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Friday, July 1, 2011

Zoos Around The Country Helping Out Minot Zoo -- Due To Flooding -- Penguins Already There; Bears Eager to Arrive

Great human interest story.
They came 507 miles by truck, 13 of them packed in small plastic pet crates, a flood-ravaged home behind them and a capital city before them.

The African penguins from Minot, N.D., waddled into their public display at Como Zoo in St. Paul on Thursday morning, just a few of the approximately 230 animals evacuated from the Roosevelt Park Zoo that now is under 4 to 14 feet of water.

They zipped around a 5-foot-deep pool, slid down faux rockwork and loudly hee-hawed like donkeys (hence their colloquial name, jackass penguins) as senior zookeeper Allison Jungheim slipped silvery fish into their gaping beaks.

The penguins, which include the Como-hatched male, Squirt, join three bears and 13 frogs evacuated to Como Zoo. The penguins were the first to go on display; the bears are quarantined and will follow in about a week.
No, Virginia, they are not fattening up the penguins for the polar bears.

2 comments:

  1. It should be fun! I hope that a lot of people from the Twin Cities visit out still open "free zoo" to see the ND zoo animals (and contribute). For a bit of "civil disobedience" the closed (admission) due to MN gov shutdown had a Friday night concert by a reunited "Monkeys" band. It was standing room only according to the reviews.
    http://www.startribune.com/entertainment/music/124897239.html

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  2. That is ironic, isn't it? Minnesota taking in the animals, but then closing the doors to the public. Ah, it won't last long.

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