The TAs and Charlie, my Professor for the Wildlife Nutrition class, were already unpacking bear food from the freezer. Tubs of deer parts; legs, heads, and torsos. The deer had been quartered and frozen earlier in the year after being “donated” by locals who found them dead along the roadside.

As I walked along the cement and brick hallway, lined with doors, Charlie slid back the windows and tossed in a quarter of deer. Along the way introducing me to each of the residents. The first and last dens were occupied by the two breeding females, each with a litter of two cubs this year. June and May were ravenous after the long hibernation while providing sustenance for their cubs. Then there were the two adolescent females from the year before, they got a deer head to eat and play with. The next two dens housed the large males respectively, Dusty and Beau, 850-900 lbs each.

Charlie then explained that the best way to get the bears to move from the inside of their dens, to the outdoor areas so we could clean,  was to bellow at them. If your voice was too soft you wouldn’t even make it on their radar, they would ignore you, not move, and make cleaning the den impossible. As Charlie made this clear to us, it was obvious he didn’t expect us to have the resolve to scream, as most people would find it embarrassing or even rude to yell at anyone, even if it is an 800 lb predator with massive teeth and claws.

Working with large carnivores (Big Cats and specifically lions) was my career goal, so on my second day I was determined to show Dr Robbins (and prove to myself) my ability to be fearless and strong in the face of an animal that would likely tear me in half if ever I was in the same room with him. So on the second day, in the frantic morning feeding, I was told to get Beau to move outside. Easily the largest of the 10 Grizzlies at the facility and the most cantankerous, I slid open the window, lifted the pulley for the guillotine gate so Beau could exit. Then I fixed him with a stare and roared, “BEAU OUT NOW!, GET OUT, NOW!” , Beau lifted his head from breakfast and stared, shocked and disgruntled. Charlie, who had been watching over my shoulder smiling said, loudly, and conversationally, “She’s a mean lady Beau. ” Beau huffed in agreement, grabbed his deer leg and headed out the door.

And through my work with a variety of Wild and exotic creature I came to realize one fundamental idea about training any of these animals, and if you could do this well, you would be a fantastic animal trainer. And that one thing is to “think like the animal”, to try to see life from their point of view rather than your own.

From the Grizzlies at Washington State University the Lions at the Big Cat Sanctuary, the Slow Loris Primates at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, or your family dog, they all have this one thing in common. If you can see the world from their eyes and understand what is important to them, you can get them to do anything you need.