Ep58 Samantha Chiew on understanding the effects of animal-visitor interactions, learning from little penguins, and animal welfare policy

Samantha Chiew on understanding the effects of animal-visitor interactions, learning from little penguins, and animal welfare policy

Samantha Chiew starts by sharing some of her first memories of connecting with animals at a children’s farm.

With so many other ways to study and work with animals abound, Samantha reflects on different pathways and how she obtained an MSc and joined, like Sabrina, the CAWSEL course in Cambridge.

Samantha shares about her work at the Healesville Sanctuary as a customer service representative, learning about why zoos are so important. Looking at both animal welfare and the visitor experience.

She then pursued a PhD in zoo animal welfare studying penguins and human and visitor interactions. Samantha shares research findings and how outcomes were used to modify environments and regulate the visitor animal interaction. "Findings have increased our understanding of the multifaceted nature of visitor attitudes and have identified some influencing factors on attitudes that can be used to inform the way zoos manage visitor-penguin interactions."

Currently, Samanta is working for the Australian Federal (Commonwealth) Government as a Policy Officer in the Animal Welfare team within the Agricultural Policy Division, with a focus on the field of farm animal welfare. Her work revolves around ensuring that the recommended changes in policy are supported and backed by science.

Samantha concludes the podcast with a story about penguin poo and what she learned from Bandit, a little penguin at Wellington Zoo.

Listen on your favourite player or directly HERE

Learn more about Healesville Sanctuary and Zoos Victoria HERE

Visit Dr Chiew’s ResearchGate HERE

Learn more about CAWSEL HERE

View the special issue HERE

Become a PAWS member HERE