Reptiles, Role Changes and Venom Programs with Brandon Gifford

We're ending 2024 with an incredible guest, Brandon! Brandon shares his journey within the industry, including some difficult decisions he had to make in order to aid his progression to work every day with his dream species. Brandon chats about his new role, goals and skills to hopes to develop, as well as Australian Reptile Park's famous snake venom program. You can find the podcast on socials @trainertalksandtails or reach out for feedback or questions on [email protected].

Beau has had a long career working within zoos, but for this episode we focus in on his passion and something that he loves creating, wildlife documentaries. We talk about where it all started, where Beau hopes the project will grow too and how one pretty cool person acknowledged his hard work. You can find the podcast on socials @trainertalksandtails or reach out for feedback or queries on [email protected].

Kellie, vet nurse for Wildlife Sydney and SEA LIFE Sydney joins us this week to chat in detail about her role as a vet nurse! We talk all about the array of species she works with, transitioning from a keeper role and how sustainable a vet nurse role can be. You can find the podcast on socials @trainertalksandtails or reach out for feedback or queries on [email protected].

Liz from Symbio Wildlife Park joins us to share her extensive experience and knowledge for caring for koalas in human care! We touch on the roles koalas play in zoos, how breeding is managed and how we can get involved in vital conservation. You can find the podcast on socials @trainertalksandtails or reach out for feedback or queries on [email protected].

Lets chat wildlife caring! We talk with Lexie Scott, a long time wildlife carer who has raised and released hundreds of native Australian animals back into the wild over her 20 years of caring. We talk about her experiences, the differences she has found with caring for different species and, of course, how to involved!

Let's chat red pandas!! Steph joins us from Halls Gap Zoo where she shares how her team were able to successful take a blood draw from the pandas! We touch on the prior behaviors that helped set this up for success and how they hope to maintain it going forward. You can find the podcast on socials @trainertalksandtails or reach out for feedback on [email protected].

We're joined this week by our good friend Olivia! Olivia has an incredible depth and spread of presenting experience that she's acquired across numerous roles within the industry! She shares her best advice for gaining confidence when presenting and how to set yourself up to succeed with co-presenting. Olivia has recently built her own business helping people with public speaking! You can find the podcast on socials @trainertalksandtails or reach out for feedback or queries on [email protected].

We mixed things up this week as we love highlighting some of the amazing training that is happening within the animal community! From snakes to seals, domestic dogs and owls, we chat about some of the incredible goals people are achieving within the training world. You can find the podcast on socials @trainertalksandtails or reach out for feedback or queries on [email protected].

Sheryl joins us this week and shares her incredible passion for sustainability and how we can change and improve sustainability practices at work! Being an eco-queen, Sheryl has progressed in her career to now working in a behavior change role for the council. We touch on better choices that can be made, how to incorporate a green team at work and what her role entails! You can find the podcast on socials @trainertalksandtails or reach out for feedback or questions on [email protected].

We had such a fun conversation with Adam from the NSW K9 Correctional Services Unit! Adam dives into what his role looks like and what the dogs are used for. We chat about different types of conditioning used for training the dogs, how they choose the best training type for the dogs and how the training works! Plus, the use of different reinforcers. You can find us on socials @trainertalksandtails or reach out for feedback or queries on [email protected].