Importance of Enrichment (9)

Enrichment is a vital extension that can be added to the daily lives of not only wildlife and those kept in captivity, it is also an important idea and tool that can be used for companion animals. enrichment is something that is interpreted as something that costs money, that cost skill to understand, when that is simply not the case. Enrichment is stimuli that is beneficial to the animal and their well-being.

Based off class discusses on captive wildlife and companion animals, especially service dogs, enrichment and having their own life is important. As a society people tend to forget that animals are their own being. That they need mental stimuli just as us humans need it. People adopt dogs to better themselves, to fill their time. They need joy in their life after they get home from work, but what about the animals health and mental state. Most people do not leave out mental stimuli for their pets when they are away from home. While some might say that their dog doesn't like going for walks or their cat doesn't like to get exercise that's not the only type of enrichment that can be offered.

Enrichment can range from the way food is offered and delivered two puzzles and obstacles and even human and animal play and bond time. This is the same for enrichment that is offered to captive wildlife in zoos and aquariums. Just as humans express emotions of boredom and lack of stimuli so do nonhuman animals. Without enrichment comes boredom, stress, anxiety, depression, and an altered mental state. Enrichment allows for better quality of life allowing the animal to exceed daily. While some animals might not be open to enrichment at first training and trust goes a long way. Humans on average are on this earth longer than most animals we interact with. Meaning, that enrichment is a vital task for humans to understand and complete not only with captive wildlife but also with their companion animals.