It wasn’t difficult being entertained by a sea lion show and close animal encounters last week. On Thursday, we met with some of the Zoo’s animal trainers at Wegeforth Bowl. Everyday, this stadium is where Zoo visitors are entertained by macaws flying overhead, the Zoo’s only gray wolf, and sea lions performing trained behaviors. These animals and others who live off exhibit are trained by animal trainers for the purpose of having up-close encounters with the public. You may ask: What good is having animals show us what they can do? Besides being fun and exciting, the main reason is that close animal encounters bring people happiness and the message of conservation. The Zoo considers this one of the best ways to teach people about conservation because people take more away from hands-on experiences. Having experiences where people are awed by the cuteness of a baby cheetah make people more inclined to care about and take action to protect wildlife.

These trained animals are called animal ambassadors because they represent animals for the cause of conservation. Though an animal trainer’s job includes teaching the public, it’s these animals that get all the credit for inspiring people. It takes a lot of work for these animals to become animal ambassadors. Tamu, the striped hyena, has been trying to get used to public contact for the past six years. A lot of these ambassadors have dogs as companions, who make dealing with the public a lot easier. For Akela the gray wolf, it’s easier for him to be calm when his golden-retriever buddy, Nala, is beside him.

Animal ambassadors carry some important stories for conservation. Akela the gray wolf represents the story of his species’ decimation in the lower forty-eight states. Between 1850 and 1900 about two million of these wolves were hunted to extinction by ranchers and even government officials. These wolves were purposely hunted to extinction to make the American west safe for people even though they are more wary of humans than harmful. This huge effort led to overpopulation of buffalo, deer, and elk. These seemingly harmless species have ravaged the environment by destroying vegetation, which has resulted in increased erosion of the landscape. Coyotes, due to the lack of competition, proliferated and became huge pests. This environmental catastrophe demonstrates the presence of wolves as a keystone species, a species that is a “key” to keeping its own environment intact. The United States Fish and Wildlife Services began efforts to reintroduce wolves into Yellowstone Park in 1995 and better environmental stability has been witnessed.

Animal ambassadors like Akela the wolf carry these stories that remind us of the importance of conservation to prevent such disasters from occurring.

Curtis, Conservation Team

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