Keeping with Crab Cakes

There was a recent conference - one that I didn't go to, but I was talking to someone who did attend.  They mentioned a comment made by one of the presenters that stuck with them: "Don't do for the animals that which the animals can do for themselves."  It was a very simple statement, but it did seem to sum up an excellent point about animal care.

Some keepers and curators have a tendency to want to baby their animals, swaddle them up and do everything for them, with the feeling that this represents optimal care.  It can make life easy for the animal... but in a zoo setting, easy is the kissing-cousin of boring.  Life for a wild animal isn't easy.  There's challenge and struggle.  Some of that we can't - and arguably shouldn't - be recreating in a zoo.  But by doing everything for the animal, we deprive the animal of opportunities to fully utilize the body and brain like they would in a natural setting.

Suppose you and a friend went to a seafood restaurant.  You order a crab cake.  Your friend orders a few steamed crabs.  The food comes out, and your friend is picking up the crabs, examining them.  Maybe it's a food item they don't eat too often.  They have to figure out how best to open the crab, then crack the shell and tediously pick out the meat.  It's a process that takes quite a while.  You, on the other hand, have finished your crab cake in less than a minute.  Your meal has taken a fraction of the time and zero of the thought and effort compared to your dining companion's experience.

It goes beyond feeding.  Some keepers I know pre-make nests for their birds to encourage them to breed, when in reality, the act of selecting a site, choosing the materials, and actually building the nest is an important part of courtship for many birds.  You could churn up a mud wallow or dust bathing site for some of your ungulates, or let them make their own.  

Just think back to when you were a small child, and you first started picking out your own clothes to wear, or got a knife and fork at the dinner table, so you could cut up your own food, rather than have an adult do it for you.  For a child, it's an empowering experience, one that makes them feel a little more grownup, even if they can't do the job as well as the grownup can.  The more opportunities you give the animals to do things for themselves and make their own choices, the more in control of their lives they will feel. the more natural behaviors they will be able to express.

To misquote John F. Kennedy, ask not what you can do for your animals.  Ask what your animals can do for themselves.*

*The caveat is, of course, to be mindful of when the animal can't do things for itself.  If you went to the seafood restaurant and your friend had an arm in a cast... maybe then the crab cake is the better option.