Zoomagination

Animals + people + education x interaction = Zoomagination, a non-profit organization dedicated to introducing Texans of all ages to the natural world through wildlife encounters.

“Our goal is to teach Texans the importance of conserving wildlife and habitat,” said Robert Trejo, who cofounded the mobile outreach program with co-director Jennie Phillips in 2007. “We want people to understand that animals live among us and are an important part of our world that need our respect not our fear.”

The duo, who regularly conduct online classroom presentations as part of Conservation Legacy, care for more than 30 animals from around the world representing 15 different species at their 10-acre facility in Atascosa. Residents include warthogs, crested porcupines, sloths, kinkajous, macaws and reindeer as well as native Texas species such as raccoons, opossums, Peregrine Falcons and Red-tailed Hawks.

“A lot of our animals come to us as pets surrendered by people who realize that

Article by LORIE A. WOODWARD Photos courtesy of ZOOMAGINATION

they may have bitten off more than they can chew,” Trejo said.

Other animals come from rescuers and rehabbers. Because of their injuries or their acclimation to humans, the animals can’t be safely returned to the wild. Some are donated by other zoological facilities, which is how Zoomagination acquired its warthogs.

“Warthogs fascinate me,” said Trejo, who fostered several. “When the chance came to adopt a pair of them, I just couldn’t say no.”

In addition to providing the basic necessities of food, shelter and medical attention, the team trains and conditions the animals to serve as ambassadors.

“Our animals are the gateways we use to introduce people to the outside world,” Trejo said. “When our guests see the animals, they get excited and engaged. Once you get people’s attention, it’s a lot easier to educate and inform them.”

Unlike zoos and theme parks where people view the animals from a distance, Zoomagination brings animals and people together. While guests are generally not allowed to touch the

animals, audience members are able to get up close and personal with the animals.

“Instead of being a pet in someone’s kitchen, our animals have a job to do,” Trejo said. “They teach people—naturally.”

Although the classrooms, resorts, civic centers and fairs where Zoomagination visits are not wilderness habitat, the animals exhibit many of their normal behaviors. Their handlers explain what the guests are seeing to provide context in the broader world.

“During our presentations, our birds chirp and vocalize,” Trejo said. “We describe the hows and whys of what people are seeing, so if they encounter a bird in their neighborhood or at the state park, they’ll know what is going on. People care about the things they understand.”

While almost all of the animals that arrive at Zoomagination have been habituated to humans to some degree, the team conditions them for life in the public eye. As an example, Trejo described the training regimen the team employed to prepare Osa, a four-year-old female sloth.

Initially, the team taught Osa to go in her kennel. With plentiful food, water and tree branches for climbing, the kennel serves as a welcoming, safe space during presentations and travel. Second, the team took her on short trips in the car to get her used to traveling.

“Osa would go to the grocery store with me,” Trejo said. “A volunteer would stay with her in the car. We kept the motor and air conditioning running, so she’d be comfortable.”

Next, they brought her along to presentations but left her in the kennel, so she could get used to the noise and crowds. Then, they taught her to come out of the kennel suspended on a branch that was outfitted with food.

“For her debut, she simply hung on her stick and ate while I talked about her,” Trejo said.

Finally, they began carrying the stick while Osa was hanging out and eating. Eventually, she was calm enough to be carried through the crowd.

“It’s a process that takes place over many months,” Trejo said. “If on the first day, I’d thrown her in a kennel, shoved her on a stick and paraded her around she wouldn’t have done very well.”

While the Zoomagination team generally relies on a progressive training regimen, each species and even each individual requires different techniques that take into account their behavior and temperament. Predators can be overly stimulated by too much movement; prey can be spooked by movement, shadows and noise. Some animals train well to food, while others must be managed by tweaking their natural behaviors.

“Everybody is different,” Trejo said.

Some animals are less sensitive to loud noises and sudden movements. Others are shy. Some thrive with human interaction. Some don’t.

Trejo shared the tale of two birds. One, a military macaw, loves the interaction with people so much that he frets when it’s his day off. Another bird, a blue-andgold macaw, loves his kennel so much that he refuses to leave it during presentations. When he is working, the team lets him remain in his safe spot and talks about nesting behavior.

“Our animals aren’t forced to ‘perform,’” Trejo said. “We can provide education and insight regardless of what the animals are doing…and keep the animals comfortable in the process. The well-being of our animals and our guests is our top priority.”

Before joining forces to create Zoomagination, Trejo and Phillips both trained animals at Sea World. He worked with marine animals first before becoming a traveling educator for the park who specialized in terrestrial animals. The duo collectively has worked with animals on a daily basis for more than 25 years.

“Only our staff and volunteers handle our animals,” Trejo said. “They are used to us. They trust us, which helps make their behavior more predictable.”

Along the way, the duo has learned to read the behaviors of the animals in their care the way most people read books. For instance, snakes are particularly sensitive to changes in temperature. As temperatures rise, so does their level of agitation. On Texas summer days when the mercury pushes 90 degrees in the shade, Trejo keeps his ears as well as his eyes open when he’s handling snakes. Their largest snake, a boa constrictor, measures 11 feet and weighs about 60 pounds.

“A snake’s hiss is as telling as a conversation,” Trejo said. “The only way to truly know what will be successful is to work with your animals every day.”

Sometimes the work comes through incidental contact as the team feeds, cleans or provides medical attention. Most days, though, there is intentional training as well.

“Wart hogs don’t load in a trailer if somebody doesn’t teach them how nor do reindeer instinctively wear a halter and lead like horse,” Trejo said. “It takes lots of work—and lots of patience.”

Trejo and Phillips are the only fulltime employees at Zoomagination. Their efforts are supplemented by those of seven part-time volunteers. At Zoomagination, non-presentation days follow a general routine and there is plenty of work to go around.

Trejo, with a cup of coffee in hand and his dog at his side, begins the day before sunrise by walking the grounds to ensure that all of the animals are in their proper enclosures and none have “gone for a joy ride overnight.” Next, working with one group at a time in a set order, he begins feeding, watering and administering medications or medical treatments. Once he’s worked his way through the facility, Trejo then begins cleaning all of the enclosures.

After cleaning, he tackles food prep for the mid-day snack and the evening feeding. Then, Trejo moves on to any specific training that he has identified for the day. After conducting the midday check and feeding, Trejo starts on repairs, maintenance, bookkeeping, client relations, bookings and a myriad of other tasks familiar to non-profit managers and small business owners.

“Of course, when you work with animals, there is nothing routine within your routine,” Trejo said.

There are days when managers awake to find a storm-blown tree laying atop the aviary, so birds have to be rehomed and contractors called. Some days, managers discover their constant companion, a beloved crested porcupine is a kleptomaniac and hoarder.

Trejo recalled the day he was fixing fence and reached for his pliers. He discovered the pliers and the crested porcupine, both there just minutes before, had gone missing. When Trejo made his way to her hutch, he found not only his pliers, but a shoe, a baseball cap and several other treasures.

“With each animal, there is a lifetime of little things that you remember,” Trejo said.

Before COVID-19, the Zoomagination team had up to four presentations scheduled five days a week. Each day, the team selected 5-7 animals to handle that day’s appearances. Every animal at Zoomagination appears at least once a month; some appear more frequently.

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The presentations last about 40 minutes. Each animal is out for about five minutes before returning to its kennel, where it stays for the duration of the exhibition and during the time it takes to travel to the next destination. On a day with four presentations, the animals interact with the public for no more than 20 minutes.

“Just like doctors and their patients, our guiding principle with our animals is ‘do no harm,’” Trejo said. “We don’t own these animals, but have the responsibility and privilege of taking care of them.”

With the responsibility and privilege comes joy.

“I’ve made animal advocacy my life,” Trejo said. “I wake up to it. I go to sleep to it, so I’ve never worked a day in my life.

“It is sheer joy to watch as our animals open the door to nature for people who might not otherwise see it. When people look up from their screens and start paying attention to the world around them, then I feel like I’ve done my part as

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