This badge signifies the completion of the course Amusing an Emu – How to Ensure the Best Possible Welfare for a Bachelor Bird presented by Kelly Summers.

Walkthrough style habitats offer a special guest experience, and when they house large charismatic birds, like the common emu, can pose a unique challenge. In 2022, the Santa Barbara Zoo opened its Australia Walkabout with a free roaming emu. Staff quickly adapted their animal management strategies to ensure the best possible welfare once the emu began exhibiting age-appropriate behavioral diversity, which ultimately required the emu to be separated seasonally. Through the implementation of outcome-based enrichment, training, regular space rotation, and routine welfare assessments the Santa Barbara Zoo was able to improve the welfare of the emu during the breeding season. Utilizing a multifaceted and fluid approach provided dynamics to the bird’s daily care and involved the collaboration of employees from multiple departments. While the efforts to continue to meet the needs of the emu are ever-changing, we hope that sharing the experience will benefit others and further our knowledge.

This course takes 1 hour and 15 min to complete.