The trainers say teaching animals to take an active role in their own care is much more rewarding than teaching them how to play to an audience.
No one likes taking medicine but animals in an Arizona wildlife park have learned to grin and bear it.
A bear even administers her own shot by pressing her body into the syringe held by a trainer.
The health-conscious animals reside at Bearizona.
Jordan Stucky, a trainer at Bearizona, tells KPHO, "No needle at all, just the syringe and we're doing like a maintenance behavior with this little lady…good! Giving them the choice to participate."
The wolves of the house are more than willing to be treated with insect repellant.
Damian Radine, another trainer at Bearizona, told KPHO, "In the spring and summer, we actually get a lot of flies that come out and try to bite the tips of our wolf's ears. In the past three summers, he's learned this behavior he has had no problems with flies."
The trainers say teaching animals to take an active role in their own care is much more rewarding than teaching them how to play to an audience.
"We're not going to teach him to do a back flip off of this platform. That's cause even though that would be really cool for people to see, it would be be very helpful for us taking care of him,” Radine said.
But for the trainers, it’s just as fun.
"I can't believe this is my job,” Stucky said.
