L
aura Monaco Torelli is the founder of Animal Behavior Training Concepts in Chicago, Illinois. Her career began in 1991 with Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, where she trained beluga whales, dolphins, sea otters, seals, river otters, and penguins. After nearly a decade at the Shedd, she moved on to the San Diego Zoo and then Brookfield Zoo as a lead supervisory trainer. During her time in the zoo community, Laura worked with a wide variety of species, including primates, large cats, birds of prey, horses, parrots, tree kangaroos, giraffes, red pandas, and dogs. She was also part of the wildlife rescue and rehabilitation team for the Wildlife Discovery Center in Lake Forest, Illinois.
Laura is a Karen Pryor Academy (KPA) faculty member as well as a teaching assistant for Dr. Susan G. Friedman’s Living & Learning With Animals online course. Laura has presented at professional conferences and taught seminars across the United States, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Japan, and the Caribbean. She was an invited speaker for the American Veterinary Medical Association Convention, Midwest Veterinary Conference, and Penn Vet Working Dog Conference. Laura has appeared on various broadcast media, including FOX 32, WGN, NBC 5 News, WGN Radio, and WCIU’s You & Me This Morning. She contributed training videos for the Fear Free Professional Trainer Certification program and the Karen Pryor Academy Better Vet Visits online class.
Learn more about Laura on her website, on Facebook, on Instagram, on YoutTube, and on TikTok.