We know that guests enjoy talking to the people who work directly with animals. When animal keepers interact with guests, they can make an inspirational connection that lasts a lifetime and can sometimes be a life-changing experience for the guest. National studies have shown that two major influences affect people’s positive connection to the natural world. One is the time they spent in nature as a child, and the other is a person or people in their lives who have modeled a passion for nature and wildlife. Sometimes we forget the enormous impact we can have on guests when we stop for a few minutes and share our passion for animals with them. Here is a great example:
In teaching the Interpretation Course to keepers at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, a participant who was a new member of the elephant keeper team mentioned that she had visited Disney’s Animal Kingdom about 8 years previously when she was still in middle school. She  remembered talking with a keeper at the Animal Nutrition Window and feeling inspired to follow in her career footsteps. This experience put her on a path to become an animal keeper at Animal Kingdom, and 8 years later, her dream had come true. This is just one example of the power of taking a moment to talk with our guests about wildlife. I’m sure there are hundreds more of these examples at zoos across the country.
Disney is well-known for its great guest service. So, it’s no wonder that guests are an important part of everything we do. This includes sharing important messages about animal training.
Goals for interpreting training to guests:
- Share the Animal Program’s mission of delivering uncompromising excellence in animal care and welfare that includes a progressive and integrated training program.
- Help guests understand the importance of training for animals.
- Inspire guests to take action for wildlife.
 Many years ago, I was asked to review an animal training video for one of our zoological managers in preparation for an AZA conference. I suggested that it would be great to incorporate a sample guest talk that focused on the value of these training sessions, since some of the training occurred on exhibit. The response I received back was, “Why would we want to do that?” Well, this was years ago and I hope that we have helped all our managers recognize the importance of educating our guests about the high quality of care we provide the animals. Training is part of this excellent care and an integral part of our day-to-day animal management in Animal Programs.
Zoo guests are often exposed to animal training sessions that are part of shows or demonstrations. But the behind-the-scenes training is even more impressive. This includes animals trained to assist in their own health care and techniques that advance animal management such as smooth shifting from one area to another and acclimating animals for travel to other zoos when necessary. Communicating these messages to guests help them understand how we work closely, yet safely, around wild animals and provide excellent care.
Conservation Actions for Guests
The ultimate goal of conservation education is behavior change, so when discussing animal training with guests, be sure to suggest an action that they can do to help wildlife. Here are some ways to segue into a conservation action after talking with guests about animal training:
- Seek out information about animal training. You can learn more about animal training by visiting Disney’s website www.animaltraining.org.
- Share your passion about animal training with friends and family. Now that you have seen how we train animals here at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, you can tell your family and friends about animal training and how we care for wildlife. You could also share pictures with your teacher and classmates when you get back to school.
- Choose your pets wisely. Training animals can be fun and rewarding, but not all animals are easy to train. Be sure to research your pets before you purchase one. Disney’s Animal Program’s animal specialists know the requirements of caring for the many wild animals that live here. Be sure you understand the needs of any pets you consider getting and ensure that they did not come from the wild.
- Support conservation organizations through contributions. Most of what we know about animals we learned from researchers who study them in the wild. This natural history information helps us understand animals and create training programs that build on animals’ natural behaviors. You can help support this important work by contributing to organizations that study and conserve animals in the wild.
Training-Focused Guest Experiences
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Colobus Monkey Training  Keepers conduct a training session with the colobus monkeys for guests to watch. One keeper is on a microphone interpreting the behaviors while the others work with individual animals. After the session, keepers talk with guests about the threats to primates, such as the bushmeat trade or palm oil plantations and leave guests with some positive actions they can take to reduce these threats.
- Calling a Crocodile A guest rings the “dinner” bell to cue the American crocodile from its holding area into its exhibit. Keepers discuss the importance of training an animal to move from one area to another on its own. Keepers can then clean the exhibit or back holding areas without having to physically move the animals themselves. This method is safer for the animal and keeper and enjoyable for both as the crocodile is rewarded with a food item. Now guests can tell friends and family the importance of animal training in keeping both animals and people safe.
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Cow Training A guest uses a triangular-shaped object called a target to cue the animal to come and stand next to the target. Guests get the opportunity to “train” and they enjoy this close encounter with the animal. Guests can learn more about animal training by visiting Disney's Animal Training website at www.animaltraining.org.
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Reduce, Reuse, Recycle Training helps keep animals physically fit and mentally stimulated. A keeper cues a goat to place a tin can into a recycling bin. When your message and the animal’s behavior are closely linked, it delivers a more powerful statement to guests.
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Stork Weighing A keeper cues the painted stork to  stand on a scale for weighing in front of guests. When the behavior is accomplished correctly the bird is rewarded. Training the stork to get weight information is an important part of caring for birds at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Keepers tell guests that they can care for wild birds in their backyard by planting trees, shrubs and flowers as nesting sites and food sources.
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Komodo Dragon Training Session A keeper talks with guests about the Komodo dragons in front of the exhibit. A family is selected to have a special behind-the-scenes peek at a training session with the reptiles. Families are chosen based on the age of the children (over 12 years old) and the family’s interest level. The session takes about 15-20 minutes so the keeper asks if  the family has the time to spend. If yes, they all walk to the Komodo’s off-exhibit door and go inside. Another keeper is present to conduct the training session while the original keeper interprets the behaviors. The Komodo dragon is cued to target in the outside runway, then into the holding chute, into the transport crate and onto a platform scale. The animal is rewarded throughout the session. The keeper explains that the holding crate is specially designed for medical x-raying and allows vet techs to draw blood without having to physically restrain an animal, as part of our preventative health care program. It takes into account the safety of both our keepers and animals. At this point, any questions are answered and each guest receives a bookmark with some fun facts and ways to help Komodo dragons and other wildlife.
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Tiger Training A keeper conducts the training session positioned in a busy guest area to interpret the tiger’s behavior. A child is selected to blow a whistle which cues a tiger to climb a tree in the exhibit. The keeper then rewards the tiger with meat and the child is rewarded with a tiger key chain that says: "I answered the call of the wild. Honorary Keeper of wild places and wild things." Guests then learn that they can help care for tigers by contributing to organizations that protect them in the wild, such as Disney's Worldwide Conservation Fund.
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