Wouter Stellaard

Wouter Stellaard has been in the animal field for over 30 years. His passion and career began in the Netherlands while working in a wildlife rehabilitation center. He created his own animal ambulance while finishing his animal care studies. In search for further education he came to the US where he graduated from the Exotic Animal Training and Management Program at Moorpark College. After an internship he was hired at Natural Encounters Inc. As a senior trainer he helped create, set up, train, and present bird shows at zoos and aquariums across the country. As the Director of Behavioral Programs he consulted both nationally and internationally to create zoo wide animal training programs with keepers to grow their training and presentation skills.

 

At the Columbus Zoo Wouter was the Animal Programs Training Director. He was responsible for the training of staff and animals in a variety of areas with a variety of taxa. He and his team produce natural behavior mixed species shows, run an immersive animal encounters guest area, as well as an African exhibit experience.

 

Currently Wouter is the owner of Behavior 360 where he focuses on training the trainers while setting up department or zoo wide training programs and guest experiences. 

 

Wouter's passion is to teach people how to train animals using the science of behavior change and elevating the industry standards.