UPDATE: I then held of posting this blog after I wrote it because I wanted to write and post other blogs with other stories first. As a result I didn't post any for a few weeks and am now running late haha woops! So some of it is going to be out of date now but I'll leave it all there and update again at the end.
June 2nd
I have held off writing a blog update about this subject because for quite a while it was not a guarantee and I didn't want to say anything when it wasn't common knowledge. Some of you already know this, some don't.
Buddy is going to be transferred from his home here in Karanambu to Jacksonville Zoo in Florida. It became obvious here that with his blindness he would not survive in the wild on his own and thus nor would he contribute to the population here by breeding. In JZoo he will hopefully bond and mate with a female (mail order arranged marriage haha) that is coming from Philadelphia Zoo and will provide important new genetics to the captive breeding population of Giant Otters.
The entire process has been going on for a number of months now (as in it was beginning to be discussed not long after I arrived here!) but things are really starting to come together now. It looks as if Buddy will be transferred in about a months time - early July. One really exciting piece of news is that all parties have agreed for me to travel with Bud all the way to JZoo and to help him acclimatise there!! I am so stoked, it is an amazing opportunity for me, and something rare to be a part of!
You might be asking how did I manage that? Well I saw an amazing opportunity for me to be involved especially since when it was finally confirmed that yes Buddy was going to JZoo I was the only volunteer here. I knew that if I wanted to be a part of the whole project I needed to be proactive. So I talked to Diane about wanting to be involved and she agreed it was a good idea, then I talked to Dr Lucy, she also agreed. Then we had to convince the zoo! Thankfully/luckily they were accepting of the idea as well, it is normal in zoo transfers for there to be an overlap of old and new keepers to help settle the animals into their new environments. Basically I just kept talking about it to the write people, being involved however I could, sending emails and introducing myself, I just kept myself out there!
At the moment all the challenging logistics are being sorted out, such as flights -
commercial or chartered, linking domestic and international flights, possible housing for an overnight stay in Gtown en route, bringing enough frozen fish with me for the trip....the list goes on!
Over a month ago one of JZoo's transport crates was shipped from a nearby research station to here at Kbu to give Buddy a chance to get used to it. I was away in Gtown at the time but I found out later that he got used to it very very quickly and it didn't take him long to start sleeping in there.
Looks pretty comfortable to me!
What an easy otter he is, I imagine some zoo animals probably take weeks if not longer to get used to their crates. I think part of it may've been that he couldn't see it, so the sight of a big scary silver box was not an issue. Also he had previously been sleeping in a big wooden rectangular box, so this was just a bigger, slightly different version.
Whilst Buddy is comfortable enough with the crate to sleep in it does not mean he is going to be easy when it comes time to actually shut him in there and for a long period of time. As such I felt it was very important to start crate training with him to make being in the crate a positive experience and hopefully eventually even make being shut in the crate for periods of time an ok if not good event. Again I saw an opportunity to do something and so after talking about what I wanted to do with Diane, I went ahead and did it!
Thus my first ever attempt to crate train an animal came about. Now I have never owned a cat or a dog (Andrew would pick on me during behavioural lectures for that haha!) so when I say first ever attempt to crate train...it's really first ever attempt to train anything, ever! Behaviour and training is something that has always been of great interest to me, so for me to have this opportunity is amazing. A very rare opportunity at that! How many people who are new to the industry of captive wildlife, training and conservation would get the chance to have complete and sole free reign and responsibility to crate train a blind giant otter?? I take this responsibility and challenge seriously and with great joy.
Thankfully I have a lot great people such as some of the staff at JZoo like Nick and Sheryl and also Dr Lucy, an old friend of Diane's, who have been more than willing to offer their experience, advice and support to me during this process.
I started formulating the first step in my mind and began to work from there. After a few days a couple of more steps formed so I kept going with what seemed like a natural progression of steps...
One has to keep in mind that Buddy does not have the luxury of visual cues, instead we'd have to work with vocal cues (and his nose to find the actual pieces). I knew that minimal speaking and a very simple command was the best way to go, to help prevent confusing things. It didn't take much thought to decide on the simplest command possible really = "crate Buddy" said in a very clear voice.
These are the rough steps I have created along the way.
Step 1: put fish inside crate, tap crate and call Buddy to get him to come to the crate, tap inside of crate to tell him he needs to go inside to find fish
Step 2: when Buddy starts going into crate of his own volition, give him fish once he's inside
Step 3: as Buddy goes into the crate again of his own volition, give command "crate Buddy" and fish at the same time
Step 4: now fish is only found in the crate After the command "crate Buddy" is given. Also tap and bang crate at random and regular intervals including when Buddy goes into the crate without the command to teach that banging noises coming from the crate does Not mean fish is inside (thus undoing the tapping that was done in step 1).
Step 5: continue step 4, introduce the sliding door - open and close it a lot to introduce and desensitise Buddy to the new banging and crashing noises, show they are nothing to be fussed about.
Step 6: after the command is given and Buddy is inside the crate, shut the door for a short period of time and then open again.
Step 7: continue step 6, slowly increase the amount of time the door is shut.
....etc
I am currently up to Step 4 and it is going really really well. Today, my birthday he gave me a great present by going straight for the crate at a run as soon as I gave the command, 9 out of 10 times!! He also seems to be learning quickly that banging noises from the crate are no cause to rush in and look for fish because there never is any. I took a video this afternoon during the training session of giving the command and Buddy's excellent and speedy response!
Huzzah Bud!! :D
Thankfully I have at least 3-4weeks to continue the training, and I think with at least 1 session every day we are going to make some great progress.
July 12-13
This is the original date for Buddys transfer, obviously now this is no longer the case. It was only about a week or so ago that the pick up date and charter flight was finally arranged and booked! The two JZoo staff - Dr Nick (the vet) and Sheryl (curator of mammals and involved with JZoos giant otters (if I remember correctly)) have arrived in Gtown today to finalise all the paperwork and make sure everything is organised.
So on thursday the 15th Nick and Sheryl will be arriving on the chartered plane, landing at the airstrip here thus negating the need to put Buddy (who is in the crate by this stage of course) in the landrover, drive him down to the landing, put him in the boat, drive about 20min through the flooded forest, unloaded him from the boat and reload into the 2nd landrover and then drive about another 20min to the commercial airstrip! Thankgod that's not the case!
I will have Buddy all crated up and ready to go, we will load up and ship out, landing at Guyanas international airport. There we will wait for the rest of the day until our flight for Miami, which leaves at midnight. We will arrive in Miami on friday morning. Then load ourselves and Bud onto the JZoo truck and drive 6ish hrs (I think) up the coast to Jacksonville and the zoo, hopefully all according to plan arriving at JZoo in the early afternoon! Phew it's gonna be a long one.
I have underestimated Buddy multiple times over the last month and a half or so since I started the crate training. Like when someone with the best of intentions took over my crate training (this was early on) one afternoon whilst I was napping and it was utter chaos. I was worried it would undo all the hard work we'd done, Buddy at that stage was just starting to consistently run straight to the crate as soon as the command was given. The next day I went to train with with "baited breath" to find that it was as if the day before had never happened and everything went as smooth as butter! Then again when I went to Gtown for my passport and a break and we missed about 5 afternoons of crate training. I got back and did crate training and it was as if I had never been away! I am continually learning that he is an intelligent animal that can tell the difference between voices and the energies of people.
The crate training with him has gone further than I ever imagined it would. It got to the stage where he would run straight into the crate for fish as soon as I gave the command and I was able to then lock the door down on him before he got out (most of the time!). After a while of that he then started, on occasion, to choose to stay in the crate to eat his piece of fish! I realised I had to reward that quick smart because having the animal choose to go into the crate and then choose to stay in the crate to eat is great!
So from the first time I saw Buddy staying in the crate to eat I tried to make sure I had a few extra bits of fish - nothing huge just small heads and tidbits that would make a treat. Thus the next step became call Buddy to the crate with the command, then IF he stays in to eat, wait until he's finished and then immediately give him the treat. Once I started doing this every time, naturally it didn't take him long to figure out that if he stays in to eat he gets another piece of fish straight away. As a result he began to stay in more and more often and then he began waiting for the next piece instead of rushing out!
Thus, again I stepped up the training to the next level by adding a second command of "Stay". I would say it when Buddy had finished his first piece (assuming of course he has stayed in his crate to eat) and would pause waiting for the treat. So really I guess it was just extra reinforcement of if you stay in there and wait when I say "stay", you get extra fish. Sometimes I would do it 3 or 4 times in a row keeping him in the crate for as long as possible.
I then thought what the hell why don't I try and get the crate door down and lock him in whilst he's inside and already settled down eating. Again I underestimated Buddy and the training we had done figuring that as soon as he heard the door rattling and coming down he would've left the crate and gone to the pool to finish eating. Lo and behold he did not! I was able to call Buddy to the crate, he stayed in eating and I was able to open and close the door on him as much as I wanted and he didn't pay any mind what so ever. I think it was at least partially due to the "noise work" I did with the crate and door - all the random and regular banging, tapping and crashing desensitised him to the noise so he no longer pays attention to it because he knows it doesn't mean anything of consequence. So basically the crate training got to a point where the race to call Buddy in and shut the door before he got out was completely taken out of the picture. It managed to become even less stressful.
I was going to load a good ol’ home video of the latest crate training but since I’ve left it to rather the last minute and the internet isn’t letting me load the video I’ll just explain how it goes and hopefully load the vid at a later date.
1) “Crate Buddy” -> Buddy enters crate and stays in to eat
2) Shut the door…
Ta da!!
Haha sorry that is a pretty lame explanation but that’s basically how it rolls now and it is fantastic! Like I said I never imagined the crate training and Buddy and I would all come this far and end up being this smooth and “easy”. Makes me pretty stoked!
I have been attempting to organise volunteering at JZoo for after I have spent a few days settling Buddy in. I was contemplating the idea when dad (always totally awesome to know that my family continually supports my passion and future career!!!) made the same suggestion, we both figure that I might as well make the most of the whole experience! I think I’m set to do some but I don’t know how much. My hope is to volunteer for a month as that is a good solid period of time to settle in, learn the routine and pick up some cool skills. It’s also substantial enough to put on the resume – always important!
This morning I was organizing my gear, deciding what to pack and what to leave here. I want to take as little as possible so I have as much room as possible in my backpack for bring back essential supplies like powerade powder :P. It amazes me how a few undies, pants, bras and shirts takes up so much room! I’m trying to figure out what I can leave behind but I’m not seeing anything! Suggestions? The shoes seem to make my backpack heavy…damn shoes are overrated…I have now been wearing thongs constantly for 24 weeks (5.5/6ish months!) and it’s great! I also have a very stylish and wholesome thong tan haha. Just you watch, I’ll make it all the rage in Florida!
Roughly 40hrs from now the charter plane will be landing on the small strip here on the edge of the compound and Buddy and I will Transform and Roll Out ;) heading for the states!
:D
Wow..let the adventure begin....or that should really read 'let the adventure continue'....Who would have thought that a conversation we had here in HB would be playing out half way across the world...You are doing soooo well Tarlz....well done...we miss you...stay safe...xox
ReplyDeleteplease tell what is a name of these animal?
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