July 2019
2019 has seen plenty of activity and many happenings so far. There’ve been comings and goings: we’ve welcomed the arrival of two new horses named Leyndur and Tosca, and have witnessed the passing of Chico, a sweet, gentle Icelandic cross who had been living on the sanctuary for the past six years. The new horses smoothly became part of the herd and have settled in happily.
Our Zoo crew consists entirely of volunteers and all projects are funded by individual donation. We welcome any donation, no matter how modest, to help us care for our residents and provide comfortable environments where they can safely receive visitors.
Horses
The horse team have been working together tirelessly serving and caring for our friends. Lotte, who has served the sanctuary’s horses since childhood, has been taking their training in new directions this year. Her style of horsemanship has evolved enormously over time: She shifted her focus from, what could be described as common traditional training that tends to be based in fear and limitation to Natural Horsemanship, and from there to Positive Reinforcement Training.
The horses are allowed to choose if they want to engage with the humans and their opinions are always respected. We work with food rewards and encourage self expression and play, this makes the sessions fun for everyone. The humans have a role that more resembles a guide/coach/friend instead of always being the boss or even the leader. But as the horses do live in the human world, it is sometimes necessary for the human to take charge and decide what happens when, usually in situations that involve the health and/or safety of a horse or human.
The team is also currently experimenting with Intrinzen, a vision/philosophy on training that has combined modern movement science and the science of intrinsic motivation and applied it to horses, to help the horse rediscover the authenticity and love of movement they had when they were young.
In the next field along, a new enclosure has been constructed for our alpaca friends, Desperado and Kaira. Our alpaca friends are masters of escape so every enclosure or field they are in needs to be alpaca-proofed. This new enclosure was needed as they were due their yearly shearing. Since then, our colleagues in Fear-No-More Zoo California shared with us some training methods for llamas and alpacas and we hope to integrate them for the shearing next year.
Land Management
We have 10 acres of land to manage and some challenges that go with that due to some fields having poor soil quality. The team has been looking at Holistic Land Management, a systems-thinking approach to regenerating land at a grassroots level.
We have a lot of planning and hours of work to achieve this and sometimes it can seem a bit overwhelming.
Birds
Marianne has also been introducing Positive Reinforcement Training with our bird friends. She has especially been training with the resident macaws, Tank and Dorkus, almost every day to introduce them to basic handling skills. She uses a clicker tool and treats to reinforce positive actions. At the moment she is teaching them to wear warm, hooded ‘coats’, so they can spend more time outside when the weather’s cold. Tank is currently becoming familiar with the coat and the sensation of its contact with his wings.
Chinchillas
Adi Da Samraj once said humorously that there should be no humans at the European Danda at all—only chinchillas. While that isn’t the case just yet, we’re hoping to create a new space for the chinchillas we do have. They currently live within the Danda itself, and, while they have some outdoor space, the new enclosure will be built entirely outside. The space is yet to be designed, but will be perfectly suited to the chinchillas’ needs and made from sustainable, durable materials. Once built, people will be invited to come and spend time with the chinchillas in their new home.
Support Fear-No-More Zoo
We are grateful for your support of Fear-No-More Zoo! All of the money donated to Fear-No-More Zoo goes toward our ongoing, basic expenses which directly supports the animals. These include hay, grain for treats and training, special supplies, salt and minerals, hoof trimming, veterinary care, infrastructure, repairs, and continuing education for staff. In the future we hope to raise monies to upgrade our facilities and infrastructure to better host visitors.
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