Bear and seal trainer

The harbour seals and polar bears at Aquarium du Québec no longer hold any secrets for Kléo Carrier. The marine mammal trainer has been looking after them for nine years. Teaching these creatures new behaviors gives her great pleasure. The relationship of trust she has built with her protégés is beautiful to see. Here are some highlights from our discussion with a woman who has been passionate about animals since she was a tiny child. 

Aquarium du Québec Aquarium du Québec
Aquarium du Québec Lorrayne Gabrielle Dias Dantas | © Sépaq

At the age of seven, young Kléo loved teaching her dog all sorts of new tricks. We can say that these training sessions served as the foundations of her future profession. As a child, she also developed a life-long passion for horses. She started horseback riding at the age of nine, which led her to her favourite sport, barrel racing.

Harbour seals: Love at first sight

Her love for animals has never waned; quite the contrary. A visit to Aquarium du Québec turned out to be the determining factor in her career choice. While attending an entertaining and illuminating presentation featuring harbour seals, she fell madly in love with this species.

A conversation with the animal guide who trained them encouraged her to follow her path and undertake a bachelor's degree, then a master's degree in biology at Université Laval. These were the first steps towards realizing her dream of becoming a marine mammal trainer.

Along the way, she spent two summers honing her skills as an animal keeper with camels and dromedaries at the Zoo de Granby. During this period, rich in learning of all kinds, the biology student was even called upon to work with the big cats and the animals in the African sector.

It was during this period that she found inspiration for her thesis on behavioural endocrinology: the effects of enrichment on the well-being and behaviour of a group of mandrills, the largest and most colorful of the Old World monkeys. She also spent her free time writing articles for an animal magazine and was involved in teaching and research in animal sciences at Université Laval.

Aquarium du Québec
Aquarium du Québec © Sépaq
Aquarium du Québec
Aquarium du Québec © Sépaq

A dream come true

It was in 2014, when Kléo was 26 years old, that her career really took off. She landed a position as a marine mammal trainer at Aquarium du Québec. This was the beginning of a great adventure.

Her work led her to interact with different species every day. Harbour seals, harp seals, walruses, polar bears, arctic foxes, birds of prey... each animal has its own particularities. She admits, all the same, that harbour seals and polar bears are still her favourites.

What she loves most about her job is biomedical training, where animals are taught new behaviors through positive reinforcement. It's fascinating to develop a way of communicating between two species that don't share the same language," exclaims Kléo. “When I see the click, when the animal understands what I want to tell it, that's the big payoff!”

The patience of an angel

Over the years, she’s become a true authority on training harbour seals. What she manages to do with them is very impressive indeed.

"What I like most about improving their care is pushing the biomedical training to get them to adopt new behaviors. For example, with Daila and Daphne, we were able to take voluntary blood samples without having to anesthetize them. I'm very proud of that," she reports.

Conditioning a harbour seal to withstand a blood test with a long needle for a certain period of time requires considerable training. In the wild, these animals are prey, so they have a very nervous temperament.

Kléo is hopeful that she and the other Cléo, the 32-year-old harbour seal who’s practically her namesake, can pull off the needle trick. "This summer, she let us give her an ultrasound and an X-ray, which had never been done with her before," Kléo enthuses.

Aquarium du Québec
Aquarium du Québec Kléo Carrier | © Sépaq
Aquarium du Québec
Aquarium du Québec Kléo Carrier | © Sépaq

Building on each other's strengths

When she talks about the harbour seals she trains, her eyes light up as if she were talking about her own children. That's because each of the four females has a little something special.

"Daila is 24 years old and the youngest of the group. She’s a model student in training," Kléo declares proudly. Recently, Kléo and her team even managed to perform an underwater ultrasound of Daila's eye… with the patient’s consent! According to the specialist, Daphne is also a disciplined student, although more moody.

Since Cléo is the eldest, she requires more attention, especially with her regular medical check-ups. "It's a nice training challenge, since she has a more nervous temperament," explains Kléo. And Nicky? She's the darling. "Nicky is my baby! I don't know why, but we connect, we have a great relationship of trust. However, she’s the least good in training; she is a bit spoiled", admits the coach.

Another passion: polar bears

Over the past few years, another animal has conquered Kléo's heart: the polar bear. This new passion developed after she participated in the transfer of Eddy and Taiga to the Cochrane Polar Bear Habitat, during the expansion of the bear enclosure at the Aquarium. Located in Ontario, this is the only facility in the world dedicated exclusively to polar bears.

"I went to Cochrane for three months to help the team become familiar with the two bears at the Aquarium. That's when something clicked for me – I wanted to pursue this interest as a career, without leaving the harbour seals behind, of course," she specifies.

At the Aquarium, each animal guide is responsible for a few animals. In addition to looking after the seals, Kléo was entrusted with the care of Kinuk when he arrived in 2020. Like his half-brother, Shouka, the cub was born at the Zoo sauvage de Saint-Félicien.

Aquarium du Québec
Aquarium du Québec Kléo Carrier | © Sépaq
Aquarium du Québec
Aquarium du Québec Lorrayne Gabrielle Dias Dantas | © Sépaq
Aquarium du Québec
Aquarium du Québec Kléo Carrier | © Sépaq
Aquarium du Québec
Aquarium du Québec © Sépaq

Kinuk's training

"I’ve been working with Kinuk since he first arrived at the Aquarium, when he was only two years old. We’ve built a great relationship of trust. He’s very good at biomedical training, we work well together, we make a great team! I never get tired of working with him and he holds a very special place in my heart," Kléo notes.

Over the past year, she’s achieved a number of feats with her protégé. Thanks to repeated training, the bear now lets her put drops in his eyes. He’s also become a champion of vaccines. Kléo guides him so that he sticks his shoulder on the fence; the veterinarian and his team can then administer the injections.

Even if a behavior is mastered, the training doesn’t stop. "I'm constantly working on touching him everywhere so he's used to human contact. My main goal is to avoid anesthesia, which can be stressful and risky for the animal. We really have to think about the care he might need in the future and train him beforehand. When there’s an injury, it's easier if the animal is primed for the necessary tests and care," Kléo explains.

Dreaming of bears

In her wildest dreams, she would like to go and observe polar bears in the Great North, their natural habitat. This would be a golden opportunity to indulge in another of her passions, animal photography. It must be said that at the Aquarium, she has an extraordinary playground in which to take pictures of her protégés.

And as far as her career is concerned, Kléo intends to continue to push ahead with the training of her students, Kinuk, Nicky, Cléo, and company.

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