Oregon Zoo - Portland, OR - www.oregonzoo.org
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| Oregon Zoo - Portland, OR - www.oregonzoo.org |
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PGE Wild Life Live Behind the Scenes
When they are not performing, the stars of Wild Life Live live in the mews at the Oregon Zoo. The word mew is an old British term that refers to where birds of prey are kept. A mew is like a large birdhouse. Each bird has its own mew, with perches and landings where it can rest. PGE helped pay for the construction of the energy efficient mews at the Oregon Zoo. The building is made of trex, a recycled plastic lumber, and is open to allow for more circulation and light, cutting down on the need for electricity. Each day the birds are fed, trained, and taken care of. The birds of prey are fed with mostly rodents like mice, but other birds are fed according to their natural diet. The training each bird receives depends on where it came from and how long it has been at the zoo.
The Oregon Zoo gets most of its birds from either captive breeding programs or from bird rehabbers. If a bird is from a captive breeding program and is already used to human contact, it can take as little as two weeks to train the bird. But if it is a wild bird from a rehabber with no previous human contact, it can take more than a year to train. Once they are trained the birds practice their flight routines daily, often indoors when the weather is bad. The birds are weighed each day during training to monitor their health. They also receive annual check-ups from the zoo’s veterinarian staff. As a preemptive measure, all the birds at the Oregon Zoo have been inoculated against West Nile virus, which spreads easily through birds. They receive annual booster shots as part of their check-up to keep them safe.
All
of these steps are taken to ensure that the birds are healthy
and happy. Their care depends on the staff
of handlers and volunteers
who look after them. Tanya Paul directs Wild Life Live with
Shannon LaMonica, and help from the seasonal staff Bree Boothe,
Rick Collett and Bobby Brett. They
work with
a staff
of
around
80 volunteers
to make sure the birds are taken care of. "Our volunteers
are an invaluable part of the program," says LaMonica. "We
couldn’t do the type of show we do without them." The
volunteers not only help take care of the birds but also
assist in nearly every aspect of the show. If you are interested
in
volunteering
with Wild Life Live, contact Tanya Paul at Tanya.Paul@oregonzoo.org
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