AAZK Professional Certificate Courses
AAZK Professional Certificate Courses (PCC) are 12-hour educational courses, taught by subject matter experts. At the conclusion of the 12- hour instructional period, a written test is issued, and professional certificates are awarded for those who pass each test and attend all 12 hours of the course.
Courses are primarily classroom based learning, but some courses may spend time outside of the classroom setting. All PCC Courses will occur from 1-5:30pm on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday
Advanced Husbandry of
Marine Mammals
The Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium maintains a diverse collection of marine mammals. During this course, we intend to highlight our strengths and pass along advanced husbandry practices which we hope will benefit marine mammal collections around the country. Course attendees will leave with a better understanding of marine mammal husbandry of pinnipeds, polar bears, and sea otters, their environmental needs, and how to maintain and document animal wellbeing, training and enrichment.
Husbandry and Management of Aquatic Marine Invertebrates
The Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium maintains a diverse collection of aquatic marine invertebrates including temperate cold-water species from the Pacific Northwest as well as subtropical species from the Indo-Pacific Ocean. During this course, we intend to highlight best husbandry practices which we hope will benefit marine invertebrate collections around the country. Course attendees will leave with a better understanding of marine invertebrate husbandry across common taxonomic groups, their environmental needs, and how to maintain and document animal wellbeing and enrichment.
Empathy for Wildlife
Using Empathy to Support
Your Mission and
Drive Conservation Action
Staff from Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium and Northwest Trek Wildlife Park will familiarize participants with the concept of empathy for wildlife, empathy best practices, and assessment techniques. Between 2015 and 2017, Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle Aquarium, and Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium collaborated to define empathy for wildlife and develop tools necessary to measure it. From that work grew the Advancing Conservation through Empathy for Wildlife Network. As members of the network, Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium and Northwest Trek Wildlife Park share best practices, assessment tools, and learning opportunities with affiliated institutions in the United States and abroad. Through this course, participants will identify ways in which empathy practices can support their institutional missions and will learn how they can incorporate empathy into their own programming and mission-based work.