result, we had to utilize a keeper area to get the crate inside a suitable area in which to train.  This whole process took a lot of time to set up and was not a suitable way to continue training, (Figure 1).
<p style="text-align: center;"><img class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-2012" title="steps" src="http://aecetia.net/gws/aazk/wp-content/uploads/steps.jpg" alt="steps" width="600" height="455" /><strong>Figure 1: Series of steps involved getting the crate into the keeper area. </strong><em></em></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><em>(photo courtesy Kelly Wall, Birmingham Zoo)</em></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">The second problem was that it proved to be an unsafe way to immobilize.  In order to immobilize the otters with Isoflurane, we had to place a trash bag around the crate.  This created a visual obstruction preventing us from seeing the course of induction.  The crate also had too much room for the otter to move around allowing for the chance of injury (this problem would not have been resolved even if we used a slightly smaller crate; the otters required the smallest space possible for safety).  Eventually, the crate itself proved to be destructible as Lenora, particularly stressed after one immobilization, began chewing her way out of the crate!  After this intense situation, we decided to immediately change our method.</p>

<strong>Training for the Induction Tube – Part 1</strong>
The goal of using the induction tube was to create a safer, quicker way to immobilize the otters.  The tube consisted of PVC pipe that was 3 ½ feet [~1.067m] long and had a six-inch [15.24cm] diameter.  Each end had an acrylic door that was attached on one side by a bolt that allowed the door to be lifted up and down.  The doors were secured by zip-ties that slid into holes in the door.  Holes in the top of the PVC pipe with hose attachments allowed…..

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