SHAPE—UK-Ireland Welcome to
SHAPE—UK-Ireland, the regional division of The Shape of Enrichment, Inc. that is
dedicated to furthering enrichment efforts in the UK and Ireland. SHAPE—UK-Ireland
is the region where the concept of SHAPE—Regionals first began. We formed our
UK-Ireland Regional Committee in 2005 and held our first
Regional Environmental Enrichment Conference (REEC) at Paignton Zoo
Environmental Park in 2006. Since then we have had 4 subsequent meetings; at
Bristol Zoo Gardens, Marwell Wildlife, Port Lympne
and Howletts Wild Animal Parks and this year at RZSS Edinburgh Zoo. All of our
meetings have been a great success; featuring workshops, keynote speakers and
practical sessions to encourage and inform animal care staff about enrichment.
We also have a very active Facebook group which contains photos and videos of
current and seasonal enrichments and a forum for questions or new ideas. NEWS! The 5th SHAPE—UK-Ireland REEC was
held at RZSS Edinburgh Zoo from 27th to the 30th April
this year and was a huge success. We were very excited to see so many new
faces and enthusiastic delegates. The Edinburgh Zoo Enrichment Committee did a
fantastic job of organising a dynamic and interesting conference, including
three excellent key note speakers; Dr. David
Shepherdson, Prof. Rob. J. Young and Prof. Hannah Buchanan-Smith, all with extensive experience
in the field of environment for captive animals, both zoo and laboratory-based,
and all with innovative plans for the future of enrichment. We were also very
lucky to have both Val Hare and Karen Worley from the SHAPE of Enrichment
attend the conference, introducing us to the Enrichment Idea Database
here on the SHAPE website and hosting a great behaviour solving workshop for
keepers. The conference had over 60 delegates
from 32 institutions and organisations, not including the RZSS staff that
popped in and out of talks and workshops during conference. The topics of presentations ranged from
the use of music and plants as enrichment, to how enrichment can benefit PR and
education in the zoo. Species-specific enrichment was covered for penguins,
sloth bears, macaques, capuchins and small carnivores and we even got to see
demonstrations from the RZSS staff of penguins chasing bubbles and capuchins
anointing themselves with onion scent which was great! The prize for the best presentation
went to Chris Lucas from Blair Drummond Safari Park for his talk on ‘Elephant Enclosure Design for Enrichment’
which described the new elephant house at the park and the provision of enrichment
to provide a more naturalistic exhibit for the elephants, facilitating Chris
and the staff to manage the environment for the inhabitants, not just their
behaviour. Check out our facebook page for more
info and photos from the conference, including a picture of Chris with his
award. Proceedings for the meeting will be
available soon, keep checking this website… Current
SHAPE—UK & Ireland Activities Regional
Environmental Enrichment Conference Conference and Workshop Calendar SHAPE—
UK & Ireland Regional Committee Meet
UK-Ireland Regional Committee Contact
UK-Ireland Regional Committee Many thanks, The
SHAPE-Regional Committee To navigate
our site, click on the links and return to this page using the back arrow on
your browser. At any time, you can return to this page by clicking on the
British Isles icon or the dropdown menu above. Scientific Holistic Approach to Positive Enrichment = SHAPE! |
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