risks, issues and enrichment

• category one animals should be separated from the public. contact with it may cause injury, toxin or disease
• category two animals are normally separated by a barrier
• category three animals are of the least risk
• zoos with dangerous animals are required to have a firearm licence and their stage have regular firearm training
• why may an animal escape ?

  • boredom , lack of social companion
  • poor enclosure design , staff negligence
  • starvation , stress, lack of management
• enrichment : involves any change to an animals life or environment which is beneficial to welfare and provides for appropriate and naturalistic or wild behavioural opportunities
• what are the types of enrichment ?


  • food based
  • physical
  • sensory
  • social
  • cognitive
• food based enrichment aims:

  • increased feeding times
  • encourage range of natural feeding behaviours
  • stimulates more intelligent animals
• auditory based enrichment aims :

  • encourages predatory or territorial behaviour
• what is the negative to auditory enrichmnet?


  it can be quite stressful
• physical enrichment aims :

  • encourage animal to become more active
  • can prevent behaviours such as pacing
  • beneficial for animals who naturally roam in the wild
  • helps to keep animals physically fit and limit disease
• cognitive enrichment aims :

  • encourage natural behaviours
  • stimulates animal with an item that is unfamiliar to it
  • animals are stimulated for investigation and exploratory behaviours
• animals with higher forms of intelligence need to be more mentally stimulated to excite their cognitive abilities
• social enrichment aims :

  • increase social bonding of the group
  • encourage social grooming
  • decrease inactivity
  • mitigating social aggression during feeding
  • territory patrolling/scent marking
• sensory enrichment increases the range of behaviour expressed while increasing the range of stimulation available
• zoo animals do not have to hunt, do not have the fear of predators and we pick their mates. this leaves a lot of free time
• what is enrichment?

  what happens as a result of what we do and the things we give them
• what are the signs of poor welfare in an animal?

  • stereotypic behaviours
  • self destructive behaviours
  • learn helplessness