Woodland Park tour offers guests intimate view of zoo

  • By Sharon Wootton / Special to The Herald
  • Thursday, August 12, 2004 9:00pm
  • LifeGo-See-Do

Zookeeper Stephanie Forbes opened the refrigerator and pulled out a very long beef femur knucklebone, well chewed by Gordo the jaguar.

“This is a bone toothbrush,” Forbes said.

Gordo gets the bone every seven days. Since he is not fed on bone day, he spends a lot of time chewing and, not so incidentally, cleaning his teeth.

What: Eye-to-Eye Tours

Where: Woodland Park Zoo, Seattle

When: Tropical Rain Forest: Wet and Wild, 12:45-2:15 p.m. Oct. 2; Day and Night Exhibits: Out of the Shadows, 10:30 a.m.-noon Aug. 14, Oct. 16; Savanna Safari: Sticking Your Neck Out, 1-2:30 p.m. Sept. 18; Animal Health: Doctors and Diets, 1-2:30 p.m. Sept. 26, Oct. 24; Along the Northern Trail: A Journey of Survival, 1-2:30 p.m. Aug. 29.

Cost: $55 nonmembers, $45 members; must be at least 8 years old.

Information: 206-684-4892.

That insider information is part of the Eye-to-Eye tours offered at the Woodland Park Zoo, a behind-the-scenes look at how keepers interact with and protect zoo animals.

Forbes was leading the Tropical Rain Forest tour.

To go inside the jaguar kitchen-and-cage area, everyone first stepped into a pan with disinfectant to prevent the spread of disease, a good reason to not wear open-toed shoes.

The area is designed for the safety of the employees and volunteers: large mirrors to see hidden areas (preventing surprises from an escaped 165-pound jaguar), and a collection of cage-door locks and heavy, counter-balanced doors.

“We’re fanatical about our locks,” she said.

With good reason, judging by the clawed and gouged hard-plastic balls.

The tour is a mix of viewing animals from the usual perspective with a guide and a behind-the-scenes exploration.

Before the tour starts, the group has a keeper’s conundrum session, a chance to create a model for several birds that have conflicting needs.

Using a set of props and imagination, four adults and two children had to create a naturalistic setting that kept several species safe and their needs met with still being aesthetically pleasing.

Forbes shared information about meeting captive animals’ needs. For the black-and-white colobus (primates), for instance, fresh leaves are a major part of their diet. In addition to lettuce, kale and celery, Forbes brings leafy material from nearby gardens.

Forbes led the group to the animal-containment area that regular zoo visitors never see. The set of cages serves for breeding space and time-out for aggressive animals.

In the squeeze cage, a side of metal bars can be moved slowly to guide the animal to one side, preventing it from pacing or throwing itself against the bars, and allowing a veterinarian to give a shot or do other work without endangering beast or vet.

The tour led down narrow hallways and under the tropical rain forest exhibit, stopping for Forbes to share information about treatment and feeding of the zoo’s charges.

Forbes demonstrated how to handle snakes (without the snake) using a long pole that ended in a hook. Snakes can be venomous, heavy and aggressive, she said, and a hook rather than a hand is less likely to trigger the fight-or-flight response.

Bird nets come in various sizes and depths, the right tool for the right bird. Cages attached to larger structures allow species to slip in for rest or food, providing a refuge from more aggressive species.

Volunteers were busy creating individualized food trays as well as a colorful treat of edible flowers and beans that workers would place in a tube with a small opening. Brazos (swamp) monkeys would have to manipulate it to remove the goodies.

“Living in captivity is like always living in your living room and bedroom. You do have maid and cook service but it’s not very stimulating,” Forbes said, so keepers must provide stimulation in a variety of ways.

And sometimes they provide it to visitors behind the scenes.

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