Gimme an “A” for Enrichment!
Posted at 9:57 am April 17, 2007 by Kelly MurphyIn the past seven years of working with the Pallas’ cat, I’ve never enjoyed myself as much as I did last Saturday, April 14. As many of you know, the second weekend of every month we highlight enrichment here at the San Diego Zoo. I was to give a keeper talk and offer enrichment to Mom, our adult female Pallas’ cat. To paint a picture for you, I often refer to her as enrichment challenged. I have tried many different items over the years with very little or no success. Most of them seem like obvious choices: cat food smears, treats, toys, scents, etc. This time, with Zoo guests as my witnesses, I triumphed!
I recently described my difficulties with her attitude lately (see Kelly’s blog, A Stubborn Streak), so I admit I was a little nervous. I had already shifted her off exhibit once to clean and service. She readily perched atop her seat and I proceeded to give my talk and show the hand-feeding sessions I have been working her on. She did great, no problems. Now, I had to ask her to shift again so that I could place the enrichment on exhibit. She was flawless, not a bit of hesitation. I decided to try something non-obvious, so this day’s enrichment was a cardboard box filled with pine shavings and a few sprays of catnip. Before I released her back into the exhibit, I made a disclaimer so that the people wouldn’t be too disappointed.
Thankfully, my precaution was not needed. When she came out, she went right to the box and hopped inside. Rolling, rubbing, and those quirky little facial ticks of hers were the dominating behaviors for the next 30 minutes, that is, when she wasn’t playing hide and seek from her newly acquired fort. The guests smiled and cheered and helped to celebrate my personal victory. It’s a day like that one that makes dealing with her ‘stubborn streaks’ well worth it!
Kelly Murphy is a senior keeper at the San Diego Zoo.
The next All About Enrichment Weekend is May 12 and 13.
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April 17th, 2007 at 10:17 am
Congratulations, Kelly!
Your patience and hard work paid off. With cats being so unpredictable, you never know when they will decide to shine and entertain. Saturday must have been her magical moment. Who knows, maybe she could sense the energy in the air and it invigorated her. Just goes to show that consistency and persistance with patience pay big rewards. I am sure the audience really enjoyed getting a great view of “Mom.”
April 17th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
I’m so happy for you! I wish I could have been there. I live in AZ and am disabled. I really wish I could go out to our local Zoo (Phoenix Zoo), but that is out of the question. It’s just so difficult. So would you guys mind putting some pictures to go with your blogs? I love reading about your jobs and all your animals, but I’m sad because I know I’ll probably never get to see them! Please, just a few pictures of the cats and pandas would be nice. I love Pallas and SandCats!
Keep up the good work.
Dan
April 18th, 2007 at 10:50 am
Dan, I am so glad that you can enjoy these animals through these blogs and with the cameras, videos, and photos that the SDZ provides. It is truly a blessing to those who can’t make it to the SDZ or even a more local zoo. It is important for all of us to make the connection and bond with these marvelous creatures so that we can do all we can, and educate others around us likewise, to conserve them for future generations.
Hopefully your message will strike a note with the appropriate folks at SDZ to take a fresh look at this website as a means to reach thousands of animal lovers such as yourself that don’t have the opportunity to visit in person. SDZ and WAP are the best at providing the closest to a hands-on first person visit with the blogs about all of their animals.
Great job to all at SDZ and WAP you are providing a price-less community service to your global audience. May your conservation message be echoed around the world.
April 18th, 2007 at 11:51 am
Kelly, what a wonderful experience for you to have mom do exactly what you wanted after her being so stubborn for you in the past. Maybe mom sensed that this was special to you and she did what you wanted. great job with her training, hope you have more stories soon.
April 20th, 2007 at 10:28 am
Kelly, I know there are Pallas’ cats near the polar bear exhibit. Are there any other locations? I’d love to visit them tomorrow!
April 21st, 2007 at 4:08 pm
Your blog entry made me smile, and brought back fond memories. When I was 10, a neighbor gave my family a kitten, a house cat of no particular breed. His favorite toy, in favor of any store-bought or hand-crafted cat toy you could name, was brown paper grocery sacks. They were great for hide and seek, and peekaboo, and they also made a lovely (to my cat, anyway) scrunching sound when attacked. I don’t know whether it would be an unsafe toy for Mom, but if it’s okay you might want to try a brown paper sack, since she spent so much time with the box. My cat enjoyed cardboard boxes too, but brown paper sacks always received more of his attention.