Welcome to Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment Animal Training Program

Behavioral husbandry is the component of daily animal care focused on how animals interact with their physical and social environment.  The goal of behavioral husbandry is to support behavior management taking a broad view of the behavioral aspects of animal care. Examples include teaching animals to voluntarily participate in their care and providing opportunities for animals to express species typical behaviors.  We cultivate this goal through an understanding of natural and individual history and an application of behavioral science.  We continually evaluate the success of our efforts by measuring behavior change.

Behavioral Husbandry Philosophy

The cornerstone of our program is its philosophy.  We are committed to providing the highest level of animal care and guest experiences by engaging cast to build a culture of progressive evidence-based behavior management.  Animal, cast and guest safety should always be the first consideration in the development and implementation of all behavior management strategies.  The behavioral husbandry programs should be fully integrated into daily animal management and be both proactive and dynamic in nature.  All members of the Animal Care Team contribute to the success of the behavioral husbandry programs though understanding their commitments and role within the program.

Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment Behavioral Husbandry Vision and Mission Statement

Vision:

• We will be relentless innovators in the application of behavior sciences to the practice of animal care and welfare.

Mission:

• We build our animal care partners’ capacity for successful application of behavior-change strategies through internal education and development

• We build a culture of evidence-based practice for behavior management decisions

• We share what we learn with our colleagues in the zoological and aquarium industry through professional service and dissemination