ZooAmerica ZooAmerica news

It looks like one of their female elk (Hannah) has died, though it was never announced. The last photos I have that show two females were taken in September before they were separated from the male.
 
MC Baron said:
It looks like one of their female elk (Hannah) has died, though it was never announced. The last photos I have that show two females were taken in September before they were separated from the male.
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Did you ask one of the staff at the zoo or you just assume that? But it’s not a surprise, considering she was very old. Becky is now the last survivor of her original herd, before Hannah there was an adult male Nubs that died several years back at the ripe old age of 20.
 
Kevin2342 said:
Did you ask one of the staff at the zoo or you just assume that? But it’s not a surprise, considering she was very old. Becky is now the last survivor of her original herd, before Hannah there was an adult male Nubs that died several years back at the ripe old age of 20.
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There has only been one female visible the past few times I've been there, and the website only mentions Becky and John Henry now. The zoo always maintains a herd of three elk, with one male and two females, so with them getting a new one it makes sense that one of the females has died.

ZooAmerica doesn't always announce animal deaths and departures. No announcements were made for either of the sandhill cranes or their last female pronghorn. I don't know what happened to them, though I suspect Sage had to be separated from Callum to prevent inbreeding since she was his mother.
 
MC Baron said:
There has only been one female visible the past few times I've been there, and the website only mentions Becky and John Henry now. The zoo always maintains a herd of three elk, with one male and two females, so with them getting a new one it makes sense that one of the females has died.

ZooAmerica doesn't always announce animal deaths and departures. No announcements were made for either of the sandhill cranes or their last female pronghorn. I don't know what happened to them, though I suspect Sage had to be separated from Callum to prevent inbreeding since she was his mother.
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According to the website, the zoo still has one sandhill crane, Peanut. I never knew there were two at one point, but there very well could have.
 
Kevin2342 said:
According to the website, the zoo still has one sandhill crane, Peanut. I never knew there were two at one point, but there very well could have.
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Two sandhill cranes were acquired in 2012, Ichabod and peanut. Currently, the species is no longer on display after the remaining crane, peanut, was taken off exhibit due to the avian flu outbreak. He hasn't been brought back out and the signage was removed last year. The website no longer lists Sandhill cranes on the main list, even though the page can still be found online.
 
Smaggledagle said:
On May 10th, the zoo announced they acquired a (0.1) Rocky Mountain? elk from the Elk Country Elk Farm in Pennsylvania.

Elk Arrival at ZooAmerica | Join us in welcoming a new member to the elk herd: a 2 year old female from the Elk County Elk Farm. While she settles in, she will live in the back... | By ZooAmerica | Facebook
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On May 28th, the zoo announced its name, Phoebe.

ZooAmerica - Our new female elk now has a name- meet...

On August 24th, it was announced that the zoo transferred a (0.1) Canada lynx named Becca to the John Ball Zoo in Michigan.

https://www.facebook.com/JBZoo/post...V6fDisRFrCmKQtMHBcHytCT2henMEndheMNoJY3wcpSCl

DartFrog said:
On January 20th, it was announced that ZooAmerica had acquired an orphaned mountain lion cub from Washington. She will be BTS until summer of this year.

登录 Facebook | Facebook
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On October 6th, the zoo announced that the mountain lion, named Fern, will now be on exhibit in the upper portion as she gets acclimated to her surroundings.

Fern Friday: We know you’ve been anxious to get an update on our juvenile mountain lion, and we have exciting news! Fern was recently introduced to a small area of the mountain lion habitat! She is in her den area and has supervised time in the upper portion of the exhibit. At this time, she can see Rainier through a fence, but they are not yet together. Based on cues from Fern’s behavior, we will take this introduction process slowly until she appears to be completely comfortable around him. Fern’s den area has private spaces for her comfort. She may be visible in her space on your next visit, but please be patient during this acclimation period. : Katie H., Naturalist & Alicia H., Zoo Supervisor | ZooAmerica | Giulio Cercato · Beautiful
 
On March 31st, the zoo announced they acquired a (1.0) domestic rabbit named Theodore in August 2023 which is now an animal ambassador.

ZooAmerica

On April 1st, the zoo announced they acquired a (0.0.1) green iguana named Houdini which is an animal ambassador.

Houdini the green iguana is hanging out with our newest arrivals to the education department! We hope you’ll come meet all of our living dinosaurs soon! #aprilfools | ZooAmerica | Michael Giacchino · Welcome to Jurassic World

On April 14th, the zoo announced that their Assistant Director of Animal Care & Operations, Dale Synder, retired after spending 52 years with the facility, first working at the Animal Gardens in 1974, and later ZooAmerica in its opening year (1978).

ZooAmerica
Dale Snyder Retires from ZooAmerica after 52 Years

On April 19th, it was reported that the park acquired (1.1) harbor seals named Scooter and Satara, as well as a (0.1) California sea lion named Reese in mid-December which are now on display in the Ampitheater area.

Meet the new animals at Hersheypark and ZooAmerica

On April 23rd, the zoo announced that their (0.1) "albino" striped skunk named Betty passed away at age 10.

ZooAmerica
 
According to the zoo website, we are down to one elderly ocelot, Santo. I would speculate that Ozzy passed away recently. Is that correct? If so, he was very old, around 24 years old, and one of the oldest ocelots in the world.
 
Kevin2342 said:
According to the zoo website, we are down to one elderly ocelot, Santo. I would speculate that Ozzy passed away recently. Is that correct? If so, he was very old, around 24 years old, and one of the oldest ocelots in the world.
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So I emailed the zoo and they just got back to me. Ozzy the ocelot is actually still alive, just not on exhibit. He is 24 years old(144 in human years!) and is permanently retired from display due to his age-related arthritis and mobility issues. He will live out his remaining days at the Animal hospital with veterinarians keeping an extra close eye on him. The zoo posted his 24th birthday party back in May, and people in the comments were complaining he didn’t look well when they went to the zoo, so it makes sense he is now retired as people were complaining he didn’t look good.

The zoo also mentioned that the ocelot exhibit they have is not meant for breeding, and they just want to house single, non-breeding ocelots. Once Ozzy passes I doubt they will get another ocelot(speculation) at least until Santo passes away too, which he may last another 5-10 years if we’re lucky. Santo is old as well, but he’s a much younger 15. He’s still in perfect health so who knows how long he will last. Hopefully he can last as long as Ozzy.
 
I visited yesterday, and the pronghorn yard was barren. I saw that the cranes and vultures were off-exhibit and no longer on display, but did the buck Callum get transferred?
 
I'm not sure what is going on with Callum but there is signage indicating that he is under veteranary care. The remaining sandhill crane disappeared during the avian flu outbreak and has not returned since. The signs for the crane and vultures were removed at the time and the zoo has not made any announcements regarding the cranes. I'd like to ask a keeper about the pronghorn when I get the chance.

I'm not sure why the zoo hasn't gotten more females to continue breeding pronghorn considering the success they've had.

From what I understand, the plan is to overhaul that exhibit after their last pronghorn dies. I remember someone on a Hersheypark Facebook group mentioned it a while ago so I can't say for sure how accurate that information is. I'm hoping that the zoo will finally get more bison if they're not going to be keeping pronghorn, since they were always my favorite. Bighorn sheep would be interesting too, though, since there isn't anywhere in the area to see them. But I'd be disappointed to see them get out of pronghorn since they're the only zoo around that has them.
 
I heard from a zookeeper today that Callum is alive and currently being held off-exhibit due to an illness.

@Kevin2342 Weren't the ocelots named Bean and Nib after the the Cacao pod? I remember those names being announced when they arrived in 2010 but not since then.
 
MC Baron said:
I heard from a zookeeper today that Callum is alive and currently being held off-exhibit due to an illness.

@Kevin2342 Weren't the ocelots named Bean and Nib after the the Cacao pod? I remember those names being announced when they arrived in 2010 but not since then.
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Haha I think Bean and Nib were their nicknames… their real names were Santo and Frisco, named after the zoo they were born, the San Francisco Zoo. Frisco went to Mesker Park Zoo in 2015, and Ozzy came from Mesker Park Zoo. Ozzy was already 15 when he arrived so he was already old at the time… he wasn’t recommended to breed and just came as a solitary male to live out his retirement years. Santo was originally supposed to move too but he never did. The zoo just announced on their social media sites about Ozzy being retired from public view, as I mentioned before. Santo now lives in the ocelot habitat full time.
 
My previous post was misinformed. The zookeeper I heard from that day was rather vague and that's what I was led to believe. I heard today that Callum actually broke his leg after getting it caught in the fence. He's in week 5 of an 8-week cast and is doing well. They hope to have him out again before the Halloween festivities begin.
 
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