Kyiv Zoo has just hosted four days of International Zoo Conferences. Zoo conferences here are much the same as in the UK or Western Europe, except here there is considerably more vodka involved.
This was a particularly special conference as Kyiv Zoo is celebrating its 100th anniversary. People came from zoos in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Hungary, Poland, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and I am ashamed to admit, places and cities I have never heard of! The actual conference presentations were excellent, some really interesting research on veterinary topics, amphibian diseases, enrichment, animal training etc. Fantastic and we are extremely grateful to our translator! Some of the other participants were not so lucky – everyone at the conferences spoke Russian but some zoos presented their topics in Ukrainian – fine for us, but not so good for the Russian speakers. Like most conferences, much of the actual work goes on in the breaks and evenings – making contacts etc. During the presentation sections it was also a bit different, several people were videoing the whole conference to share with colleagues at their zoos, and most people were taking photos of all the PowerPoint slides. Doesn’t happen so much at UK conferences.
Steve made his presentation early on the first day. He talked about setting up enrichment programmes, how to make them effective and how to monitor them. It went down very well he even got a few laughs with some of his enrichment pictures; people asked a lot of questions both at the time and throughout the rest of the conference.
Lunch was provided each day at a local cafe, which provided another opportunity for networking and chatting about animals. It’s amazing to meet with, for example, someone from the Republic of Tartarstan (look it up on a map, that’s what we had to do) and have so many things to talk about with them.
We also met an elephant keeper from Budapest Zoo; in Hungary. He gave an excellent presentation on training techniques. We have actually spent most of the conference with him as he speaks excellent English.
On the first evening a meal was arranged at a restaurant at the University – just across the road from the zoo. I should really call it a feast, as there were mountains of every kind of Ukrainian food you can imagine, and bottles and bottles of vodka. As usual, there were many toasts, all long and full of the spirit of international cooperation and friendship, to the past 100 years of Kyiv Zoo, to the next 100 years of Kyiv Zoo, to the conference participants, to women zoo workers, to men zoo workers.............. Steve was asked to make a toast; he talked about the global zoo community, how amazing it was that we could all come together to learn and share with each other and this is what would make the zoo world a strong force in conservation. He ended his speech with the traditional English toast “Anaglypta”, explaining that this is very much like saying “Cheers”. The toast of Anaglypta was invented by our good friend Mr. Roger Best (Zoo Electric Fence Specialist) who we hope will be proud that we have brought Anaglypta to the people of Russia and Eastern Europe! The evening was wonderful, everyone was warm and friendly. We drank a lot of vodka and there was plenty of singing. A Zoo Director from Armenia is an opera singer, so he sang some traditional songs, and at the other end of the scale was a very drunk Zoo Director from one of the Russian Republics who serenaded me with Beatles songs! We have found that Russians and Ukrainians adore the Beatles, and a lot of other English music.
The second day of the conference was mainly for veterinary topics. On the first day, it was extremely difficult to understand the presentations without our translator but the second day was slightly easier as there was a lot of familiar veterinary terminology. We talked a lot with a Ukrainian vet who has written several text books on anaesthesia, she was interested in anaesthesias that we have been involved in at other zoos and we were able to show her a lot of the photos of tigers, bears, jaguar etc from last year.
My presentation was in the afternoon. It was quite nerve-racking as there were lots of Zoo Directors and Zoo Vets. I presented on an unusual disease in a puma that I observed last year. There was a lot of interest from Moscow Zoo as I quoted from some papers that they wrote and compared my case to theirs.
At the end of the day there were more drinks, food and many many toasts at the vet centre in the zoo. Steve was asked to make the first toast, but this time did not use Anaglypta.
On day three (Friday), we went to a workshop organised by the Kyiv Zoo Vet team. They have recently written a book on anaesthesia in bears (and used one of our photos) – two of the younger vets are doing PhDs on anaesthesia. The workshop was for non-inhalation anaesthesia in a bear. One of the Zoo’s Isabellinus bears (a small honey coloured sub-species of the European Brown Bear) needed a check up following dental surgery last winter. The procedure went very smoothly, and the bear’s teeth are in a very good condition now.
In the evening was the main conference dinner (we thought the first one was, but apparently not). This one was just for Zoo Directors and Curators. It was at a very nice hotel in the centre of Kyiv. Again there was plenty of food and drink, singing, dancing and talking. All the Zoo Directors took turns to make toasts to the conference and the 100th anniversary of Kyiv Zoo. They all brought gifts for the zoo – animal sculptures, paintings, carvings, traditional items from their countries. After the meal there was entertainment – traditional Ukrainian singing and dancing.
Towards the end of the evening, a team of vets and elephant keepers arrived from Munich Zoo in Germany, as the elephant was scheduled for an operation on the next day. We spoke to them briefly in English and they said that for Ukrainians we spoke excellent English!
This was a particularly special conference as Kyiv Zoo is celebrating its 100th anniversary. People came from zoos in Russia, Ukraine, Armenia, Hungary, Poland, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and I am ashamed to admit, places and cities I have never heard of! The actual conference presentations were excellent, some really interesting research on veterinary topics, amphibian diseases, enrichment, animal training etc. Fantastic and we are extremely grateful to our translator! Some of the other participants were not so lucky – everyone at the conferences spoke Russian but some zoos presented their topics in Ukrainian – fine for us, but not so good for the Russian speakers. Like most conferences, much of the actual work goes on in the breaks and evenings – making contacts etc. During the presentation sections it was also a bit different, several people were videoing the whole conference to share with colleagues at their zoos, and most people were taking photos of all the PowerPoint slides. Doesn’t happen so much at UK conferences.
Steve made his presentation early on the first day. He talked about setting up enrichment programmes, how to make them effective and how to monitor them. It went down very well he even got a few laughs with some of his enrichment pictures; people asked a lot of questions both at the time and throughout the rest of the conference.
Lunch was provided each day at a local cafe, which provided another opportunity for networking and chatting about animals. It’s amazing to meet with, for example, someone from the Republic of Tartarstan (look it up on a map, that’s what we had to do) and have so many things to talk about with them.
We also met an elephant keeper from Budapest Zoo; in Hungary. He gave an excellent presentation on training techniques. We have actually spent most of the conference with him as he speaks excellent English.
On the first evening a meal was arranged at a restaurant at the University – just across the road from the zoo. I should really call it a feast, as there were mountains of every kind of Ukrainian food you can imagine, and bottles and bottles of vodka. As usual, there were many toasts, all long and full of the spirit of international cooperation and friendship, to the past 100 years of Kyiv Zoo, to the next 100 years of Kyiv Zoo, to the conference participants, to women zoo workers, to men zoo workers.............. Steve was asked to make a toast; he talked about the global zoo community, how amazing it was that we could all come together to learn and share with each other and this is what would make the zoo world a strong force in conservation. He ended his speech with the traditional English toast “Anaglypta”, explaining that this is very much like saying “Cheers”. The toast of Anaglypta was invented by our good friend Mr. Roger Best (Zoo Electric Fence Specialist) who we hope will be proud that we have brought Anaglypta to the people of Russia and Eastern Europe! The evening was wonderful, everyone was warm and friendly. We drank a lot of vodka and there was plenty of singing. A Zoo Director from Armenia is an opera singer, so he sang some traditional songs, and at the other end of the scale was a very drunk Zoo Director from one of the Russian Republics who serenaded me with Beatles songs! We have found that Russians and Ukrainians adore the Beatles, and a lot of other English music.
The second day of the conference was mainly for veterinary topics. On the first day, it was extremely difficult to understand the presentations without our translator but the second day was slightly easier as there was a lot of familiar veterinary terminology. We talked a lot with a Ukrainian vet who has written several text books on anaesthesia, she was interested in anaesthesias that we have been involved in at other zoos and we were able to show her a lot of the photos of tigers, bears, jaguar etc from last year.
My presentation was in the afternoon. It was quite nerve-racking as there were lots of Zoo Directors and Zoo Vets. I presented on an unusual disease in a puma that I observed last year. There was a lot of interest from Moscow Zoo as I quoted from some papers that they wrote and compared my case to theirs.
At the end of the day there were more drinks, food and many many toasts at the vet centre in the zoo. Steve was asked to make the first toast, but this time did not use Anaglypta.
On day three (Friday), we went to a workshop organised by the Kyiv Zoo Vet team. They have recently written a book on anaesthesia in bears (and used one of our photos) – two of the younger vets are doing PhDs on anaesthesia. The workshop was for non-inhalation anaesthesia in a bear. One of the Zoo’s Isabellinus bears (a small honey coloured sub-species of the European Brown Bear) needed a check up following dental surgery last winter. The procedure went very smoothly, and the bear’s teeth are in a very good condition now.
In the evening was the main conference dinner (we thought the first one was, but apparently not). This one was just for Zoo Directors and Curators. It was at a very nice hotel in the centre of Kyiv. Again there was plenty of food and drink, singing, dancing and talking. All the Zoo Directors took turns to make toasts to the conference and the 100th anniversary of Kyiv Zoo. They all brought gifts for the zoo – animal sculptures, paintings, carvings, traditional items from their countries. After the meal there was entertainment – traditional Ukrainian singing and dancing.
Towards the end of the evening, a team of vets and elephant keepers arrived from Munich Zoo in Germany, as the elephant was scheduled for an operation on the next day. We spoke to them briefly in English and they said that for Ukrainians we spoke excellent English!
Steve giving enrichment presentation
Me giving Puma presentation
Anesthetised Bear
Bear Operation
Conference Meal Entertainment
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