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Magazine of the NC Zoo So ciety www.n czoo.com Dear Friends of the Zoo Summer 2 01 4 Issue No.77 SOCIETY BOARD MONTY WHITE, JR. Chair his issue of the Alive magazine flew the youngsters here during the Raleigh explores some of the major high - height of some of the winter’s worst EARL JOHNSON, JR. lights of the Zoo’s history, begin - weather. The Lighthawk pilots regularly Vice-Chair ning with its birth and progressing up to volunteer their time, their skills and their Raleigh Tthe present. This theme coincides with planes to fly wildlife and companion BILL CURRENS, JR. the extended 40th anniversary party that animals to safety. We are deeply indebted Treasurer the Zoo is holding this year. This cele - to these brave people for helping our Charlotte bration began in March, with the open - kittens and for all the good works these THERENCE O. PICKETT pilots accomplish for animals. Secretary ing of Bugs: An Epic Adventure, and the Greensboro reopening of kidzone, and will conclude The pages of this issue also list some NICOLE A. CRAWFORD with the reopening of the Polar Bear early details of our 2015 travel program Greensboro exhibit this fall. KEITH CRISCO Along with updating Asheboro our readers on the MICHAEL J. FISHER progress that the Zoo Winston-Salem has made toward reno - MINOR T. HINSON vating and expanding Charlotte this Polar Bear exhibit, JIM KLINGLER this issue of Alive also Raleigh provides an update on MARJORIE M. RANKIN Patches, the Zoo’s Asheboro newest Polar Bear. She SCOTT E. REED Winston-Salem is adjusting well to her new home. The same DAVID K. ROBB Charlotte article talks about a CHARLES M. WINSTON, JR. citizen science project that the Zoo is and offer our readers a glimpse of the Raleigh supporting to help protect Polar Bears party we are planning for this year’s EDITORIAL BOARD living in the wild. Zoo To Do . It will be unforgettable. In another animal feature, this Alive And, be sure to check out the Zoo and Jayne Owen Parker , Ph .D., tells the tale of three cougar kittens who the Zoo Society’s program calendars! Managing Editor were orphaned, and rescued, in Oregon, We have tons of fun planned for the De Potter, Design & Layout and who have since taken up residence season. Daniel Banks at the North Carolina Zoo. Volunteer Jayne Owen Parker, Ph .D., Editor Rich Bergl, P h. D. pilots with the Lighthawk organization John D. Groves Rod Hackney Dr. David Jones Michael Loomis, DVM TheNorthCarolinaZooisopeneverydayoftheyear,excepton ChristmasDay.WinterhoursbeginNovember1andextendfrom Mark MacAllister 9a.m.to4p.m.SummerhoursbeginonApril1andextendfrom9 Tonya Miller a.m.to5p.m.Standardadmissionpricesare$12foradults,$10for seniorsand$8forchildren.ZooSocietymembersandregistered Please recycle your ALIVE magazine. To locate the Ken Reininger NorthCarolinaschoolgroupsareadmittedfree.TheZoooffersfree closest magazine recycling area in your city, call “Solid Cheryl Turner parking,freetramandshuttleservice,picnicareas,visitorrest Waste Management” or “Recycling” under the City or areas,foodserviceandgiftshops. County listings of your phone book. Diane Villa For information, call 1-800-488-0444. Russ Williams TheZooisaprogramoftheN.C.DepartmentofEnvironmentandNaturalResources.TheNCZooSocietyisthenon-profitorganization Angie Kahn, Proofreader thatsupportstheNorthCarolinaZoologicalParkanditsprograms.SocietyofficesareopenMonday–Friday,8a.m.to5p.m.Formore . Printed by Hickory Printing Solutions information,pleasecall336-879-7250orlogontotheSociety’sWebpageat nczoo.com TABLE OF CONTENTS 2 40 Years of Wild From 1973 to 2014: How the Zoo has grown ....................................................... Becca Sigafoos, Guest Contributor, and Jayne Owen Parker, Editor 6 Zoo Society History Even older than the Zoo’s 7 Zoo To Do 2014: Unforgettable 8 Waiting for Polar Bears .................................................................... Ken Reininger , Contributing Editor 9 Opening Celebration Big bugs, happy kids and a parade! 10 International Travel Programs 12 Field Notes: Rising Tide of Wildlife Diseases Causes of mass extinctions? ..................... John D. Groves, Contributing Editor 13 Stopping the Assault on Wildlife 9 .................................................................. David M. Jones, Contributing Editor 14 Zoo Access Backstage p asses for p rograms, camps and more for the year 16 Kids’ Page: The Amazing Spider, Man Spinning webs and more .......................................... Jayne Owen Parker, Editor 17 Rescued Cougar Kittens Arrive at Zoo A tale of three kitties .................................. Ken Reininger , Contributing Editor BC BUGS: An Epic Adventure Regular Features 11 Zoo Happenings 14 Leave a Wild Legacy 14 Thank Yous 16 15 ON THE COVER: Cougar Kitten One of the 3 new kittens, at age 3 months DIANE VILLA COVER INSET: Leopard BIGSTOCKPHOTO.COM It may be hard to believe, but the North Carolina Zoo owes its beginnings to a pigskin. 1964 –1973 If We Build It, Will They Come? Carolina Zoological Authority. The Authority amassed a Before there was a Zoo, the Raleigh Jaycees wanted working committee of legislators and nationally known one—and set out to convince the state legislature that zoo professionals to sort out the best location for the building a state zoo would be a good investment. To future zoo. The committee determined that a municipal - prove this point, the Jaycees enticed the New York ity would have to set aside a minimum of 1,000 acres to Giants and the Washington Redskins to put on an exhibi - qualify as a viable candidate for the zoo site. tion football game in Raleigh. Ticket sales brought in a For nearly three years, city governments and civic profit of $40,000—twice the amount earmarked to groups wooed Authority members, guiding them over launch a feasibility study about building a state zoo in hills and through forests to showcase each site’s potential North Carolina. as a zoological garden. After tromping through miles of The study uncovered more than a murmur of interest in back country, Authority members settled on a 1,005-acre the financial and social benefits a zoo might bring to the plot of land in Asheboro. The property, which encom - state. As word of these findings spread, the NC General passed Purgatory Mountain, was selected in 1971. Assembly pulled together its own experts—forming an Shortly after this announcement, the original owners of NC Zoological Garden Study Commission—to review the non-profit, The North Carolina Zoological Society, the research and make its own recommendations about Inc., surrendered its name to Asheboro’s stakeholders, investing state funds in a future zoo. After weighing all who put the non-profit to work raising funds to pay for the facts, the Commission voiced a strong opinion: A the land that would hold the zoo. The fundraising cam - state zoo was more than possible, it would likely become paign brought $435,000 in from Randolph County. a valuable asset to the state. Meanwhile, the legislature sanctioned a $2 million state- While this conclusion rumbled up and down the leg - wide bond referendum to help fund the budding zoo, and islative halls in Raleigh, it also hopscotched into town Randolph County held its own $2 million bond referen - halls and city councils across the state. Community lead - dum to lay water and sewer lines to Purgatory Mountain. ers lit up at the prospect of revamping their town squares Both bonds passed, overwhelmingly, and the race was on with a world class zoo and a steady stream of tourists to break ground and raise exhibits. from around the country. With funds in hand and momentum in gear, the state Early on, Greensboro, High Point and Winston-Salem hired its first zoo director, Mr. William Hoff, a former joined forces to try to attract this future zoo inside one of director of the St. Louis Zoo. The Zoo’s first structures their borders. To engender public support for this posi - went up, a small modular office building and a visitor tion, these cities incorporated a non-profit, “The North welcome area. With no exhibits anywhere in sight, the Carolina Zoological Society, Inc,” in 1968. Zoo brought in its first two animals, Galapagos Meanwhile, the General Assembly pushed the dream Tortoises, Tort and Retort. They rolled into the Park in of a state zoo forward by forming and funding The North June of 1973. 2 | ALIVE 1974 –19 79 The Interim Zoo, Just a Teaser For the next year, construction became the norm at the developing zoo. Offices sprang up for zoo and Zoo Society staffs. An animal display building took shape. Chain link fences enclosed nine outdoor paddocks. In all, the nescant zoo spread over about 21 acres. By August of 1974, the site was ready for then-Lieutenant Governor James B. Hunt to officially christen the Interim North Carolina Zoo. From the beginning, it was intended to be temporary—a place to house staff and animals while the real Zoo took shape a half mile down the road. Despite its small size and limited animal collection, the Interim Zoo drew in thousands of visitors. They, in turn, Zoo staff was hatching its design plans when American kept the Zoo in the news and helped the Zoo Society con - zoos, in general, were rethinking their obligations to tinue its fundraising. By 1976, when officials broke wildlife and zoo audiences. For the first time, zoo profes - ground for the Zoo’s first permanent exhibits, the Interim sionals were publicly struggling with critical questions Zoo offered a respectable collection of 250 animals.