IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Hartmann, M. | |
| The Role of the Keeper as an Environmental Factor for Captive Animals | |
| 2008 Conference Proceeding | |
The keeper is a key factor in the environment of captive animals although this is still being widely ignored. The way the keeper behaves may be crucial for the animals' welfare. Even in a species-specific enclosure, where the animals find the essential structures and stimuli necessary for their behaviors regarding all functional cycles, the inadequate behavior of their keeper may have a strong impact on the animals. This is shown in the present paper by a case history in the course of which the behavior of European wildcats changed dramatically when their keeper did not follow the directions issued to him by the research station. Two of the wildcats even developed stereotypical movements in this situation, while within the past 13 years more than 100 wildcats have grown up in the species-specific wildcat enclosures of the research station without ever showing any signs of behavioral disturbances. After the keeper stopped working at the wildcat station, the two cats gave up their stereotypies, but the behavior of some of the cats only normalized after several months. Although an experiment with quantitative data collection was not carried out, a lot can be learned from this incident. It is concluded that two factors are of equal importance for the welfare of European wildcats under captive conditions: a species-specific enclosure design as well as the keepers' appropriate behavior. This may apply to other species as well, in particular to small cats or to other animals susceptible to stress. |
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