ABC'S: ANIMAL BEHAVIOR

CONCERNS & SOLUTIONS

A Question & Answer Forum For Animal Professionals

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Welcome to the ABC's! Animal Behavior Concerns & Solutions is an animal behavior column written by animal behaviorist and animal trainer, Diana L. Guerrero. This section is dedicated to animal training techniques for all animals and pets, and topics related to operant conditioning and reinforcement. For pet training please visit the pet sections, see our pet behavior booklets in the shop, or click here for enrollment information for classes and teleseminars.

Animal Attack Emergency Behavior Strategies for Zoological & Privately Owned Facilities
Multiple Species: Handling Attacks or Aggression
Part 1 of 2

QUESTION
Anyone who has been in the wild animal/zoo industry long enough seems to have known someone who has been injured by an animal attack or even killed. Can you address the topic of handling accidents or attacks involving captive wildlife?

NOTE: There are various risks associated with working with exotic/wild animals. These include not only accidents with keeper staff or the public but a variety of others. Some of the others will include conspecific aggression or aggression directed toward veterinary staff. This is another very complex topic! Due to space constraints I will outline a few thoughts which can be amplified later.

BACKGROUND
Recent discussions with the staff of several private facilities and public zoos have included questions on handling emergency situations. Some were about the differences in working with the large felids in training situations, while others concerned elephant incidents, a public member in a bear exhibit, and the child who fell into the gorilla yard.

Questions concerned comparisons between attacks and strategies of handling them. Each facility varies regarding their emergency/contingency/escape plans and each species has their own peculiarities. In addition, the exhibit design or institution is unique in their own way and must be treated individually.

PROBLEM
Any time you work with wild animals you are at risk. The nature of the contact and the degree of proximity determines a good deal of how much risk. A trainer for the movie industry has more risk than the handler on a stage but each has a higher risk than a keeper who is not in the enclosure with the exhibit animals at any time.

Skills of coworkers or the handling skills of the trainer or back-up vary widely and can contribute to this risk. Mood swings, estrous and other variables within the animal group can also contribute to this challenge. Illness or other emotional variables can also affect reactions.

Then there is the keeper who is the victim of an accident caused by lack of communication, momentary distraction, archaic design/design error, or breech of protocol. Many of us have known one or more colleagues who have been injured or died from any one of these reasons.

The odd event of having a public member injured by an animal happens in every type of animal facility, public or private. It doesn't matter if you are a large facility with state of the art exhibitry or a small private collection; the risk is the same.

PROBLEM BREAKDOWN
All the incidents I have ever witnessed were attributed to human error. In comparing this observation with other behavior and training specialists, they confirm this to hold true for them as well.

ACTION TIME PERIODS
There are only two times where action can really be taken. The time to take is action is ideally before you have an incident, if you have an episode, then the only alternative is to take action during it! Anything after the incident is dealing with the repercussions. Here are some general notes.

BEFORE
This means taking general precautions such as: Noting where your coworkers are before moving animals; double checking locks and gates and location of the animals; paying attention to the "feel" or the general atmosphere in the night quarters or the "mood" of the animals and adjusting to it accordingly; checking the exhibit yard and perimeter for erosion, or for fallen debris, which could form escape routes to the outside, and other related concerns.

On a general note, be familiar with escape routes in an exhibit/facility and the emergency plan for accidents or animal escapes. Knowing who to contact and what actions will be taken can save time and lessen the degree of risk or potential injury.

For shows or public appearances with animals, make sure your backups know how you will react or want them to. Make sure they know how to do crowd control and can alert you to potential hazards that you may encounter or that may startle an animal. Wind conditions, strange looking hats or sunglasses, stray items, people or animals are all things that could pose risk.

Practice drills or discussions of actions can be done in preparation to deal with teaching how to react to problems. Often the trainer's or handler's relationship with the animal can be used to prevent an incident and most times distraction can usually be used in this phase of any incident to prevent it or redirect the energy.

DURING
Once an incident is taking place there is only time for action. Safety of personnel, the public, and the animal are all concerns. The wrong interference can escalate an event. Depending on the nature of the animal(s), the location, and the staff on hand will determine what actions you can take and may make response difficult. Whether a person is conscious/unconscious or rational can also complicate matters. The specific types of strategies to implement are listed below.

APPROACHES:

PROACTIVE PLANNING
This is done by having a facility and department action plan. Practice drills or at least in depth discussions regarding the subject and probable actions and reactions are also necessary.

Knowledge of the species (flight or fight), individuals (aggressive, curious, fearful, etc.,) is also helpful to define. Be sure to consider the different areas and times incidents could occur. Make sure everyone knows where the resources are (both human and otherwise) in the event of an emergency.

PREPAREDNESS
Practice drills, discussions, and knowledge of who to contact are some topics to cover. Having knowledge of what type of actions or devices can be used to assist in the event an emergency does occur is critical. So is knowing how to take action or use the devices correctly! Don't forget to alert new staff to these procedures and update equipment and other procedural notes regularly. Be sure to keep them simple; a huge manual doesn't do it during an emergency, have a reference sheet for the area posted near phones and in a designated area.

RESOURCES
Physical and human resources are equally critical. Have the physical resources either on you, within close proximity of an exhibit, or in consistent areas through out the facility. Also be sure to have radio and phone emergency numbers adjacent to the phone or on your person (i.e., hand-held radio or laminate pocket card).

Continue to Animal Attack Emergency Strategies Part 2

Are you a reader with a question? Be sure to submit it--and good luck in all your training endeavors!

About the columnist: Since 1978 Diana L. Guerrero has worked professionally with both wild and domestic animals. Guerrero has been affiliated with, and certified by, a variety of animal programs in the USA and Europe. Based in California, she writes, consults, and speaks. Information on her animal career programs, training courses, and her books {What Animals Can Teach Us about Spirituality (SkyLight Paths, 2003), Blessing of the Animals (Sterling, 2007), Help! My Pet is Driving Me Crazy (Guerrero Ink, 2007), Animal Disaster Preparedness for Pet Owners & Pet Professionals (Guerrero Ink, 2007)} can be found in this web site and in the shop. Questions for Guerrero should be submitted via the blog comments or membership forum.