Toledo Zoo: Behind the Scenes

On Tuesday, November 17, my Animal Management class had the opportunity to go behind the scenes at the Toledo Zoo. Our main mission was to get a sneek peek of the elephants. When we arrived at the zoo early that morning, we found ourselves in a classroom where we learned how to make enrichment with the help of two zoo educators, Lisa Bogard and Jerran Orwig..
Enrichment is the addition or modification of an animal's environment that encourages the animals to make choices, exhibit natural, or species appropriate behavior, present mental challenges, encourage physical activity/exercise and enhances the animals overall well being.
We went to work making three different enrichment items. Our first task was to decorate a brown paper bag with non-toxic markers and then fill them 1/4 full with popcorn and cheerios. These bags were folded shut and placed on a cart. Next we made melon bombs. This consisted of a cantaloupe that we cut holes into and stuffed with carrots. Finally we made elephant approved pixie sticks. These were large cardboard tubes stuffed with cut up carrots, apples, and yams. These snacks were held in by plugging each end of the tube with hay.
We took a break and learned about amphibians from the zoo educators. They let us touch the salamanders and frog used for the demonstration. Then we headed out, took a detour through an amphibian exhibit in the museum, trecked across zoo grounds and wound up in the elephant area where the zookeepers bathed Baby Louy and his mother Renee. The elephants were trained to move about and lift their feet for a thorough scrubbing and health checks. This is a daily task for the zookeepers.
As a special treat, we were given permission to go into the elephant's outdoor exhibit to hide the enrichment items we had made. After we were safe on the human side of the electric fence, the zookeepers lead the elephants to their outdoor enclosure, where they wasted no time finding their treats.
This was a fun trip. I hope we can do it again with another animal. I would love to get up close and personal with the wolves!