So, I got an email from Ryan Bickel, director of marketing at the Blank Park Zoo over my concerns about the zoo. He sent my questions to Jeff Dier, one of the zoo’s curators so they could address my concerns. I think that’s kind of cool that they monitor things so they can take care of any problems that were there. I told him that I would definitely post their answers here for everyone to see and link them to my previous posts so that people could read them should they search for the Blank Park Zoo and come upon my blog.
My original posts are here and here.
This is their response to my concerns about the budgies –
The seed sticks come from Lafeber Co. and were formulated in partnership with Dr. Sam Rivera DVM of Zoo Atlanta. Lafeber has been in the bird seed/diet business for many years. The sticks have chelated minerals, stabilized vitamins, are Omega 3 and 6 balanced and are naturally preserved. The binder that holds the seed to the stick is the same product they use in other items such as seed cakes. When we planned this exhibit we decided we did not want to feed the birds an excess of millet, but a nutritionally complete feed.
We are interested who said they were “being bribed with sugar” because this is not accurate.The bowls of feed that are in the flight are not filled with millet. The feed is a pelleted diet from Mazuri Exotic Animal Diets, a division of Purina Mills, that is nutritionally complete. It is formulated in the small size to give the appearance of small seed. A diet solely of millet would be nutritionally unsound and as our vet described akin to “Feeding them a diet of Snickers.” The pelleted feed is offered to the birds in the holding area (away from public view) as well as in the flight. The only seed that the birds receive is from the sticks. The birds receive chopped spinach and carrot daily. This is fed in the morning both in the flight (public area) and in the holding (non-public area).
To be fair, I should have mentioned that I didn’t get up close and personal with the feed bowl in the budgie area. I mentioned the bowl of feed because as I was talking to the person in the budgie area, I had mentioned that I had been working with my budgies forever to take millet from my hands, and still only 4 of them trust me enough to do that. The person in the budgie area pointed to the bowl over amongst the crowd of people and said, that stuff in that bowl? Millet? That’s where I got the bowl of millet.
Regarding the budgies being plucked –
We have not observed any self-plucking or over grooming of one bird by another. Some birds did experience some minor feather loss during transport to the zoo. Our large social grouping of birds is the best preventative for self destructive behavior such as feather plucking. The birds have plenty of social stimulation and room to exercise in the flight.
Regarding the bald eagles –
Both of our eagles are indeed rehabilitation birds. They have some limited flight capability, but not sufficient to allow their release. A larger exhibit would not allow for more flight for the birds since these birds rely on air currents for flying.
I feel good for the eagles then. They are absolutely gorgeous birds that we are lucky to have at our zoo. In the wild, in this case, they wouldn’t survive at all. Love to the eagles and to the Blank Park Zoo for caring for them! I also forgot to update in my other posts that when we went back to the zoo the other day, there were only 2 eagles, the ones I originally thought I saw, not the 3 that Jordan swears were there.
The zoo does not have a permanent elephant exhibit. 2 years ago we had Rosie and JP, an Asian female elephant and her calf, here for the summer as special guests. The zoo has never had a bear exhibit or a rhino exhibit since reopening in 1986.
That is where I’m remembering the elephants from. I knew we had them at one point. The other 2 exhibits, I must be confusing with another zoo. I put my hands up to request elephants, bears, and rhinos! 
On July 13 the large mammals, in our collection at present, that were not on exhibit were the Amur tigers and snow leopards. The tiger exhibit pool was remodeled this year. Equipment had to have access into the exhibit which required taking down part of the panels that contain the tigers outdoors. On days over 85 degrees the snow leopards are given their choice to be in the outdoor exhibit or stay indoors in air conditioning. Snow leopards wear a heavy fur coat the year round and can get overheated easily during days of high temps and humidity. All other exhibits, including the giraffe, were open.
Note to the BPZ, when I said it kinda of stinks, I didn’t mean the zoo stinks, I meant that not all of the animals were on exhibit. But, that’s why we have a membership right? We can go back and see them all on different occasions.
In closing, I would like to mention that the Zoo is fundraising for a 15 million dollar expansion and renovation campaign to make the Blank Park Zoo an even better place.
I would like to note to my fellow Iowans here, we are lucky to have the Blank Park Zoo. Des Moines, while big is not as big as a lot of cities who do have humongous zoos. But they do give us quite a few animals (104 different animal species and 1,484 animal specimens to be exact!) to see that we would never get to see if we didn’t have them. Do support the zoo, donate, become a member, give them your feedback (which I was too nervous to do, thinking they would say, who is this woman and what does she know about animals?), they do care, and they do want to know what we think. If we did all of those things, they could bring even more to us. And for those of us in central Iowa, they are right here in our own backyard.
And my friends, I’m sure you’ll see more pictures from me from the zoo on Monday (and maybe tomorrow, it’s family fun night there on Fridays! The zoo stays open until 8!). I am really glad that I renewed our membership.
Again, thank you to Ryan Bickel and Jeff Dier for actually finding my post, addressing my concerns, and for making me feel that is ok if I bring my concerns directly to the zoo.
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