Wild about animals: Professor Trista Strauch shares her passion with students

by Samantha Rhoades, posted Dec. 21, 2009

Students of the captive wild animal management classes may find themselves sitting around a campfire at a wolf sanctuary, waiting to hear a howl while discussing endangered species. Others spend the weekend working with keepers at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kan.

All students heard from a variety of animal experts that were guest speakers in the class, including zoo curators, nutritionists or keepers from Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Whatever experience they’ve had while learning about captive wild animal management, they have the woman pioneering it all to thank — Trista Strauch.

Trista Strauch feeds an elephant while on a field trip with students at the Sedgwick County Zoo in Wichita, Kan.

Students applaud Strauch’s hands-on teaching style that combines just the right amount of fun with education. She has been teaching the class since its started three years ago, and said interest in the class and wild animal management minor continues to grow.

Strauch’s husband, Tim Safranksi, state swine extension specialist and associate professor of animal science at MU, has known Trista for more than ten years. He agrees that his wife is a cut above the rest as an educator.

“What sets her apart is how passionate she is about making sure the students learn the subject matter and the efforts she is willing to make toward that objective,” Safranski said.

Strauch grew up just off the Mississippi river on a small hobby farm in Hamburg, Ill. She credits her natural love of animals to her father who exposed her to a variety of domestic and wild animals. She started out as many of her students do, with a love of animals beyond that of normal measure.

Strauch said students interested in captive wild animal management as a career need more than just a desire to pet a panda bear. She says most of these students are those with an overall appreciation for the uniqueness of different life forms and ecosystems, as well as a strong understanding of science.

“There’s a difference between loving animals and wanting to know everything about them and how they function and interact in their environment,” Strauch said. “I think that’s what really sets my students apart, that relentless curiosity.”

That curiosity lead Strauch, who came to MU as a journalism major, to change her path to animal science where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

“It had never occurred to me that they taught classes that go in depth with animals,” Strauch said. “So as I looked through the animal sciences curriculum, all the classes I was really interested in were there.”

Strauch received her Ph.D. from Texas A&M University in physiology and reproduction with a nutritional emphasis. Her graduate program involved three years working with large captive herds of red-tailed deer and fallow deer, which helped her realize the importance of captive wild animal management.

Strauch said humans have an increasingly greater impact on the environment and imagines most animals in the future being managed in either a captive environment or in a stringently-managed environment in the wild, making it an increasingly important field. She said the minor helps students with understanding basic husbandry and basic biology, which is a key component of managing animals in those situations. Her professional goals for the future involve the success of her students.

“I want to see the minor be successful, and certainly one can use numbers to define success,” Strauch said. “But, I really want to see placement in their dream positions.”

Strauch said she hopes that one day the guest speakers for the class are those who graduated with the captive wild animal management minor and are back to share their experiences.

Going into the field is very competitive, so she believes having a minor allows students to really combine their major, whatever it be, to make a good blend of those basic courses they can use to get a leg-up in the future.

“I think it will provide those students with an advantage as they go forward to seek those positions,” Strauch said. “It certainly doesn’t guarantee those positions, but it hopefully provides them with an edge.”

She is excited to see her students succeed, but she says her greatest success is her kids.

“I think I’m raising pretty good kids right now, me and my husband together of course,” Strauch said. “I would certainly say they are the thing in my life that I am most proud of.”

Safranski is proud of his wife. He describes her as intelligent, caring, inquisitive, sincere, demanding and fair. Strauch sees herself as impatient and ambitious.

“Most days it’s a good combination,” Strauch said. “You might hear one or two say I’m a little stubborn, as well.”

Behind the dedicated and motivated professor, she is a wife and mother who is focused on her family. Strauch enjoys gardening and cooking — she can polish of lamb chops like a champ — and spends most of her time at home with her husband chasing after her three children, Carson, 4, Casper, 3, and Cooper, 1. Sanfranksi said the family enjoys life on their farm.

“Our boys are surrounded by animals, both plastic, stuffed and living,” said Safranski.

He said they also enjoy walking in the woods and doing barn chores. They have two aquariums in the house, and dogs, cats, chickens and sheep and cows outside.

“When we take trips Trista is always thinking of where we could stop on the way to see critters,” Safranski said.

The family is a fan of both wild tigers and the Mizzou tigers. They attend most football games and watch Mizzou basketball together. Each of their oldest boys could sing the Mizzou Fight Song by the time they were 2 years old.

Although Strauch teaches students cutting-edge information regarding exotic and endangered wild animals, her favorite animal may surprise you.

“People may not like this, but my favorite animal is actually a cow,” Strauch said. “I love ruminants. On the wild animal side, probably rhinoceros, just the hoof-stock type of animals.”

This much admired professor of captive wild animal management continues to help students get their hooves, or rather, their feet, in the door of their dream job.

For more information about the captive wild animal management minor visit:
http://www.snr.missouri.edu/academics/captive-animal.php.

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