After the first of the year, the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo director was able to buy some enrichment items for the animals thanks to an Enrichment Tree set up in the gift shop before Christmas. Enrichment can range from activities, food, foraging, toys, scents and more to entertain or engage the animals.
The Enrichment Tree was decorated with paper “ornaments” with photos of different toys at various price points that visitors could pick from.
“This year we were able to get some heavy duty kong toys, a coyote decoy, a dancing cactus, some parrot toys and some slow metal feeders,” Burdick said. “The coyote decoy is stationary and just sets outside of enclosures; for some of the smaller animals they can have it in with them as long as they don’t get upset by it.”
Kong toys were designed for dogs to chase, chew and fetch. The heavy duty version can stand up to larger animals and can also be filled with a snack.
“The primary goal of enrichment is to elicit natural behaviors from the animals. But, there can be other goals as well, including engaging the animals in different ways. Hence the decoy or the dancing cactus. The dancing cactus is most popular with Zoey the African Gray Parrot; she likes the music and it has lights on it as well.”
The zoo also makes use of free enrichment opportunities. These can include recycled Christmas Trees, paper towel tubes and egg cartons. Nature provides pinecones, “and some animals even think a nice leaf pile or snowman is fun to play with,” Burdick said. “The leopards especially love (Christmas) trees.”
Training is another form of enrichment. The animals can learn behaviors such as voluntary crating or presenting themselves for injections and blood draws.
The coyote decoy was placed just outside of the bobcat exhibit on Jan. 27 and there’s a video on the zoo’s Facebook page showing the cats, Amora and Hope, checking it out. Hope, who is 18 years old, can be seen sniffing and reaching through the enclosure to smack the “coyote” on its snout.
A cold start
The new year soon had snow and on Saturday, Jan. 4, the zoo closed early in the afternoon and announced it would remain closed on Jan. 5. The keepers continued to care for the animals to make sure they were fed, warm and safe – even when the power went off briefly on Jan. 6.
Most of the animals stayed inside their buildings to remain “nice and toasty,” but some animals, such as the bison, weren’t phased by the cold. Burdick snapped photos of a few of the big cats who also ventured out to check out the snow. “They all promptly ventured back inside,” she said.
By Jan. 7, the zoo was back to its regular hours of 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., but only the Raptor Center was open. That is the main building that houses reptiles, amphibians, fish and small mammals, as well as educational displays, restrooms and a gift shop. The outdoor portion of the zoo remained closed so the sidewalks could be cleared. Most of the animals still chose to stay indoors, anyway.
The bears are sleeping a lot but they still wake up to eat indoors. The zoo is back to its regular schedule. While there are no special events planned this month, the zoo will probably do a World Bear Day Keeper Chat on Saturday, March 22, “provided the bears are awake then.”
