Julia Hoy

Thirty years later: enrichment practices for captive mammals.

Environmental enrichment of captive mammals has been steadily evolving over the past thirty years. For this process to continue, it is first necessary to define current enrichment practices and then identify the factors that limit enhancing the quality and quantity of enrichment, as well as the evaluation of its effectiveness. With the objective of obtaining this information, an international multi-institutional questionnaire survey was conducted with individuals working with zoo-housed mammals. Results of the survey showed that regardless of how important different types of enrichment were perceived to be, if providing them was particularly time-consuming, they were not made available to captive mammals as frequently as those requiring less staff time and effort. The groups of mammals provided with enrichment most frequently received it on average fewer than four times per day, resulting in less than two hours per day spent by each animal care staff member on tasks related to enrichment. The time required for staff to complete other husbandry tasks was the factor most limiting the implementation and evaluation of enrichment. The majority of survey respondents agreed that they would provide more enrichment and carry out more evaluation of enrichment if it was manageable to do so. The results of this study support the need for greater quantity, variety, frequency, and evaluation of enrichment provided to captive mammals housed in zoos without impinging on available staff time.

Expenditure and motivation of Australian recreational hunters

Abstract Context. Recreational hunting has a long history in Australia, as in other parts of the world. However, the number, characteristics and motivations of Australian hunters have never been investigated in the same way as those in other countries where hunting occurs. Aims. In this report, we aimed to systematically survey Australian recreational hunters to determine their demographic characteristics, patterns of spending and motivations. Methods. Between September 2011 and June 2012, we encouraged hunters to participate in an anonymous online survey hosted by SurveyMonkey. We asked 53 questions about the hunters, their hunting patterns, expenditure on hunting and their motivations to hunt. Key results. In total, 7202 hunters responded to the survey. The respondents were overwhelmingly male and 67% were aged between 31 and 60 years. Almost 34% of respondents were from Victoria, 26.7% from New South Wales and 22.0% from Queensland. Average direct expenditure on hunting was A

The potential for microchip-automated technology to improve enrichment practices

1835 per person per annum, whereas indirect expenditure was A

Microchips for macropods: First use of a microchip-automated door by a bridled nailtail wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata)

2168. Over 99% of respondents said that they would be willing to participate in pest-control activities if they had the opportunity. Conclusions. There are likely to be at least 200 000 and more likely 300 000 recreational hunters in Australia and they spend in excess of A

The 'Toolbox' of strategies for managing Haemonchus contortus in goats: What's in and what's out.

1 billion dollars annually on hunting. Almost all of these hunters are willing to participate in direct wildlife management activities, such as pest control. Implications. The Australian recreational hunting community is large, active and willing to spend large amounts of money on hunting. Their activities need to be understood and participants engaged by wildlife managers so as to obtain the best outcomes for wildlife management in Australia.

The future of microchip-automation for Australian wildlife

The greatest limitation involved with providing enrichment and evaluating its effects on captive mammals is a lack of available staff time [Hoy et al., 2009]. One method to overcome this is through the use of automated husbandry systems to dispense enrichment to individual animals by using implantable radio frequency microchips. An international multi-institutional survey was conducted to determine whether the personnel involved with management, research, and husbandry of captive mammals would support the development of such automated husbandry systems. The survey was also designed to establish which applications of the system would be considered to be most beneficial. Overall, there was a very high level of interest by survey respondents in adopting automated husbandry systems and all potential applications were considered beneficial to varying degrees. These results, together with the relatively low cost of installation and operation, demonstrate that in the future automated enrichment could be an important and effective means of enhancing captive animal management.

Practices of Australian Recreational Hunters

Commercially available microchip-automated devices for companion animals also have potential application with captive wildlife. To explore this potential, a captive bridled nailtail wallaby was trained to use a SureFlap Microchip Pet Door. Throughout the 62 day study the wallabys interactions with the door increased in frequency and intensity, culminating in the repeated use of the microchip-automated door. This was the first record of any captive macropod being trained to use a microchip-automated device and demonstrates proof-of-concept that captive macropods can successfully utilize commercially available microchip-automated devices. Further research is recommended to develop methodology and evaluation techniques for training captive macropods while also exploring intra- and inter-species variations in responses.