Enrichment at the Buffalo Zoo
An important part of caring for captive animals is providing them with stimulating activities that encourage natural behavior. This is called enrichment. The Canisius Zoological Society has tried to do at least one large enrichment activity each year for a group of animals at the Buffalo Zoo. This year we hope to do an enrichment activity in each semester.
In order to repay the Zoo for providing us with the opportunity to gain new knowledge about the animals and their care, the Zoological Society raised funds to provide enrichment objects to the animals. As a crowning achievement, they built a paper machete Quagga zebra and presented it to the lions. We all got very messy and had fun videotaping the event. We were even mentioned on the local news!
Club members worked on paper mache pikas to supply the animals in the Cat House of the Buffalo Zoo. In May, the pikas were filled with meat and placed in the cat house cages. These pikas proved to be a successful enrichment toy by providing the cats with hours of natural stalking, hunting and feeding behaviors.