The goal of Bear Creek's Enrichment Program is to involve our staff, keepers, students and volunteers in our environmental enrichment program that we have
been experimenting with for the last two decades. We enrich the animal enclosures by making changes like adding new logs, trees, shrubs, boulders, pools and toys.
By presenting these new objects and smells we give the animals more choice to investigate, explore and keep them more active. We stimulate their feeding behaviour
by hiding their food on a tree, under a log or even in the water, this encourages the animal to forage, hunt and handle their food in a natural way.
We all know that no matter how large an enclosure is, it will never replace hundreds
of square miles in the wild. Territories in the wild are large not as a matter of choice
but of necessity. Animals that are born in captivity have never experienced such
space, for them there is no need to go hunting or finding a mate. An animal will
take posession of its enclosure space in the same way it would claim a new space in
the wild and it will defend and possibly kill should it be invaded.
Enrichment keeps our animals active and interested in their environment
|
|
|
Taj hunting - we placed food in her pond
|
|
|
|
Marika trying to get walnuts out of the tubes
|
|
|
|
Zulu loved bowling when he was a baby
|
|
|
|
Boo Boo was busy all day searching for and
licking the honey-dipped stick
|
|
|
|
Taj investigating that strange odor we sprayed on the tree (shaving lotion)
|
|
|
|
Boo Boo got tired of bathing in her pool and
tries it upside-down
|
Other enrichments we've used:
Snowmen filled with food
Clean Christmas trees
Hanging ice blocks made out of frozen food
Hammocks
|
|
|
She also spends a lot of time ine her lookout
post high up in her tree seat
|
|
|
Reign splashing in his tub. Tigers
love water.
|
|
|
Tiger heaven on a hot day.
|
|
|
|
Bwana taking snowmobile lessons
|
|
|
Coco (nuts) she loves undoing nuts and bolts for hours.
She puts them back together, too.
|
|
|
|
Gurl, our Siberian or Eurasian lynx, checks
out her new toy.
|
|
|
|
Basketballs don't last long
|
|
But most of all, we give them lots of love, and that's the best
enrichment there is.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Thank you Beth, for taking our pictures!
Back to top
