The Power of Positive
Intern Training
Oceans of Fun, Inc. • Milwaukee, Wisconsin
SOURCE: Soundings 2005 • Volume 30, Number 2 Page 5
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Oceans of Fun is a pinniped facility that has joined with
the Milwaukee County Zoo to provide year-round public
presentations, seasonal school outreach programs, and
interactive experiences for zoo visitors. We currently house
3.4 California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and 0.1
Atlantic harbor seals (Phoca vitulina) ranging in age from
6 months to 23 years. It is our responsibility to provide the
best care possible for the animals while continuing to educate
the public. We are able to achieve our goals by maintaining
a professional staff of trainers, educators, and a
well-trained, dedicated team of interns and volunteers.
Like many marine mammal facilities, we operate with a
small and extremely dedicated animal care training staff.
Our staff is sufficient for all animal needs and care; however,
it can be challenging to fulfill the personnel requirements
needed to run all aspects of daily performances, outreach,
and interactive programs. To meet these needs, the
decision was made to integrate a staff of interns and volunteers
into our daily routine. If our interns and volunteers
were going to play such an active role at our facility, we felt
it was extremely important to train them to understand and
commit to our organizational mission and to maintain our
high standards of excellence.
With the large number of people that desire to gain
experience in the marine mammal field, finding seasonal
staff is not difficult; selecting quality students from the
abundance of applications and resumes is the challenge.
Candidates must complete a series of at least two interviews
with our intern and volunteer coordinator prior to
being accepted onto our team. We integrate on average 10-
15 new individuals each season. These students must commit
to a minimum of 250 hours, working one to four 8-
hour days per week. With all the new hires, our staff takes
on the challenge of training them. By allowing interns and
volunteers to work closely with our staff, they gain valuable
knowledge and experience in the area of marine mammal
care and public awareness.
When they are hired, our interns and volunteers are
given an Oceans of Fun Training Manual. This manual discusses
and outlines, in detail, all guidelines, procedures,
and animal information to enable the intern to be successful
throughout his or her training program. Each one is
responsible for reading, understanding, and complying
with all the material presented in the manual. We begin
first by training each individual on the basic areas of animal
care: diet preparation and facility cleanliness. We are
an outdoor facility consisting of three pools, decks, wet
docks, and dry area enclosures all requiring daily sanitization.
Our fish house is composed of a sink preparation
area, refrigerators, freezers, buckets, and coolers, which
require hourly monitoring and cleaning. Our goal in the
initial stages of training is to enforce appropriate procedural
steps, safety, efficiency, and a clear understanding of
our standards of sanitation. We believe these areas to be the
foundation and stepping-stone prior to expanding on
advanced knowledge and responsibilities in animal care.
When incorporating new people into an animal care
environment, it is extremely important to train them extensively
and successfully. At Oceans of Fun, we have developed
our own performance accreditation program to
ensure that each intern or volunteer is professionally
trained in the areas of facility sanitation requirements, public
education, and marine mammal care.
Our training program begins for all new interns and volunteers on their first
day. Oceans of Fun utilizes a method of training called a
check off system. This technique is used to guarantee that
every new hire is trained efficiently and thoroughly. Each of
the three specific subject areas is set up on a 4-day training
cycle. Day 1 consists of learning the procedure side by side
with a trainer. The subject is completely explained, and the
intern assists in completing the specific task. Day 2 is a day
set aside for reiteration. Our goal is to slowly build confidence
and independence in the area. By day 3, the individual
is able to handle most of the responsibilities on his or
her own with assistance from a trainer, if needed. The
trainer then sets aside time to verbally review the area and
answer any questions. Finally, on the 4th day, the intern
should be confident in the area and ready for testing. Keeping
in mind each person varies with the time needed to
learn new skills, we have found that 4 days seems to be sufficient
for most areas of training. After this training cycle is
complete, there is an evaluation and written quiz to test
each individual's knowledge and comprehension of the
area. The goal of this 4-day training and quizzing process
is not only to ensure the interns and volunteers understand
all procedures, but also their importance and value. After
the intern has passed the written quiz, (s)he is now checked
off in that area. To be checked off means that our staff is
confident in the intern's ability to be professional and
responsible for that specific area with minimal supervision.
This method of training is carried throughout each subject
area of training in our accreditation program.
When interns understand the importance and required
criteria in the areas of basic animal care, they can move forward
in our accreditation program by advancing their skills
and knowledge associated with our daily public presentations
and educational programs. These responsibilities consist
of assisting in the operation of public presentations
hosting presentations, and working alongside our educators
during daily interactive programs. We feel strong public
speaking skills are an important prerequisite for working
in the marine mammal industry. Therefore, Oceans of
Fun trains all individuals to become comfortable and confident
while speaking in front of both small and large
groups. Interns and volunteers are given a written script to
follow and memorize including professional responses to
questions frequently asked by the public. It is imperative
that all representatives of Oceans of Fun relay the correct
information to the public. These skills not only promote
personal confidence, but also reinforce the need for public
education.
Interns and volunteers are always very eager to learn
more about animal behavior and training techniques.
Observation of training sessions, interactive programs, and
daily presentations are the key to their learning process. By
carefully observing the animals during training sessions
and then being able to ask questions, interns and volunteers
are able to continue to advance their knowledge and
understanding of animal training. Classical conditioning,
operant conditioning, positive reinforcement, bridge, and
target training are just a few of the terms initially discussed
with interns and volunteers. Comprehension of these concepts
is an important part of our accreditation program.
They are reviewed, tested, and discussed for complete
understanding. We also encourage all individuals to
become active in our environmental enrichment program.
Under a trainer's supervision, interns and volunteers are
able to provide and create new enrichment devices for the
animals. This is a great incentive for the staff. Not only
does it allow them to become an active part of the animal's
day, it also allows them to observe play behavior and develop
problem-solving skills.
The busy days of training sessions, public performances,
and interactive programs occasionally limits our time to
elaborate on advanced discussions regarding a species' natural
history and advanced training techniques. To make
sure all interns and volunteers in our program receive the
detailed knowledge and requirements to be successful in
the field of marine mammal training, our training staff
devised a workshop series to be held after-hours. This fourpart
seminar series focuses on subjects including anatomy
and physiology, natural histories, basic animal behavior
and training, husbandry care, environmental laws, and
conservation. Our staff leads each professional presentation
and discussion utilizing interactive games for learning
retention. All our hard work and positive feed back from
the intern and volunteer staff on the workshop series has
encouraged us to take on the challenge of designing a new
advanced series of seminars. We are hoping to incorporate
the advanced series into our intern and volunteer program
in 2005.
In addition to the hands-on exposure interns receive at
our facility, we also feel it is very important to prepare
them for the scientific studies and research involved in the
field of marine mammal care. Interns are responsible for
completing an independent project during their time with
us. These projects include conservation issues, breeding
behavior, enrichment, training history and theory, medical
research, pup development, and other behavioral studies.
Individuals must elaborate on their topic and develop a scientific
paper and presentation supporting their thesis.
Interns learn useful skills such as devising behavioral
ethograms and acquiring skills on how to conduct research.
Valuable experience like this is a great preparation and
introduction into the profession.
The success of our intern and volunteer accreditationtraining
program has been very rewarding. Participants are
trained in preparation for future advancement in the field
of marine mammal care. To continue our goals and dedication
to our program, we are in the process of designing
new advanced level internship positions. Again, individuals
must show initiative and accomplish levels of accreditation
including written exams, evaluations of public speaking,
daily duties, and professionalism. Individuals applying
must have a minimum of 6 months of experience and a
score of at least 90% on all evaluations and examinations.
This trainee apprentice position allows individuals to take
on more responsibility including: water quality testing,
becoming more active in the educational portion of our
programs, and beginning to build supervisory and team
leadership skills. Trainees can also become more active in
training and medical sessions, thus expanding their knowledge
and understanding of animal behavior, training, and
medical care. We designed this program to be a progression
for individuals who are eager to learn more and continue
their advancement within the field of animal care.
The results of our extensive intern- and volunteer-training
program are exactly what we had hoped. We, as a facility,
are able to provide valuable work experience to those
interested in pursuing a career in the marine mammal field.
With the knowledge they gain at our facility, they are able
to educate others about these animals and communicate
the importance of environmental preservation. In return,
our training staff receives valuable assistance with daily
facility duties, which enables us to spend more time with
the animals in our care. Our goal is to provide a positive
experience to all individuals who invest their time and
energy into our facility. It is our hope that everyone walks
away with a greater understanding of marine mammal
care, our industry standards, and the importance of education.
We have invested a lot of time and effort into these
training programs for a reason. Our greatest reward is the
knowledge that we are passing on our highest priority to
future marine mammal trainers: exceptional care for our
next generation of animals.
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