Birds used in demonstrations at the American Bald Eagle Foundation now have a say in the matter.
Following a decision in June, the natural history museum and raptor center has been transitioning to a “birds-first” policy that allows its 12 captive raptors to choose how and when they’re used in public demonstrations.
“This means no matter how hard the decision, we are going to put the birds’ welfare and well-being first,” foundation education coordinator Leia Minch wrote in a memo last month. “As caregivers for these magnificent beings, staff feels that putting the birds first and giving them the best possible care – both physical and mental – they can receive is not only our job, but our moral obligation.”
Minch said the new policy already is paying off. Birds that choose to participate in sessions by stepping onto a handler’s glove for the reward of a food tidbit “display more comfort behaviors and less stress behaviors” during public demonstrations, she said.
Previously, birds were brought out by handlers grabbing tethers called “jesses” attached to the raptors’ legs.
Under the new policy, four birds that consistently fly away from the glove and show stress when forced to come out of their outdoor enclosures (called mews) have been allowed to remain in their mews, where they’ve been trained to “target,” or fly to a location pointed to by a handler.
Even with visitors watching, the birds display comfort behaviors, including preening, perching on a single foot, and puffing their feathers, things people may not see in the wild.
“You can tell (the birds) trust us more. You form a relationship with a bird. It’s not a relationship like with a pet, but it’s still a relationship that’s built on trust,” Minch said.
To make mew-bound birds accessible to visitors, the foundation recently replaced a wall of each mew with vinyl-coated wire.
That allows birds to see out, and for foundation workers to use the birds in education programs without stressing them. It also allows the foundation to meet federal permit requirements that each bird be included in 12 educational programs per year.
Chloe Goodson, the foundation’s raptor curator, said most foundation visitors seem to support the policy of treating birds as feathered co-workers, even though that means not as many close-up views.
While there are some people in every crowd who want to “pet an eagle,” Goodson said, more are concerned about the welfare of the animals. When handlers explain the birds-first policy to visitors, “you see a lot of faces in the crowd soften. You can see people instantly react, people who are afraid we’re some kind of circus.”
The new policy is based partly on understanding that, for an animal, adjusting to captivity after living in the wild can be extremely stressful, even fatal. Some wild birds treated for injuries are later euthanized because they don’t adjust. Instead, they’ll stop eating, pluck off all their feathers, or fly into walls.
The foundation receives raptors that already have been judged as good candidates for surviving in captivity, but moving from surviving in captivity to participating in a public demonstration without stress is a big step, Minch said.
Even though birds that take that big step voluntarily receive positive reinforcement in the form of a food pellet, others bird just won’t.
“Some birds would rather starve than have that threat,” Minch said. “There aren’t many birds from the wild that are comfortable with that unless they are very young. Usually juveniles do okay.”
Another element of the new policy is recognizing that raptors, like people, respond better to choices than to coercion. A bird in the wild makes countless decisions in a day, Minch said.
“Imagine if a giant came to your house and made you do your dishes and made you mow your lawn. How do you think animals feel when they don’t have a choice about what they’re doing? Giving animals a choice gives them a feeling of getting back the autonomy they once had.”
Minch previously worked at Cascades Raptor Center in Eugene, Ore., where only about 20 of 60 captive birds would perch on a glove. After working at the Haines foundation, she returned to the Oregon center for training raptors with positive reinforcement.
Under the changes, a bird that refuses to go to a perch might be offered a different perch. Protocols adopted with the new policy include creating a history by writing down how and when birds are handled and how they react to different situations. That’s important because even among the same species, bird behavior can vary widely.
“All (four) of our eagles are vastly different,” said raptor curator Goodson, changing with age, temperament and the kinds of the injuries they suffered.
Only one has stepped onto the glove. That bird, named Arden, was twice unsuccessfully released into the wild and is unusually calm around people. Eagles are among the most resistant of raptors to working with people.
“An eagle on a glove is definitely a big thing,” Goodson said. “If we have any bird out, people sometimes ask, ‘Is that a baby eagle?’”
For now, a visitor’s experience of an eagle is limited to witnessing a feeding in the foundations’ “master” mew and listening to a natural history lecture about them. But that can still be entertaining, Goodson said. “(An eagle) can really pick apart a moose bone. People love seeing that.”
Foundation birds most willing to take the glove include a Eurasian eagle owl, a lanner-saker falcon and a red-tailed hawk. The foundation’s most willing participant in programs is the owl, named Hans, which was bred in captivity.
But even Hans will take the glove only for the promise of a food pellet. Raptors, unlike pet dogs, won’t work for a pat on the head.
Training its raptors with positive reinforcement has added considerably to the work load of the center’s employees, but it’s been worth it, Goodson said. “It makes the birds feel better and it makes us feel better about our jobs, rather than forcing birds to the glove.”