Angela recently took the Animal Training and Care course at Unity College with Bonnie Gulas-Wroblewski.
"I am majoring in Animal Health and Behavior, with the hope of working with reptiles and/or as a wildlife rehabilitator in the future. I have had an internship at the Washington Park Zoo in Michigan City, IN, and I fell in love with the reptile care duties. I loved every part of that wonderful facility, but I was especially happy on days that I got paired up with the reptile keeper. Currently, I volunteer at the Burpee Museum of Natural History in Rockford, IL as a reptile caretaker. The museum is roughly a two-hour drive from where I live, so I only volunteer a few times a month, but I am always so happy to do so. I love working with the various reptiles they have there: the different species of geckos, snakes, tegus, bearded dragons, etc. Tegus have become my favorite reptile; I love how they enjoy being held like human babies and how cuddly and social they are!
With my animal training and care class, I loved to learn about enrichment activities the most. I am always looking for ways to enrich the lives of the animals I interact with, in public captivity as well as my own pets. I really enjoyed how the class got to collaborate on the different types of enrichment that were available to different species. I thought it was really cool to see how one enrichment activity for one species could also be used for a completely different one as well! For example, many animals enjoy utilizing puzzle boxes to “find” food, such as big cats, primates, and even octopi!
In addition to this class, for the rest of my education, my only hope is to learn as much as I can about animals, their diets, their behaviors, the outside sources that influence them in various ways, and everything in between so I can utilize all that vital information throughout the rest of my career and life."
Original source can be found here
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