1 | santa barbara zoo barbara 1 | santa 2010 annual report Two young Masai giraffes join Sulima, the Zoo’s Baringo giraffe. This marks the beginning of a president & ceo transition to exhibiting only Masai as part of a regional management program with other west coast zoos, including those in Los Angeles and San Diego. Breeding plans are in place once a male is identified for the exhibit. hat a year! The weather could not dampen the The first-time beer Photo | Sheri Horiszny spirits of staff, volunteers, and Zoo friends as we festival attracted welcomed many new animals to our popula- an enthusiastic tion of “wild residents!” In January, Condor crowd, selling out WCountry welcomed its fifth California condor, female #327. She before the event was recovered by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service from the wild opened on June population in the Grand Canyon because she had decided that 5. Based on the associating with people was a good feeding strategy; however, overwhelming success, Zoo Brew will return in 2011! it’s not a good long-term strategy for condor survival. The Zoo’s incredible management team demonstrated once On March 2, the Zoo celebrated the return of capybaras. It again that it was prepared to address the economic challenges had been a number of years since capybaras, the world’s facing our region. With attendance below projections, area largest rodent, had been part of the collection. The four young managers planned and implemented strategies that kept the Zoo capybaras are part of a litter born in October 2009 and were operating in the black throughout 2010. In fact, the Zoo has been brought to the Santa Barbara Zoo in late January. contributing to Santa Barbara’s economic recovery over the past three years by creating new staff positions. The Zoo’s giraffe herd expanded in March with the arrival of two young female Masai giraffes. The pair arrived at the Zoo in March While there were no major capital projects under construction or and the newcomers were introduced to a crowd of enthusiastic being completed in 2010, all major development and planning Zoo-goers on April 15. “Betty Lou” was born at the San Diego efforts focused on the Discovery Pavilion. This $7.5 million, 9,500 Zoo on August 2, 2007 and “Audrey” was born at the Los Angeles square foot project has been in the making for over 25 years. With Zoo on February 6, 2008. many changes since the idea for an education building was first conceived, the Discovery Pavilion funding and planning is well on On May 15, the Zoo’s pair of golden lion tamarins (an endangered its way toward a construction start as early as the end of 2011. squirrel-sized primate from the rainforests of coastal Brazil) welcomed the birth of a new baby. Initially, the new baby Thanks to the efforts and hard work of a dedicated staff, the “Wilson” traveled exclusively on his mother’s back, but both commitment of so many volunteers, and the generosity of our parents actively cared for the youngster. At about six weeks Zoo friends, 2010 was another year of achievements and progress he began his own exploration of the exhibit. The tamarins are for the Zoo. We are sincerely grateful to all of our visitors, part of an international conservation program that is restoring members, and donors who make the operation and progress of populations of these small monkeys to their native habitat. the Zoo possible! The Zoo’s baby population jumped on August 20 with the birth of five Asian small-clawed otter pups to “Bob” and “Jillian.” It was the first otter birth at the Zoo in 20 years, and with much media Patricia Griffin, President, Board of Directors fanfare, the pups went on exhibit on November 8. While the Zoo’s special events such as Boo at the Zoo and Zoofari Ball continued to draw visitors and friends to the Zoo, the ever- Rich Block, Chief Executive Officer creative Marketing Department launched a new event: Zoo Brew! 2 | santa barbara zoo santa barbara zoo | 3 The Zoo has been involved in island fox conservation since conservation and research 1999, and California condor recovery since 2000. Currently, Zoo staff spends time working in the field: on the islands, providing emergency on-call veterinary n 2010, Santa Barbara Zoo staff participated in a variety of local mortality sources. In this vein, Animal Care and Conservation assistance and general captive conservation efforts through staff Conservation Days. At Coal Education Staff spent many days on nearby San Miguel and Santa fox caretaking, and in the Sespe condor sanctuary nest guarding Oil Point, interdepartmental employee teams assisted with Rosa islands, helping to monitor wild populations. and tagging birds. restoration of degraded habitat to better support this coastal Photo | Alan Penner Iecosystem. In the Sespe Condor Sanctuary, Zoo staff cleaned Herpetological staff assisted U.S. Forest Service biologists with up large quantities of microtrash (small bits of trash, e.g. cigarette monitoring populations of California red-legged frogs, arroyo butts, bottle caps) to help provide a safer environment for California toads, western pond turtles, and other species in high-use areas condors to raise their young in the wild. of the nearby Los Padres National Forest. Much was learned about wild condor reproduction and The Zoo supports several international conservation efforts that parenting in the fourth year of the collaborative California Condor directly relate to the animals in the Zoo’s care. Projects are being Nest Guarding Program with the United States Fish & Wildlife undertaken with the International Elephant Foundation, which Service (USFWS). Over 10,000 hours of quantitative behavioral facilitates a variety of conservation, research, and education observations have been collected to date! This is unprecedented projects in Africa and Asia, and the International Snow Leopard for this species and these much-needed data will help inform Trust, which supports community-based conservation of snow and shape recovery efforts for years to come. Nest guarding had leopards in their native range. a very positive impact on the condor chick population: between 2001-2006, two chicks fledged (left the nest), while 11 chicks fledged between 2007-2010. It was a great year for Channel Island fox conservation. Three Below left: While on San Miguel Island, of the four federally listed subspecies of Channel Island foxes Megan Richards holds a Channel Island fox to be are now showing a steady increase in population growth! Thus, weighed, vaccinated, and given a health check. Below right: Zoo staff teams up with conservation efforts are now largely focused on continued the USFWS for trash cleanup at Sespe. population monitoring to gauge recovery and track survival and 4 | santa barbara zoo santa barbara zoo | 5 New to the Zoo this year, patas monkeys have a slender, graceful build. They have limbs of equal length, animal care Quick Response (QR) enabling them to run at fast speeds and swim with ease. codes, installed on signs in They eat a large variety of plants, fruits, and insects, and ten locations around the store extra food in special cheek pouches. & health Zoo (including the American Photo | Margarette Bacani alligator exhibit), give guests a deeper zoo experience with access to informational and nimals typically come to mind when first thinking entertaining videos about a zoo. However, it takes a dedicated team of that can be viewed with a smartphone knowledgeable people, providing excellent animal and an application for care, to make a zoo great. During 2010, members reading the codes. Aof the Santa Barbara Zoo animal care team attended seven Photo | Alan Penner conferences to further their knowledge and professionalism. This involved travel to six states, and covered a wide range of topics, from the first-ever Giraffe Care Workshop and Principles While the giraffe travelled via truck, the patas via plane, Another great example of the improved animal training program in Elephant Management to Training & Enrichment for Zoo and the condor by car, other “arrivals” required far less fuel. is the new lion training wall, completed mid-year. The wall offers a Animals and Population Management. Additionally, Michele There were several significant births this year. way for animal care staff to train while the lions are still on exhibit, Green, Curator of Mammals, won a scholarship to attend the increasing the frequency of training which previously only occurred Gorilla Workshop at the Oklahoma City Zoo. The information May brought the first viable golden lion tamarin birth in the history inside the holding area, off exhibit. Plus, guests can watch the lions gained during these conferences inspired the team to improve of the Zoo. The Species Survival Plan recommendation was that the engage in these sessions, which can provide a powerful way for the lives of the animals cared for at the Zoo. single offspring live in Santa Barbara with his parents long enough guests to connect with the animals. Animal care staff trains the to witness the birth and rearing of their next offspring. He should animals to perform behaviors which help improve their care, and learn everything he needs to know to successfully breed and rear to stimulate the animals mentally. Psychological and physiological The year began with several new arrivals. young of his own in the future, thus contributing to the population stimulation are also encouraged on a daily basis through behavioral of this critically endangered primate. enrichment in the form of scents, puzzles, novel items, moving Two young female Masai giraffes arrived in March, a new subspe- exhibit “furniture,” etc. Animal care staff is now providing the most cies of giraffe for the Zoo.