Abstract

Sedating any species in a zoological setting for veterinary procedures, including blood draws can have negative implications for the individual animal, both physiological and psychological both during and after the procedure. In addition, these can take a lot of staff time and resources and can impact the long-term relationship between the individual and keepers. Training individuals to take part voluntarily in their own health care can help to reduce these negative implications; helping to reduce stress, improve welfare, and give individuals choice and control while developing the future management of the species. This case study describes the training of four okapi individuals, a notoriously flighty species, for voluntary blood draws and how training plans should always be adaptable for individuals to encourage successful progression and development.