Meet Emirati animal trainers

Gulf News

Al Ain Zoo, was founded 50 years ago, in 1968 by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, is home to over hundreds of animals. These animals spend their days with skilled trainers, who work day in and day out to teach them special tricks and moves. We met two Emirati animal trainers who work at the Al Ain Zoo to train these special creatures. Daily headlines from the UAE and around the world brought to you by Gulf News. See more at: http://gulfnews.com/videos

Transcript

00:00Al Ain Zoo, which was founded 50 years ago in 1968 by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan

00:12Al Nahyan, is home to over 3,500 animals.

00:16These animals spend their days with skilled trainers who work day in and day out to teach

00:21them special tricks and moves.

00:23I'm a senior animal keeper in the carnivore section.

00:27Working in the zoo has always been a dream for me because I literally grew up with animals.

00:34And I've been surrounding with animals at home, like of course they were pets, until

00:40I grew up a bit and I had some wild animals and then I discovered and I knew that it's

00:48like it's wrong to have wild animals at home.

00:51So I decided to send them to conservation areas and when I reached like the proper age

00:56to actually work, like to get a job, I joined the zoo.

01:00I do the keeper talk here in the zoo.

01:04What is the keeper talk?

01:05It's like every keeper of every section have to talk about their animals.

01:09So I get to do the cheetah talk here.

01:11So once we had like the cheetah talk here, I normally like get one cheetah with me to

01:17do the talk.

01:19And the others are like spreading around the exhibit.

01:21So one day the three of them were actually with me, sitting like right next to me.

01:27It wasn't planned.

01:28They just decided that they will be part of the talk today.

01:31So they sat there and while I was moving, like moving around the exhibit, they were

01:36just chasing me around, the three of them.

01:38It's like they were knowing what am I, what am I saying about them, you know?

01:42And when I was like, I was describing about the spots and the tail and their face, like

01:46how can you distinguish them from cheetahs to leopards?

01:50So like, it feels like they understood what I was saying.

01:54The zoo is also home to hundreds of bird species, including eagles, owls and even penguins.

02:00Here in the UAE, as you know, we know only falcons.

02:04We don't know these birds, owls, eagles, vultures.

02:07So when I came here, I had the same thought that I will only train falcons, for example.

02:15But I found eagles and vultures.

02:19So I was kind of surprised.

02:22I was scared a little bit in the beginning, but then I got used to it.

02:27I had like a little bit of information about birds, but I needed more.

02:32So here in the zoo, they gave us education and more.

02:38We have two periods of like pressure in the morning and in the end of the duty.

02:46In the morning, we weigh the birds and we clean the cages.

02:52And in the end of the duty, we have the bird show.

02:56So I prefer the bird show.

02:58The zoo gave us two owls, small owls like this one, the desert eagle owl.

03:03And me and one of my colleagues started to train these owls.

03:07He got one and I got the other one.

03:09And then he went for an annual leave for like one month and a half.

03:14So I had to train both of them.

03:17His owl didn't like me in the beginning, like maybe for two weeks.

03:23And I had a difficult, difficult time to train her.

03:27And then she got used to me.

03:29And sometimes she was like attacking me all the time.

03:32She doesn't eat from me, like, so yeah.

03:38And then now she's, she's fine.

03:40She's one of the best owls now we have here.

03:42The Royal Ane Zoo recreates a natural habitat for animals to live freely.

03:47It also provides interesting experiences in a natural outdoor environment.

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