Goodrich, Debra - Owner: Fins, Fur and Feathers, LLC Washington , USA
theparrotlady@earthlink.net Born in a land surrounded by desert, Debbie dreamed, one day, of becoming a dolphin trainer at the tender age of 7 years old. Although she has never trained a dolphinprofessionally, she has spread her dream into training any animal. It began with helpingoperate the family horse-boarding business where she rode, trained and rehabilitatedhorses for 14 years. She obtained her degree in Animal Cognition and Behavior, AKAPsychobiology, from the University of California at Santa Cruz in 1996. At the University, she was a part of a selected team of undergraduate scientists to study Elephant Seals at Ano Nuevo Island . For her graduation requirement, she elected towrite an extensive essay about Reintroduction of Bottlenosed Dolphins that receivedhonors. Immediately following her graduation, she pursued training dolphins, but foundherself training parrots and fish instead through the auspices of Rainforest Cafe in IL.She was promoted and became Curator of her own store in 1999 and operated thestore until she retired to run her own business full time in 2005. She gave her firstlecture on fish enrichment at RAW in 2006 has consulted for predominately private aquaria. Her current focus of the business is chiefly centered around producing herown entertainment company utilizing parrots as ambassadors along with being a fulltime mom. She also owns 3 aquaria, a total of 105 gallons, in her home where she continues to practice enrichment for piscine enclosures.
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