Environment Enrichment for Captive Animals is a great book that teaches you how to evaluate and think about your animal’s environment. It is not a “how to” or “buy this” type of book. The writing is clearly that of a scientist and may not appeal to someone who does not have the time to fully read and absorb what the author is trying to say. There are books written for animal keepers (zoos, labs) and for pet owners; this book fits somewhere in the middle of those two. Chapter one delves into the history of animal-keeping. It talks about animal welfare, rights, and the beginnings of enrichment. Chapter two talks about why enrichment should be considered. Chapter three talks about whether or not enrichment works. Chapter five discusses how to design an enrichment device. Other chapters include information on proactive enrichment, enrichment programs, various types of animals, food and foraging, social environments, housing, toys, analyzing an enrichment study, and further resources.

One question I pose in many of my articles about animals is “what do they do in the wild?” Enrichment builds upon that question to develop activities that fill a need the animals have – to be productive, active, or mentally stimulated. Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals explores this from the animal’s point of view yet also understands human aesthetic needs/ideas. Have you ever gone to a zoo and wondered why something is set up the way it is? This book helps explain those cones, balls, wires, pulleys etc and why it may not look like the wild, but does a great job of enriching the animal’s life.

I found this book very informative. As I mentioned, it won’t tell you to go buy brand X toy or tell you step-by-step how to put one together, but it gives you a roadmap for developing your own plan. I read this book after writing my article on cage size and housing and found the following: “In the UK, there is legislation stating the minimum cage size for a rabbit housed in a laboratory …and for one housed on a farm. However, no such legislation exists for the housing of pet rabbits….Her results showed that pet shops were selling cages below the legal minimum sizes for laboratory and farm-housed rabbits” (pp. 25-26). There is a wealth of information for any individual concerned about their pet’s welfare. And for a twist, if you homeschool a teen like I do consider adding this to your Science reading. Encourage your child to develop ideas and toys suitable for your pet (or other animals). Who knows, when the pet stores and pet toy companies run their next contest for inventors your child may be the one to develop the next best enrichment toy available. If nothing else, your animal (and child) will benefit from it.

Highly recommended for all animals

Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals is available through Amazon.com.

Title: Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals
Author: Robert J. Young
Publisher: Blackwell Publishing
Copyright: 2003