In 1982, I was presented with the incredible opportunity to prove that adult tigers raised in a zoo, could be trained, if done right to stimulate both physical and mental well being. Washington was 9, and Sonya was 7, and had been born at the Franklin Park Zoo, and were at Mt. Wachusetts on breeding loan, and were registered Siberian tigers. There mother raised them, and they had never had human contact. We made "log seats" for them to go to, and they learned an incredible series of behaviors. Nothing trick related, except I taught Washington to roll over just to see if he and I could do it.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Washington and Sonya--Mt. Wachusetts Animal Forest, Hubbardston, Mass. 1982
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Wade G. Burck
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4 comments:
What behaviors did you train them to do?
Radar,
Lay down,sit up. Roll over together. Leap frog Sonya over Washington. Stretch on the log, then sit up on the log. Washington stood up on a tree, to illustrate his size(one of the biggest males I had been around up to that time.) As we only utilize "furniture" in their exhibit cage, it was tough to come up with things.
My "meat pouch" was a unique one, and the best I ever had, until it was nicked at Madison Square Garden in 1986. The Sea Mammal Trainers made it for me as a parting gift from Marineland, and upside down version of the ones they used, and made out of fiber glass it was a cinch to wash out and clean. I borrowed one of their "fish pouches" one day to practice and thought it was great, except when I ran meat tended to fall out on the floor. To make theirs, they had a mold and they would wrap fiberglass strips around it to form the shape with two metal loops to insert your belt in, and when it hardened they would just tap out the mold. The one they made for me they made a wooden mold and made the wide opening top the bottom, and the top now became the narrow bottom opposite of theirs. The maintenance dept. then drilled/knocked out the wood mold and presented me with a "meat pouch" that I could run with and the meat would not fly out. Who ever nicked it probably had no idea what it was, but to me it was a sentimental piece of work, that I was sick to lose.
Wade
Wait a second, why are these "behaviors" and not "trick related?" Was it because it is some kind of zoo facility and not a circus?
Did the cats live in this same enclosure you presented them in?
Radar,
What the hell is "trick related?" I call them behaviors because they were just that and not "tricks". Trick is a correct term in referencing a prostitutes client, but in this case they did nothing "trick" like jumping through a fire hoop or sitting on or using chrome pedestals. Physically given their age and "deterioration" from 6 years of basic inactivity, I don't know how much more they could have done physically, without extensive conditioning.
Interestingly I did learn after this "experiment" that the animals used their exhibit and "enrichment's" more on their own, then they ever did before. Sonya would walk across the "fallen tree" and Washington would jump up and "stretch" himself on the tree 3 or 4 times a day, and neither had done that before they were "taught" to. Does that mean tigers need vertical height? Of course not, they are not birds or monkeys whom would naturally utilize the height. That's just nonsense spun by folks who built tall cages, because it was a height requirement for a beast wagon/transport trailer, and it can be used as a false example of how much better then everyone else, they have made it for their animals.
Yes they lived in the enclosure year round with the small shed attached on the back to sleep in, in the winter/cold months. They had only lived at Mt. Wachusetts for two years before I met them. The had been sent there from the Franklin Park Zoo as a breeding loan.
Wade
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