The America’s Teaching Zoo held the first day of the annual Spring Spectacular event on Saturday, March 19.

The event kicked off with a wildlife theater show called Zoolympics, which is a scripted show based on the upcoming 2016 Olympics. The show had trainers and animals working together performing tricks and participating in different Zoolympics events, such as a scarlet macaw singing the national anthem and a mixed-breed sierra dog playing volleyball with his trainer. The show was full of laughs with an assortment of animal-related puns and gags.

Brenda Woodhouse, an Exotic Animal Training and Management instructor, oversaw the students, who directed and wrote the show. Woodhouse enjoys seeing the students having fun and all the work they put in pay off.

“It’s just fun to see students build confidence,” said Woodhouse. “When it all comes together everyone is so pleased with themselves.”

The next part of the event was a show called Creature Feature, showcasing a variety of animals that have been in commercials and television shows.

Some of these animals were very familiar, like Sparky from the show “Gilmore Girls” and Daffy the Duck, who is famously known as the Aflac Duck. Sparky and Daffy both had different behaviors that they could perform. For instance, Sparky was trained to bark whenever someone said pizza, or Daffy, when being signaled, could strike a pose as if he was getting his photo taken on a red carpet.

Mallory Eckerson, a recent graduate of the EATM program, enjoys coming back to Moorpark College to return the favor to her alma mater.

“It is so much fun to come back.” said Eckerson. “I like to give back to EATM because they gave so much to me.”

Eckerson’s favorite part about the animals is seeing them mature and start to get the hang of their tricks for the show.

“Getting to see them [the animals] progress and finally seeing a behavior click feels really good,” said Eckerson.

Eckerson is also a trainer at the Studio Animal Services in Castaic, Calif. She works with a variety of animals who starred in commercials, television shows and movies such as “Shutter Island” and “Legally Blonde.”

The event was fun for many families. Jen Bregman, who came to the event with her husband and two boys, really enjoyed the shows.

“Its been totally awesome,” said Bregman. “It’s been a great event.”

Bregman was very impressed with the kindness displayed by the students and said that was a highlight of her day.

“How really nice all the students are makes it a great time,” said Bergman. “They clearly love the animals and the environment is really welcoming.”

Mara Rodriguez, zoo operations staff, has been part of the EATM program for 24 years and always looks forward to Spring Spectacular.

“The best part is it is a full collaboration between students and staff,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez said that Spring Spectacular is a semester-long project.

“We work the entire semester, preparation starts in November and it’s about a five to six month long process,” said Rodriguez.

Rodriguez expects about 700 to 1000 guests per day to attend this multiple-weekend event.

Rodriguez said this year’s event is unique because of the Zoolympics stage show.

“This year we have a funny energized show, I would say it definitely gets a gold medal,” said Rodriguez.

Spring Spectacular continues on March 20, 26, 27 and April 2 and 3. For more information, visit http://zoo.moorparkcollege.edu/events/