<em>By Wendy Lenhart, Bird Keeper and Ellen Bartuska, Mammal Keeper
The Philadelphia Zoo, Philadelphia, PA</em>

Ratites can pose a challenge to animal care professionals due to their large size. While these animals can be restrained and sedated for routine veterinary procedures, voluntary cooperation for these husbandry practices has enduring health benefits. Building positive relationships with collection animals allows short or long-term medications to be administered with high success rates and desensitizes the birds to keeper presence so that necessary exhibit maintenance does not induce stress. At the Philadelphia Zoo, keepers have used training for the husbandry of an elderly female Emu (Dromaius novaehollandiae) and a pair of female Ostrich (Struthio camelus) with great success.

In the winter of 2007, a 23-year-old female emu, “Mrs. Emu” at the Philadelphia Zoo exhibited a limp that was causing her to stumble and get abrasions on her left foot. Staff suspected arthritis was causing the discomfort and anti-inflammatory medication was prescribed. The Emu quickly began hand-feeding favored food items like apple chunks and ratite pellets from a bowl held by the keeper.  Medication was successfully disguised in this food and delivered to the bird in this manner. Additionally, keepers were able to take advantage of their good relationship with the bird to administer a warm compress to the irritated area on her left leg. Once weather conditions warmed in the spring, keepers started targeting her to approach from across the yard for shifting purposes. The cue was a vocal “come here” and she was rewarded by grabbing an apple chunk from the keeper’s flattened hand. After each training session, Mrs. Emu was given the bulk of her ratite pellets as a “jackpot’ reward. Often this was given when she needed to shift indoors overnight.

<img class="alignnone size-medium wp-image-1169" title="emu_xray" src="http://aecetia.net/gws/aazk/wp-content/uploads/emu_xray-300x248.jpg" alt="emu_xray" width="300" height="248" />

<strong>“Mrs. Emu” stations for a voluntary x-ray</strong> <em>(Photo by Amy Ivins)</em>

Though the Emu was being treated successfully with oral medication for her arthritis, keeper staff and veterinary staff wanted to x-ray the affected area of her leg. Because of her large size and advanced age, it was not feasible to move the bird to the animal hospital for the procedure. The plan was instead to train the bird to walk up a ramp to elevate her feet off the ground and snap images with a portable x-ray machine. The ramp used was 36”x 36”x 8” [.914m x .914m x .20m]  with a 45° incline. The bird was desensitized to the ramp by first placing her food bowl on it as though it was a feeding station. Eventually keepers baited her to walk up it until she would wait at the top before receiving a food reward. Her food reward was modified to an entire bowl of ratite pellets and chunks of apple to keep her distracted during the entire procedure. This training took several weeks to complete and was embedded into her daily routine. Additionally, training sessions were done with the keeper wearing an x-ray apron and holding an x-ray plate to desensitize the animal to these objects. The x-ray plate was fastened to a broom handle so that it could be positioned from a safe distance (see photo).

The first attempt to do the voluntary x-ray procedure with veterinary staff was only partially successful because the bird became nervous and wary of the x-ray machine and the length of time it was taking for set-up. However, she did step……..

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