Something to Crow About

The May-June issue of Audubon Magazine has an article entitled Brains Over Brawn, that looks at the fascinating behavior of crows, ravens, and their kin.  "Evolution," according to the article, "has endowed the species with a big brain that empowers it to readily exploit and adapt to whatever [life] throws its way." The crow, we learn, is "very social, rarely found alone, and can be mischievous.

That intelligent, cooperative, and mischievous behavior was on display at Chehaw Park last week as three crows surrounded a turtle that was attempting to create a nest and lay her eggs. The birds took turns looking into the hole, awaiting the eggs that would be their mid-afternoon snack. The standoff went on for more than an hour before the turtle trudged off to find a new location, leaving the crows to ponder the empty hole.

A Day to Celebrate the Earth

Over forty years ago, an iconic photograph of the earth was taken from 28,000 miles in space by the crew of Apollo 17. The photo, known as “the Blue Marble”, depicts the earth as a blue and white sphere set against the inky blackness of space – and it is a haunting image of our fragile existence. As we approach Earth Day 2013, perhaps this is a good time to reflect on this photograph and consider how we are doing.

When it comes to our planet, it seems that all we hear is doom and gloom. We endlessly debate global climate change and argue about whether it is the result of natural processes or human activities. In the tropics, wild populations of everything from monarch butterflies to African rhinos are declining precipitously while polar bears struggle to survive in an ice-free arctic. In South Georgia, water consumption is the concern as we watch the once beautiful Radium Springs spend much of the year as a dry creek bed.

But not all of the news is bad, if you know where to look. In our own community, for example, we are fortunate to have two institutions that have a positive impact on people’s attitudes about our planet. Chehaw Park and the Flint RiverQuarium have remarkably similar missions. Chehaw is about “inspiring people to connect with nature and encouraging conservation action through positive recreational and educational experiences”. The RiverQuarium‘s mission is to “promote conservation through aquatic exhibits and educational, entertaining experiences”. The community embraces these missions and supports our activities as we reach out to thousands of young people from all over the South Georgia. Both Chehaw and FRQ host summer camps, overnight programs, and the visits of thousands of school children.

Chehaw works closely with the Dougherty County School System, hosting the annual Science Olympiad for all students in the 3rd – 5th grades and supporting Turner Elementary School as a Partner in Excellence. Our junior zookeeper program engages teenagers, teaching them various aspects of zoo animal management and immersing them in wildlife education programming. At the college level, Chehaw recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Albany State University to formalize the many biology and natural resource programs that have been conducted in recent years. We regularly host ASU students for lab classes, field research projects, and internships. Drafting students at Albany Technical College are learning about the natural world by working on plans for a new North American animal section in the zoo, and Georgia Southwestern has initiated a new class, Biology 4760: Zoo Animal Care & Maintenance. This unique program is allowing Biology students to learn about careers in zoo management.

According to NationalGeographic.com, Earth Day is now celebrated by a billion people in 180 nations around the world. Albany can celebrate Earth Day at Chehaw on Saturday, April 27^th as we host a nationwide, Association of Zoos and Aquariums event known as the Party for the Planet™. On that same day, The Flint RiverQuarium (along with Darton State College) will engage the community with a 5K run and music festival. Both Chehaw and FRQ have many bright, dedicated young people who will be out that day actively engaged in supporting our missions. When viewed in this youth-oriented light, the future does not seem all that grim. Perhaps that is where our hope lies, as we heed the Native American proverb: “We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children”. 

This post appeared as a Guest Editorial in the April 19th, 2013 Albany Herald.  On Saturday, April 20th, someone calling him/herself Rightasrain posted the following comment:

Come on and admit that you are one of the "greenie goonies" and you believe in man-made global warming. Exactly what are your "missions"? The Native American proverb is all wrong, man does not "borrow the earth from our children"; oh, it's good spin for you earth day worshippers (which by the way, worshipping earth (Earth Day, Mother Earth, etc) all have roots in pagan worship. So, all you faker earth day pagans go for it. Man will never destroy the earth, there are more polar bears now than 25 years ago, throughout its history earth has always had cycles of warming and cooling. But, go ahead...drink your greenaid.

All I can say is - WOW!

Elephants on the Verge

Elephants are in the news lately, both in North America – where some zoos are building new, multimillion dollar facilities while other zoos are getting out of the elephant business altogether – and in Africa, where they are on the road to extinction.

In the past decade, a dozen zoos have halted their elephant programs, citing cold weather conditions or limited space. In Canada, the Toronto Zoo is sending its three adult elephants to California after the Toronto City Council overruled zoo staff and sided with animal activists. Other zoos are expanding their elephant facilities. The Pittsburgh Zoo built a 700-acre refuge; the Oregon Zoo announced plans to build a sprawling off-site reserve; and the 225-acre National Elephant Center in Florida is expected to receive its first residents in a few months. This facility, underwritten by member zoos of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, will “provide short-term and long-term care for North American elephants in support of the accredited zoo population and for the welfare of elephants in need”. 

The elephants at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C., also have a new home. The old Elephant House has been renovated to include more space for the giant animals to play, rest and even take showers. The renamed Elephant Community Center, which opened last month, is the final piece of the redesigned Elephant Trails exhibition. It is designed to hold as many as 10 elephants, zoo officials said. The new space has several hands-on activities for humans, including a machine that compares elephant sounds and human voices. You can also make a pledge to save the elephants, a conservation message zoo officials everywhere hope visitors will take away from their exhibitions.

The headline out of St. Louis is “St. Louis Zoo continues to breed elephants despite protests”. The impending arrival of an Asian elephant calf at the St. Louis Zoo is cause for both celebration and concern. Celebration, keepers say, because a new elephant helps build a safety net for a species threatened by extinction. And concern because of a deadly herpes virus that has killed about 25 percent of the Asian elephants born in North American zoos in the past three decades. Animal rights activists say the St. Louis Zoo is irresponsible to breed elephants knowing the virus is present in the herd. In Defense of Animals, a California-based organization, is calling for the zoo to halt its breeding program. Steve Feldman of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which accredits North American zoos, says the answer is to find a cure, not to stop breeding. “You develop the science and the research and you prepare yourself to treat any illnesses,” Feldman said. “That’s how science advances.”

But to what end? The truth, according to some, is that captive breeding programs cannot save elephants in the wild. That would demand dramatic change from the people who slaughter elephants for tusks and meat. A world without wild elephants, everyone agrees, is a very real possibility. According to a new study published in the journal PLOS and reported at FrenchTribune.com, African forest elephants are about to reach extinction, primarily due to increased poaching for their ivory tusks. Their population has declined about 62% in just the last decade. Wildlife Conservation Society conservationists say effective measures must be taken all over the world where elephants occur. Ivory smuggling routes and the final destination in the Far East have to be in the main agenda to protect the species from extinction.

So all this begs the question, are zoos on the right track? Those that can afford it, are building mega-spaces. Those that lack sufficient resources, or that are located in inhospitable climates, are either pooling resources or getting out of the business altogether. The business of keeping elephants is changing rapidly, but is it going to be enough? Whatever we do may be less than ideal for these challenging creatures, but we must do something. Perhaps it is enough to keep setting higher and higher standards, heeding the advice of author and animal advocate Temple Grandin who says “what we really need to do to protect animals is set high standards. People can live up to high standards, but they can’t live up to perfection”.

Zookeepers - doing what we love

One of my earliest memories as a zookeeper is a tense moment as an elephant keeper at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida. One of my duties at that time in the early 1970’s was to help walk five African elephants some 200 yards from their exhibit yard to their night barn at the end of the day. They walked trunk-to-tail through a pasture occupied by zebra, giraffe, and other hoofed stock without incident – except on those occasions when the 9-year-old bull, Bwana, decided to break out of line. His usual tactic was to run a few yards away, turn toward his handlers with his ears fanned out, and dare us to approach him. On those evenings when I was the lead handler, it was my job to slowly walk toward him, calming him with the command “Bwana steady”, grab the 6,000 pound animal by the tusk, and tell him to “move up” and “come in line”. My hands would tremble and my heart would thump as I considered what I would do if he refused. He never did. It was only later in my career, after numerous reports of elephants killing their handlers that I came to appreciate just how much danger I was really in.

I was reminded of my close calls a few weeks ago when I learned of the death of the 24-year-old intern at a California wildlife sanctuary. Dianna Hanson had a degree in biology, had worked with big cats in Africa, and was living her dream working with wild animals. Those of us in the profession know how dangerous that dream can really be. We are in daily contact with animals that can kill us – big cats, bears, elephants, killer whales, venomous snakes – and we wouldn’t have it any other way. It is what we do. These animals depend on us for their survival and we accept the inherent risk that goes with daily contact.

There are no words that can assuage the anguish of a parent who has lost a child too soon, but I applaud the parents of Dianna Hanson, who are reported in the media to have said “she died doing what she loves”, putting this down to a tragic accident. Most zoos, especially the accredited ones, are removing the keepers from direct contact with dangerous animals – and that is as it should be – but accidents are still going to happen. A door will be left unlocked, a hand will get too close to a cage, or an animal will make an unprecedented leap.

I wish we had a wall somewhere with the names of zookeepers who were killed in the line of duty etched in stone – perhaps with the image of the animal that was responsible for their death. Dianna Hanson’s name would be added to the list that includes Stepanie James (Knoxville Zoo, 2011), Dawn Brancheau (Seaworld, 2010), and the two zookeepers who were killed in Europe in 2012 (one in Germany by a tiger and one in Sweden by wolves). I would like to see my friend, Dave Marshall (killed by a tiger at Metrozoo in Miami) so honored.

I wonder, sometimes, how our job compares to that of a firefighter or police officer. I have been bitten, kicked, and gored. I have been stared down by a young bull elephant that was “feeling his oats” and chased out of a cage by a polar bear that woke up from his tranquilizer prematurely. But I have friends who have not been so fortunate. They have had careers ended and even been killed by the animals they cared for. Danger can even come from unexpected quarters. I once had a rib cracked while trying to catch a llama in the children’s zoo. And how do I know my rib was cracked? Because a certain young veterinarian (who shall remain nameless) x-rayed me on the floor of the zoo’s animal hospital.

Some degree of danger comes with the job, but zookeepers around the world will just keep doing what they do. We will not give up on the animals that depend on us. We will stitch up our wounds, x-ray our broken bones, and follow the motto the British adopted in WWII – Keep Calm and Carry On.

Book Review

I just finished the book Jamrach's Menagerie by Carol Birch. As a zoo director, a history buff, and a lover of all things English – you would think I would be drawn into a story about exotic animals that is set in 1850’s England. Actually I was prepared to be disappointed, since I am a bit of a cynic. I have written my own animal novel and I have discovered that the nuances of animal care and the ability to make accurate observations of animal behavior do not come easily. While, I must admit, it took me a while to be fully hooked on Jamrach’s Menagerie I did get well and truly hooked. This is, I believe a remarkable piece of writing.

I was enthralled with the spot-on descriptions of the impressive and diverse collection of animals in Mr. Jamrach the animal dealer’s shop, where young Jaffy Brown “grew light of mind from the gorgeous stench”. Who but an animal person would recognize that stench could be gorgeous?

 Later, at sea, as Jaffy watched a recently harpooned whale die, he declared, “It was then I truly realized a whale is no more a fish than I am.”   “So much strength dies slowly. We watched in awe, wordless. Ten minutes, fifteen, more. As she thrashed, she swam around in an ever dwindling gyre, and I begged her to die”.

 And finally, I couldn't help but be impressed with Jaffy's observations of a recently captured Komodo dragon:

“His piggy little eyes watched me suspiciously, and not a movement more I got for the rest of the day.”

“Those eyes were no more stupid than a rock is stupid. In the worst throes if its madness, those ancient eyes had remained fixed as stars, brightly aware, receiving what befell with the clarity of a sage. All life and death the same, the same pain and feeding and fighting and dying.  All of that was in the depths of the creature’s eyes. All that and all the wildness of his life. No, he was not stupid.” How do you write that unless you have spent time looking into the soul of a Komodo dragon?

 At times lyrical and poetic and at times disturbing and evening repulsive, this is one of the few books on the list of those I wish to read again someday.

Enjoying some good reviews on my Book - The Menagerie: A Zoo Story

 http://www.amazon.com/The-Menagerie-A-Zoo-Story/dp/1470106299/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334850600&sr=1-1

 

This was not what I expected from the title. I like to learn when I read and I expected a lot of zoological information. But there was more to this than just a zoo story. There were background stories and character development weaving through periods of time as well through periods of racial and gender struggles that remind us of the way things were in the not so distant (or pleasant) past. This was a good read for learning about the efforts to build and maintain a zoo and for being immersed in the sorted past of a community effort. (Don on amazon.com, April 11, 2012)

Wonderful read! If you are a fan of zoo's you will enjoy this book. (Beverly on goodreads.com May 26, 2012)

I love a story that starts with the discovery of a dead body. It just pulls you right in, but this book is more than just a mystery. The Menagerie is a “who done it” set amidst the background of a zoo, where the people are not the only ones with personalities. We get to know a little of the behind the scenes in the interesting world of a long established zoological park. Porter makes good use of his zoo experience to bring this story to life. I really enjoyed it. (Karen on goodreads.com, June 9, 2012)

Book ReviewS

By Beverly Shaff, Docent, Seneca Park Zoo

The Menagerie: A Zoo Story

J.D.Porter

Paperback & Kindle Editions

ISBN 9781470106294

Have a love for zoos, ever think about how a zoo becomes a zoo? This is a wonderfully

written story of The Dotson Park Zoo, a fictitious place but a story of one of the great American zoos. Flash back in time to a wrestling bear that kills a man in a bar-fight, a cobra in a baby carriage and chimpanzees and elephants living together in the same exhibit. Two dead bodies discovered, both murdered at the zoo. Fascinating history that gives you a new appreciation for zoos and some of the things that happen to make a zoo succeed!   (Symbiosis, Journal of the Association of Zoo and Aquarium Docents, Vol. XXIV No. 3, Jul 2012)

Schindler's Extinction List

Leslie Kaufman’s May 27, 2012 NY Times article entitled “Zoos’ Bitter Choice: To Save Some Species, Letting Others Die” raises some interesting questions for zoo professionals.

How do we “conserve animals effectively” as we “winnow species” in our care in order to devote more resources to the chosen few – a process Kaufman astutely says is “less like Noah building an ark and more like Schindler making a list”?

Many people suggest that the millions of dollars we spend on zoos should, instead, be sent directly to the wild. According to Dr. Steven L. Monfort, the director of the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, “We as a society have to decide if it is going to be ethically and morally appropriate to simply display animals for entertainment purposes.” Dr. Monfort wants zoos to raise more money for the conservation of animals in the wild and to make that effort as important as erecting fancier accommodations for their captive collections. Zoos, he said, should build facilities — not necessarily open to the public — that are large enough to handle whole herds of animals so that more natural reproductive behavior can occur. And less emphasis should be placed on animals that are popular attractions but are doing fine in the wild, like African elephants and California sea lions, Dr. Monfort said, adding that they should be replaced with animals in desperate need of rescuing.

But that is going to be a challenge. If it were not for zoos and those “fancier accommodations”, millions of dollars in conservation funding would never be raised in the first place. The fact that zoos can generate the public support, both in attendance and dollars, is an indicator of what a powerful message zoos can generate.

Many zoo directors say that a radical reordering is not called for and that each zoo does valuable work even if conserving just a few species. But Dr. Monfort is not satisfied. He wants all zoos within the Association of Zoos & Aquariums to aim higher on conservation efforts. “I am comfortable with raising the standards for zoos so that eventually it will be harder and harder to be accredited unless you are doing that,” he said in an interview. “If you can’t keep up, then you probably need to be dropped off the bottom.”

The best way to teach respect for and even awe of nature is to allow people to experience it – first hand. For most of us, who will never visit Africa to see giraffes in the wild, that experience occurs in the local zoo. It is one thing to see a giraffe on television, but it is quite another to have a giraffe wrap its long, wet tongue around a branch as you feed it at your local zoo.

But perhaps we do need to draw some distinctions and stop treating every non-human animal in the same manner. A frog, a zebra, and a chimpanzee are very different creatures with very different needs. Maybe we need to urge northern zoos to stop trying to keep elephants and urge southern zoos to stop trying to keep polar bears. And maybe we need to stop all zoos from keeping great apes and whales. If we are going to keep, breed, and preserve some species, maybe it should be done, as Dr. Monfort suggests, in special preserves or villages like, for example, the AZA elephant preserve in Florida. Maybe the biggest question of all is how do we keep pride, politics, and bureaucracy out of the decision-making process and do what is right for the animals?