Amelia Nusbaum

Amelia completed a Master’s degree in Museum Science – with an emphasis in zoological enrichment – from Texas Tech in 2008. During her studies, Amelia spent six months as an intern with Toledo Zoo & Aquarium where she gained in-depth experience in applying the principles of behavior to training marine mammals.

Intent upon a career that impacts the lives of animals in a positive way, she joined Houston Zoo, Inc. as a keeper immediately upon graduation. She spent four years caring for, training, and enriching the lives of birds, primates, Red Pandas, and other mammals.

Seeing a need for a higher quality of life for animals in shelters, she joined BARC as a Senior Animal Care Technician in 2011. In this position, and later as Adoption Coordinator, she began developing an enrichment program for shelter animals and gathering resources for community education.

In 2014, Amelia became Shelter Supervisor and has since created policies and staff training programs that support educating her team, volunteers, and the community. She uses the fundamentals of animal behavior science to build team skills including observation and interpretation of animal body language, implementation of handling techniques that minimize stress, and the daily use of behavior modification and enrichment along with development of a strict and effective disease prevention and sanitation policy and program.