Laura Monaco Torelli
Laura Monaco Torelli is the founder of Animal Behavior Training Concepts in Chicago, Illinois. She began her career in 1991 at 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 terrestrial animals, including primates, large cats, birds of prey, horses, parrots, tree kangaroos, giraffes, red pandas, and dogs. She currently collaborates with Wildlife Discovery Center (Lake Forest, IL) as part of their raptor and fox rescue/rehabilitation care team.
Laura serves as a Faculty Instructor with Karen Pryor Academy for Animal Training & Behavior (KPA), and as a Teaching Assistant for Dr. Susan G. Friedman’s Living & Learning with Animals online course. She offers private training in downtown Chicago, and virtual training worldwide. Laura has presented at numerous professional conferences and taught seminars across the United States, Italy, Sweden, UK, Singapore, Japan, and the Caribbean. She has presented as an invited speaker for the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), Midwest Veterinary Conference (MVC), and Penn Vet Working Dog Conference. She has appeared on various broadcast media, including FOX 32 Chicago, WGN and NBC 5 news, WGN Radio, and WCIU’s You & Me This Morning. She also contributed training videos for the Fear Free Professional Trainer Certification program, and the Karen Pryor Academy “Better Vet Visits” online course.
