Oregon Zoo November 2004 Press Releases

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What: Talk to zoo members as they walk through ZooLights, looking at all of the new holiday light displays (and old favorites, too!). Check out Rudolph the red-nosed impala, a variety of costumed characters, and the brightly lit zoo train. See some of the animals at their most active-nighttime!

When: Thursday, December 2, 2004 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Where: Oregon Zoo

Why: After 17 years, ZooLights has become a Portland holiday tradition.

Who: Event Coordinator Krista Swan will be on hand to talk about the lights, the animals, the         train and the holiday tradition. Zoo members enjoy the light display a day early.

PHOTO-OPS: More than a half-million individual lights, plus
"    150 specially created light displays and silhouettes
"    35 animated (moving) light displays Zoolights: house

"    Brightly-lit zoo train (a family tradition)
"    Animal carousel
"    Giant anaconda
"    Giant dragon
"    Mick Jaguar and his all-star animal band
"    Showering elephants
"    Swinging monkeys
"    Fluttering butterflies and dragonflies
"    Diving penguins
"    Tobogganing polar bears
"    Gingerbread house
"    Twenty-two-foot aquarium
"    Real tigers out and about (tend to be more active at night)

Zoo Celebrates Holidays With 17th Annual Zoolights Festival

PORTLAND, Ore. - The Oregon Zoo will come alive with lights when the 17th annual ZooLights festival begins on Friday, Dec. 3 at 5:30 p.m. This family tradition, presented by The Boeing Company, will feature more than 500,000 lights illuminating life-sized animal silhouettes, trees, buildings, walkways, and the zoo train.

" Every year, the zoo presents a stunning display of light and color," said Tony Vecchio, zoo director. "I know many people in our community eagerly anticipate ZooLights and look forward to seeing the many new touches that we add each year. It is so gratifying to know that the Oregon Zoo has become an important holiday tradition to so many families," he added.

As visitors approach the zoo entrance, they will be greeted by swinging siamangs and diving dolphins. A large, rotating mobile featuring aquarium animals will dominate the zoo's entry plaza. Trillium Creek Family Farm, the zoo's newest exhibit, will be home to three new silhouettes: flying pigs, a cow jumping over the moon and Charlotte's Web. Other displays in the farm include a caterpillar that turns into a chrysalis before emerging as a beautiful butterfly, inchworms, California condors, leaping frogs and forest creatures.

Deeper inside the zoo, an anaconda is re-created in lights at the Amazon Flooded Forest exhibit, and a gingerbread house, complete with candy cane fence, lights up the Crossroads. Three life-sized, three-dimensional hippos will graze near a river of lights on the zoo's concert lawn. The meandering river of LED lights is 180 feet long and 16 feet wide. Two life-sized, three-dimensional crocodiles closely watch the hippos Zoolights: Hippo

as they graze; one crocodile has a motorized mouth that opens when visitors tap a switch. Just below the river of lights are submerged hippos and crocodiles. Nearby, an African fish eagle swoops down and scoops up a fish from the river.

The zoo's popular costumed characters and elves will be on hand to greet zoo visitors and pose for pictures. Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer will be joined by Buddy Beaver, Honey Bear, Eliza Elephant, Lulu Lemur, Nate the Eagle, Rock E. Goat, Sandy Sea Otter and Titus Tiger. Visitors can also see some of the zoo's resident animals, including mountain goats, elephants, primates, and pettable sheep and goats.

Music lovers will enjoy the highly animated light silhouette featuring Mick Jaguar performing on the concert stage with his all-star animal band. Mick is joined by Packy Pachyderm tickling the ivories, Richard Lion playing guitar, Gerri Giraffe on bass, Billy Bear on trumpet, Orville Orangutan on drums and Willy Wildebeest on sax. The Ostrich Sisters perform backing vocals.
The sounds of the season will fill the zoo as more than 100 schools, churches, and professional groups perform holiday musical selections. Several local dance troupes will also be featured.

Favorite light displays from previous years will also return, including trumpeting elephants, tobogganing polar bears and swinging monkeys. Lions can be seen chasing a herd of impalas, while a giraffe grazes nearby. An ostrich gets startled and runs away, hiding its head in the sand. Flying macaws fly from tree to tree. A 35-foot-long dragon mysteriously floats above the walkway. At Steller Cove, a sea lion and dancing sea star greet visitors. Close by are white swans that swim in a garden pond and penguins that dive in arctic waters. A baby kangaroo jumps out of its mother's pouch and begins to hop around. And darting red and green amphibians play a lively game of leapfrog.

In addition to the lights, characters and music, the Tualatin Valley Model Railroad Club will show off its enlarged NTRAK train display. And children of all ages are sure to enjoy family entertainment every evening in the zoo's elephant museum, including a conservation-themed puppet show Thursday through Sunday evenings.

The Artist Market will feature recycled, animal and earth-friendly art. And, for last-minute shoppers, the zoo's gift shop, Cascade Outfitters, is bursting with animal-related gifts. The zoo's Cascade Grill will offer a nightly holiday buffet. This traditional feast will cost $13.95 for adults and $7.75 for kids. Holiday treats will be available at food locations throughout the zoo.

Visitors can see video of the light display by visiting the zoo's Web site at http://www.oregonzoo.org/Events/ZooLights/index.htm#zoolightspreview.

ZooLights runs from December 3 through January 1 and is co-sponsored by Synopsys, Inc. and United Rentals. Hours are 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Sunday through Thursdays, and 5 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays. Guests will have one hour past the closing times to make their way back to the front gate. During this time, lights and other activities will continue until gates close. The festival is closed December 24 and 25.

ZooLights package tickets, which include admission and a train ride, are $9.50 (12-64), seniors $8 (65+), children $6.50 (3-11), and children under 3 are free. Additional information is available on the zoo's web site at www.oregonzoo.org or by calling 503-226-1561.

November 15, 2004
OREGON ZOO IS IN DEEP ZOODOO
Packy and His Pals Pile Up the Poop

PORTLAND, Ore. - Oregon Zoo's Asian elephants (including the famous Packy), as well as other herbivores, work around the clock generating a plenteous supply of poop. The overabundance is a problem for the zoo, but the rich, multi-species feces known as ZooDoo could be a boon for Portland area gardeners. Elephant

According to the zoo's horticulture supervisor Linda Richardson, in order to reap mounds of the richest, most exotic and highly aromatic compost in the Pacific Northwest in time for spring gardening, purchasers need only allow the pungent piles of poop to continue to compost through the winter.

"We use ZooDoo to keep our zoo gardens lush and beautiful," said Richardson. "We've got more than enough, so we're willing to share." The zoo has teamed up with Best Buy in Town Landscape Supply, which will deliver a 1-5 cubic yard dump-truck load to anyone's home, garden, or farm for $99. A 6-12 yard load costs $149.

"The cost is very economical compared to other compost, which runs between $250 and $480 for the larger size load," said Richardson. "And none of them contain any genuine Packy poop."

To arrange for delivery, call Best Buy in Town Landscape Supply at 503-645-BARK (2275).

November 1, 2004
OREGON ZOO KEEPER RECEIVES NATIONAL AWARD
Oregon Zoo Africa Keeper Asaba Mukobi received a Meritorious Achievement Award from the American Association of Zoo Keepers, based in Topeka, Kansas. The award was given for his development of the Kasese Wildlife Conservation Awareness Project (KWCAP) in Uganda.

" The Oregon Zoo is proud of the work that Asaba has done to educate the young people of Uganda," said Oregon Zoo Director Tony Vecchio. "Through conservation, education and wildlife awareness projects, his program helps children, parents and teachers learn of the wonders and resources that belong to them." Man and Giraffe

The KWCAP provides educational props and supplies to participating schools around Queen Elizabeth National Park to create local wildlife conservation awareness in the schoolchildren. The project has grown from 22 schools and one assistant in 2002, to 245 schools with a 13-member team today.

" I am honored to receive the award," said Mukobi. "It is my desire that the KWCAP will help local communities develop a renewed appreciation for the wonders right outside their doors and instill the sense that this resource, and its safeguarding, belongs to them."

Mukobi believes that it is only with the support and understanding of the people who live around Uganda's national parks and other wildlife protected areas that additional conservation efforts can succeed.

The project is especially exciting for Mukobi, who grew up in Bwera, which is located in the Kasese District of Western Uganda, less than 30 minutes' drive to Queen Elizabeth National Park.

" I never had a chance to see wild animals, nor was I able to develop an interest in seeing them," admitted Mukobi. "This might have been due to the fact that I knew nothing about them, or to the traditional views we have about wildlife, like seeing them only as a source of meat or income."

Mukobi hopes that this project will give some children their first look at wild animals in their natural habitat and inspire more interest in learning about wildlife.