[IATCB] News and updates for Sptring 2026

Hello Visitor,

The International Avian Trainers Certification Board and the International Animal Trainers Certification Board, IATCB, offers you a way to gain professional credibility, increase your earnings potential, and advance your career. We live in a competitive world, and animal trainers are no different than anyone else looking for advanced knowledge and skill in their profession.  IATCB endorses voluntary certification by examination for all professionals involved with animals, including trainers, educators, handlers, veterinarians, and all others involved in the care and handling of animals. 

📢 Share Your Voice in Our Newsletter!

We’re looking for passionate, insightful, and inspiring contributions from professionals like you!  If you have a story, experience, or idea that could benefit your colleagues, we’d love to feature it in our upcoming newsletter.

Submission Guidelines:

• Articles should be 500+ words.
• Images are encouraged.
• Please attach them separately in a JPG and ensure you have permission to share.
• Submissions can be written in Word or a Google Document.

Topics may include - but aren’t limited to:

• Any of the five domains covered by the certification exam
• Species spotlights featuring animals in your care
• Training challenges or success stories
• Novel enrichment ideas
• Common mistakes and how to avoid them
• Fieldwork opportunities and experiences
• How the exam has impacted your career
• Mentoring insights
• Mental health in the workplace
• Public speaking tips and experiences
• Leadership journeys
• Interpretation and communication through programming
• Ways you’ve utilized exam content in your personal life
• Or anything else you’d like to share with your peers!

Whether you’re a season professional or just starting out, your perspective matters.  Help us build a newsletter that reflects the diversity, creativity, and dedication of our community.  Authors of submissions that are selected for our newsletter will receive 1 CEU per 500 words up to 2 CEUs total.

CEUs:

Still looking for ways to get CEUs?  We are looking for content for future exams!  One CEU is awarded for every 5 test items accepted. Test items are questions and four "answers" to the question. Only one answer should be correct, with the other three answers being distractors. Distractors should seem plausible and not obviously incorrect.

Download the Item Developers' Guide written by our testing company, PTC, for full details of item writing. Email your test items to IATCB.

Connect with us on social media! IATCB is active on Facebook and Instagram.  We share training highlights, species spotlights, funny memes, professional development opportunities and more!

IATCB Certification Grant Program

The purpose of the IATCB Certification Exam Grant is to remove financial barriers to certification for applicants volunteering or working in the field of animal/bird training who are interested in pursuing or furthering a training-related career.

IATCB will offer one bird trainer (CPBT-KA) and one animal trainer (CPAT-KA) grant per testing cycle. Please download the application form for more details. The form, when completed should be emailed to grant@iatcb.org.

This information is also on the web site, International Avian Trainers Certification Board - News (iatcb.org)

https://www.iatcb.org/newhome

GET CERTIFIED:

To find the list of recommended reading material go to International Avian Trainers Certification Board - Home (iatcb.org) and go to “Get Certified”

2024/25 Testing Dates

*Applications will not be accepted after 11:59pm Eastern on this date

To find the list of recommended reading material go to International Avian Trainers Certification Board - Home (iatcb.org) and click on “Get Certified”

WHAT’S IN A NAME

J.J. and Jesssica

Wild Farm - Sara Pierbon

My childhood wasn’t filled with animals like most people would think. We only had a cat, and despite my extensive research, I never seemed to look “capable” enough to care for another living being. (Now I understand that we simply couldn’t afford another mouth to feed and the eventual vet bills).  My grandparents had a few chickens and rabbits that I wasn’t allowed to interact with, as all my relatives knew the disastrous consequences of me getting attached to one of those critters. Obviously, I still sneaked into their pens and respectfully observed them (no touching!), which inevitably led to me breaking the forbidden rule: naming them.

If you grew up on a farm, you probably know that naming an animal whose fate has already been decided, is generally frowned upon. Why? Well, of course, because you can get attached and start that weird process that is unique to us H. sapiens: anthropomorphism. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics or behavior to non-human entities, including animals. You can all guess why naming a creature that will soon end up on a plate is not ideal but understanding why naming a wild or exotic animal is tough may be a little harder. 

In a rehab setting, where hundreds of animals come and go, the easy and right choice is to number them. Biologists, too, tend to be resistant to naming the animals they research; given the nature of research, where method and logic have priority, it’s only reasonable that there’s no space for attachment... or is it there? It’s been rapidly found that naming animals can boost public support for conservation, especially for the least popular species. On the other hand, in the modern human-care environment, naming animals feels almost natural.

In my personal opinion, choosing the right name for an ambassador animal is a very important step, as it will inevitably seal its fate and how the public will perceive it. After all, isn’t the name the first thing you say when you introduce your friend? I’m a huge fan of food-related names, and ‘people’ names, as I believe they can have a great impact on the guests, who will inevitably laugh at an owl named ‘Pudding’ and chuckle when one of the hens has the same name as their beloved auntie. Names that take inspiration from popular legends or local tales are also great options, as they evoke familiarity. Names that are able to showcase the personality of the animal are also amazing, like naming a loud and diva-like animal after a pop-star.

Kevin Bacon

I think the trick is to make them as memorable as possible (names with some kind of wordplay!), allowing returning visitors to be able to point at the mini-pig and remember that his name is ‘Kevin Bacon’. Naming animals is a great tool to start building that bond between guest and ambassador, creating that empathy and, hopefully, instilling the desire to know more and act.  A fun thing we also use in our displays, is to name the “extras”, too! For example, we named our fake snake ‘Jessssica’ which allows for great jokes when J.J., our red-legged seriema, does his routine.

I don’t believe that anthropomorphism is completely negative and needs to be avoided at all costs. On the contrary, it’s a tool that, when used correctly, can make the most unlovable critters a little bit cuter, a little bit more lovable.

We all know that labeling is terrible, that we should avoid it as it often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, but if we are very careful and skillful when separating guest talks from “peer talks”, it makes it much easier to convey our love and care. I often find that teaching guests about observable behaviour and how to interpret the animal body language is a great way to share insight into the ambassador’s personality. It also allows the public to use and hone their observational skills with other animals in different settings.

The message we want to convey is also very important; I’m sure many visitors have turned up their noses at me gushing about vultures. Most people probably thought that the way I talk (mostly about raptors, I bet) lacks the respect these animals deserve. I have loads of respect for the animals in my care; in fact, what I respect the most is their choices, which I think they appreciate. 

This is, of course, my opinion, but I’d assume that the animals in my care prioritize having a fulfilled life and good welfare, and give less priority to the human-made concept of ‘respect.’  Respect, in most cultures, is often misguidedly associated with being feared, therefore educators can easily fall into the trap of trying to instill fear rather than admiration.

What these educators don’t understand is that discussing the grip strength of a hawk, about how dangerous it is, and the scars it left on their arm, is not a good way to plead its case. Naming a falcon ‘Killer’ or a wolf ‘Nightmare’, is, in all probability, not going to make people care about them. Illustrating their butchering technique, while surely educational, will not help when their wild counterparts will stare down the barrel of a shotgun.

Lastly, I think that a new arrival can be an amazing opportunity. You can easily create polls on your social media and let the public pick a name, increasing interaction, or organise an auction or a raffle, with the honour of naming that animal as a prize. When funds are becoming harder and harder to get, I think you are allowed to get a bit creative.

*Editor Note: English is not the first language of the author and the IATCB board applauds writing an article in a language that is not your primary.

Species Spotlight: Short Eared Owl “Little One” (Asio otus)

Robert Gabel, Safari Park Senior Keeper, CPBT-KA, NREMT

Lee G Simmons Wildlife Safari Park, Ashland, NE

Meet my friend and coworker, Little One. He’s an adult male short eared owl (Asio otus). He lives at the Lee G Simmons Wildlife Safari Park, where I work as a Senior Safari Park Keeper and EMT. Located in Ashland, Nebraska, it’s a satellite facility for Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium. We distinguish ourselves from our parent zoo by presenting over 200 acres of drive through habitats, overflowing with North American native wildlife (imagine elk, bison, cranes and more). Behind the scenes we have a couple hundred more acres of conservation breeding facilities, including Amur Tiger, Cheetah, and Chinese Goral. Today however, I’m going to tell you a little more about Little One and the role he plays in our boardwalk aviary displays.

Little One came to us in February of 2018 as an injured and non-releasable adult. We partner closely with our local rehab, the Raptor Conservation Alliance, and offer permanent homes to many non-releasable raptors. Owls in particular have a complicated relationship with human care. Many imprinted owls, rescued as chicks and hand raised in captivity, make amazing ambassador animals. They’re comfortable with trainers and audiences alike and are willing partners in putting on demonstrations and educational talks. On the other hand, parent-reared owls can be highly sensitive to stress and fear. Little One was no different. Over the course of my career, I’ve had the luck to attend multiple conferences through the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators (IAATE) and through them learn about the complex nature of training parent-reared owls. Coincidentally, that’s also where I learned about the IATCB certification process and grant opportunities. Between those eye-opening lectures, and my own personal experience watching Little One show behavioral indicators of stress during husbandry, I decided to make a change.

I began a positive reinforcement-based training program with him in March of 2022. While it took an immense amount of patience, and communication between the two of us, we’ve now developed a very strong relationship. Little One will fly from station to station, sit on a scale, and even go into a crate with the door open, all voluntarily and on cue. We’re still working on trusting the door close behavior. I’m incredibly grateful that he no longer shows signs of fear or stress during routine husbandry, and his welfare assessment scores have increased significantly. Now he’s able to be a display bird for our visitors, with a healthy quality of life. When guests see Little One, they’ll usually find him sleeping. Short eared owls are crepuscular, meaning they’re active at dawn and dusk, and sleep in between. If they’re lucky, they may witness a training session right at nine am when we open, or see him exploring his habitat towards closing time at six pm. He can use eyesight to observe the world, but mostly he uses the large ears hidden under his facial disk to listen. It makes it quite a challenge to train when we get distracted by angry squirrels and bluejays. Those same distractions help provide 24-hour enrichment, his enclosure is in the middle of Nebraska forest and provide ample opportunities to observe prey species and hide from predator species. All natural behaviors! I hope you’ve enjoyed getting to meet Little One, and if you’re ever in Nebraska please swing by for a visit.