Ep68 Tim Sullivan on the yin and yang of animal training, crystal okapis, and a career benefitting animals

Having a background in marine mammal training, Tim Sullivan reflects on the impact his different mentors and the thorough coaching that he received has had on his career in caring for marine mammals. Tim reflects on his experience and discusses how the practice of animal training has changed over the years and whether it is logical to ask animals to carry out behaviours that do not come naturally to them.

Tim is a co-founder of the Animal Behaviour Management Alliance and he explains how the organisation got started alongside the benefits it has for collaborative working when training animals. Tim also shares anecdotes on how he has found exposing animals to change early on can help build up their resilience and reduce stress when variations in their routine may be unavoidable. Having a lot of experience in animal training, Tim shares the value of being proactive in animal behaviour management to avoid problematic behaviours, such as stereotypies, from occurring.

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