Page 340 - Zoo Animal Learning and Training

312 13 Last but in Fact Most Importantly … Health and Safety

VetBooks.ir (airspeed, position, altitude, route, direc- 13.3.3 Level 3 Situational Awareness:
Projection of Future Status
tion of flight, etc.), as well as weather, air
traffic control clearances, emergency infor-
mation, and other pertinent elements’ ‘It is the ability to project the future actions
of the elements in the environment, at least
(Endsley et al. 1998). Within the animal in the near term, that forms the third and
training domain, zoo professionals should highest level of situational awareness. This is
perceive information such as the animal’s achieved through knowledge of the status
demeanour and motivation as you arrive and dynamics of the elements and a compre-
for training. Is the animal paying attention hension of the situation (both level 1 and
to you or is it distracted by other things in level 2 situational awareness)’ (Endsley et al.
the environment, especially other animals 1998). The zoo professional with good situa-
or the presence of unfamiliar people? Is the tional awareness can synthesise all the rele-
animal responding to cues quickly or is it vant information from the animal, the
sluggish in doing so? Is the animal taking environment, and past experience to make
reinforcement eagerly but calmly or is it predictions about what will happen next and
lunging at the food?
act accordingly. Although it is stated that
improved situational awareness can result in
13.3.2 Level 2 Situational better decision‐making, this may not be true
Awareness: Comprehension of the in all situations. There are other factors such
Current Situation as strategy, experience, training, personality,
and organisational and technical constraints
‘Comprehension of the situation is based on that can also affect the decision‐making pro-
a synthesis of disjointed level 1 elements. cess (Endsley and Garland 2000). There are
Level 2 situational awareness goes beyond cases where situational awareness is lost and
simply being aware of the elements that are individuals can be slower in identifying prob-
present to include an understanding of the lems in the situations they find themselves in,
significance of those elements in light of the resulting in the need for additional time to
zoo professional’s goals. Based upon knowl- diagnose the problem and perform correc-
edge of level 1 elements, particularly when tive actions (Endsley and Kiris 1995). Even
put together to form patterns with other small lapses in situational awareness may
elements, a holistic picture of the environ- cause serious problems, zoo professionals
ment will be formed, including a compre- must learn what factors can lead to a loss of
hension of the significance of information situational awareness and how to avoid them.
and events’ (Endsley et al. 1998). For exam- Several reasons associated with a loss of situ-
ple, within the animal training domain, to ational awareness are listed below.
determine whether an animal is becoming
frustrated and prone to aggression, zoo pro- 1) Low and high stress level
fessionals should understand conditions Under situations of low or high stress, zoo
and indications like: (i) the amount of suc- professionals are more likely to miss
cess/failure occurring in the session; (ii) the important information about the situa-
resulting body position of the animal, calm/ tion. When the amount of information the
relaxed or tense/threatening; and (iii) how zoo professional receives is significantly
this particular animal has responded to lower than usual, their attitude may
these same circumstances in the past. This become careless. This usually can occur
knowledge provides the zoo professional when training sessions or activities are too
with a mental picture of what they should routine. A general lack of alertness is asso-
do to get the animal in a better psychologi- ciated with missing warning signals and a
cal state to avoid aggression and achieve reduced ability to react quickly and cor-
their training goals. rectly in an emergency. Similarly, when