“International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe” established in Colorado Springs

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (CMZ) has established a first-of-its-kind giraffe training, knowledge-sharing, and giraffe emergency response program called the International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe.

“We have a long history of caring for a large herd of prolific, interactive giraffes that participate in daily guest feedings, weekly hoof care, and a wide variety of trained voluntary husbandry and medical procedures,” said Amy Schilz, senior animal behaviorist. “With this new program, we can help giraffes all over the world get that same level of care.”

The CMZ Giraffe herd has seen over 200 Giraffe calf births. CMZ says that the team who cares for them is passionate about learning more, teaching more, and building a network to advance the care of these beautiful creatures.

The International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffe is a concentrated effort by CMZ to consolidate resources and expand educational programs to improve and enrich the lives of giraffes in human care throughout the world while inspiring conservation for their wild counterparts.

According to the CMZ, The International Center for the Care and Conservation of Giraffes has three main goals:

• Improve the quality of veterinary care available for giraffe in human care and leverage that information for field conservation.
• Continue to advance behavioral husbandry practices to improve giraffe welfare.
• Establish Emergency Response Teams worldwide to respond to giraffe health emergencies and field conservation needs.

“We’ve been leading giraffe care workshops since 2015,” said Schilz. “Now that CMZ has made this investment in a fully dedicated staff and resources, we’re going to be able to reach so many more people and ultimately improve the lives of more giraffes.”

CMZ says that their giraffe herd has participated in voluntary husbandry training for a decade. In this modern method of cooperative care for animals, trainers reward animals for doing something asked of them – usually something that benefits their ongoing health care. Giraffes at CMZ voluntarily participate in training for injections, blood draws, x-rays, eye exams, hoof care, and more.

“Giraffes are incredibly smart,” said Schilz. “Our whole herd voluntarily participates in their own hoof care. We ask them to come to the training panel where they raise their leg to rest their hoof on a block. Then we can trim, file or x-ray their hoof while we give them lots of rye crackers. It’s incredibly fulfilling as a trainer, and I’m excited to be able to share these methods with even more giraffe lovers through this new Center.”

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