For the episode we’re continuing our conversation with Rick Hester, Amy Shilze and Lucy Butler.

Rick is the Curator of Behavioral Husbandry for the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado. He oversees all the zoo's behavioral programming. His work includes the zoo's animal training for husbandry, medical, and public show behaviors, enrichment, developing programs to improve problem behavior situations, the zoo's formal animal welfare assessments, and exhibit design for behavior goals.

We’re also joined by Amy Schilze, who has the dream job of working with the Cheyenne Mountain zoo’s giraffe.

Amy is the Senior Animal Behaviorist for Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe, where she runs giraffe workshops and conferences, both stateside and internationally.

Both Rick and Amy also partner with Dr. Susan Friedman and her Behavior Works consulting team so you’ll hear a lot of references to Susan throughout this conversation.

In addition to Rick and Amy, I invited Lucy Butler to join us. Lucy and her husband run the River Haven Animal Sanctuary in Rhode Island. I knew she would have a lot of questions for Rick and Amy. When you take in animals who are the victims of abuse, there’s a lot to be learned from the work that goes on in zoos to reduce the stress of handling and also to improve the overall quality of life for the animals under their care.

In this episode Rick and Amy talk about the educational programs which are woven into the experience Guests have as they tour the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. There are twenty-three shows for the public every day. In these shows the animals are the star. It is about showing what they can do, what their natural behaviors are - all while protecting the dignity of the animals. The shows at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo show animals controlling their reinforcers and using their bodies in ways that are natural to them. Trainers interpret both what their life in the zoo looks like, what their life in the wild environment looks like, and how capable they are of learning. They are trying to create connections between the public and the animals at the zoo in a way that elevates the animal.

For Lucy this part of the conversation was especially relevant because the public is invited in to tour the River Haven Animal Sanctuary that she and her husband run. She was getting many great ideas for how they can make this experience better both for their guests and their resident animals. But even if you don’t give tours, there’s much here that can be used to enrich your horse’s life.

We begin the episode with a discussion of techniques used to introduce new animals into an existing social group.