Woodland Park Zoo Blog

Posted by: Julie Ann Barowski, Volunteer Program Coordinator Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Today is International Volunteer Day, and we want to take this opportunity to celebrate Woodland Park Zoo volunteers! More than 1,000 individuals generously donate their time in a variety of ways every year, and we are so appreciative and proud of all the amazing work they do! Photo by Dennis Dow/Woodland Park Zoo. Whether you visit during the day or an evening event like WildLights , you’ll surely encounter some of our wonderful volunteers. They offer a friendly smile, interesting animal info and stories, maps and directions, and whatever assistance you may need. Maybe you’ve had a zoo volunteer come to the rescue of a skinned knee with a cool zebra-striped bandage. Perhaps a volunteer has taught your family just how a goat likes to be petted, or offered you the chance to touch a snake for the first time. Even if you haven’t yet met a zoo volunteer in person, their hard w

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Woodland Park Zoo is “Ready to Rave” for the Seattle Sounders FC facing Dallas in the final leg of the Western Conference semifinals. We recruited the grizzly bears and Asian small-clawed otters to join us in rallying for the Sounders today, and, well, they had a ball! (Get it?) Photo by Stan Milkowski/Woodland Park Zoo. Playing by their own rule book, the otters used their nimble hands to dribble the ball around the exhibit. Then the family of 10 all joined in on the fun of destroying the ball together! Photo by Stan Milkowski/Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Keepers also tossed a soccer ball to each of the grizzly bears, brothers Keema and Denali. It only takes one grizzly bite to deflate a soccer ball! Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo. OK, there’s not much

Posted by: Jenny Mears, Education Interested in pursuing your degree through the Advanced Inquiry Program? Join us for an informational forum on November 13. Woodland Park Zoo (WPZ) has teamed up with Project Dragonfly from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio to offer the Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP), an exciting Master’s program for a broad range of environmental and education professionals, including classroom teachers, zoo and aquarium professionals, and informal educators. The AIP offers a ground-breaking graduate degree focused on inquiry-driven learning as a powerful agent for social change, public engagement, and ecological stewardship. Woodland Park Zoo is one of eight institutions across the country that offers the AIP Master’s. The first AIP cohort started in 2011 (and graduated last December!) and students have already reported positive changes in their personal and professional lives. We asked Kate Marcussen, AIP graduate student and a Woodland Park Zoo Education Progr

Posted by: Caileigh Robertson, Communications Past the zoo’s LEED Gold-certified West Entrance and around the corner from the sustainably built Humboldt penguin exhibit, Woodland Park Zoo is rolling out yet another sun-soaking, solar project: the largest community solar project in Washington state. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo Through a partnership with Seattle City Light and Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA), 60 new solar panels are currently being installed on the zoo’s Rain Forest Food Pavilion and behind-the-scenes Commissary building. Dubbed Community Solar on Phinney Ridge , the project includes placing a 16-kilowatt grid of solar panels on the zoo’s food pavilion—similar in appearance to the zoo’s solar-paneled Historic Carousel—and an additional 45-kilowatt system on the zoo’s animal food center. A hop, skip and jump from Woodland Park Zoo, PNA’s historic Phinney Center will also be boasting a new, energy efficient rooftop as part of the project. Together, th

Asian elephant Chai at Woodland Park Zoo. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Woodland Park Zoo loves our elephants Chai and Bamboo, and we deeply mourn the loss of their herd mate, Watoto. Her recent death sent waves of grief through our community of staff, volunteers, members and guests. She was part of our family and will forever be honored in our memories. Woodland Park Zoo’s elephant program continues to spark dialogue in our community. Productive dialogue has led to positive change, including the creation of the community-based Elephant Task Force , which concluded our elephants are in good physical and emotional health, and recommended some improvements to our program already underway. Unfortunately, this dialogue is being colored by inflammatory campaigns from local and national activist groups and the media they garner. These campaigns rely on alarming sound bites that confuse and mislead well-intentioned people and mischaracterize the zoo as profit-driven and ent

Posted by: Kerston Swartz, Public Affairs and Advocacy This week, Seattle said YES to renew its commitment to 450 parks, 26 community centers, 185 athletic fields, 120+ playgrounds and one extremely thankful zoo. With the passing of Proposition 1, Woodland Park Zoo will be able to complete major maintenance projects critical to our functionality and guest experience. A stable and dedicated funding source established by creating a voter-approved park district means we can make badly-needed upgrades to our electrical, water and other utility systems, replace aging and inefficient structures and (maybe most importantly) make strides toward our sustainability goals. Here’s what your YES vote makes possible: Preventing energy loss The roof of the Tropical Rain Forest (TRF) building used to look like this: Look at all of that light coming through! Archive photo by Woodland Park Zoo.  Today, it looks like this: Not so much light coming through anymore. Photo by Ryan

Guest Post by: Ken Kieffer, Volunteer, Make-A-Wish® Alaska and Washington Editor’s note: Woodland Park Zoo is happy and proud to partner with the Make-A-Wish Alaska and Washington to share in the power of a wish®. We are grateful to bring smiles and happiness to kids and families all around the country and share the wonders of wildlife, like in this story of Josiah’s visit to the zoo... Make-A-Wish Alaska and Washington encourages wish children to dream big, be creative and craft the perfect wish for themselves. Josiah, who is 18 and the oldest of four siblings, was enthusiastic when we paid our first visit to his home. Filling the room with his smile, he told us emphatically that he wanted to go on a photo safari in Africa. Josiah preparing for his African photo safari. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. His letter to Make-A-Wish staff and trustees says it best: “ I have dreamed of going to Africa ever since I was 6 years old. I am very excited to go to Africa and

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Editor Like these? Blooming plants at Woodland Park Zoo. Photos by Kirsten Pisto/Woodland Park Zoo and Mat Hayward/Woodland Park Zoo. Then we need these: Photos from top, clockwise: Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo; Flickr user jeffreyww under Creative Commons License ; Flickr user leshoward under Creative Commons License .  At Woodland Park Zoo, we’re abuzz, aflutter and atwitter about the big news coming from the White House: the announcement of a new federal strategy for protecting pollinators . With a focus on honeybees and other essential pollinators like native butterflies, birds and bats, the strategy establishes a task force and goals for population restoration, habitat protection and public education to stem the losses from this blooming crisis. The White House makes a case for the economic importance of pollinators, which “ contribute substantially to the economy of the United States and are vital to keeping fruit, nuts, and veg

Posted by: Kerston Swartz, Public Affairs Woodland Park Zoo, the Phinney Neighborhood Association (PNA) and Seattle City Light are partnering on Community Solar on Phinney Ridge , a new community solar project going live summer 2014. The project will produce approximately 75 kilowatts of energy from solar panels installed on building roofs at the zoo and PNA, making it the largest community solar project in Washington state. The Rain Forest Food Pavilion will soon be decked out with solar panels. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. Enrollment has just begun for City Light customers to participate in Community Solar on Phinney Ridge . You can purchase energy from the solar-modules, and then receive annual credits for the amount of energy generated by your units. Customer investment will end in July 2020 when ownership of the solar panels is transferred to the zoo and PNA. A rendering of the zoo's commissary with a solar panel installation.  As part of the Commu

Posted by: Puget Sound Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers Photo by Jodi Shaw. It’s almost time for the American Association of Zoo Keepers (AAZK) annual rhino conservation fundraiser, Bowling for Rhinos. But this year, the Puget Sound chapter of AAZK is going to try something a little different. We’ll be curling for rhinos! WHEN: Sat., June 7, 4:30 – 9:30 p.m. We will have two shifts for curling; 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. and 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. (choose one or the other) WHERE: Granite Curling Club of Seattle , 1440 N 128th Street, Seattle, WA. COST: $20 just to eat/hang out (party only) and watch the fun or $30 to curl and eat (plus a small online registration fee) This is your opportunity to demonstrate your support for endangered rhinos and the worldwide effort to conserve endangered species. Please remember that when these animals are gone, it's forever; there is no bringing them back. You can help the Puget Sound AAZK achieve its goal of raising $13,

Posted by: Laura Lockard, Public Affairs After many weeks of deliberation and receiving public comments and testimony, Seattle City Council voted unanimously to place a Seattle Park District on the August 5th ballot. Your calls, emails and testimonies made this happen—and for this we offer a deep bow of thanks. Photo by Ryan Hawk/Woodland Park Zoo. What a park district means for Seattle In August, Seattleites will have the opportunity to vote YES to fund critical maintenance projects for Seattle’s parks and the zoo, including structural seismic and building upgrades to our exhibits, and infrastructure improvements that will move us closer to our sustainability goals. If voters approve this measure, the major backlog of maintenance, upkeep and operations of the 6,000 acres of city parklands, including the zoo, would no longer be neglected due to budget cuts and competition with the city’s other important services. A Seattle Park District would create a dedicated funding sou

Posted by: Rebecca Whitham, Communications Another season of BECU ZooTunes presented by Carter Subaru summer concerts is heating up with this year’s blazing lineup: June 18 — Medeski, Scofield, Martin & Wood June 22 — Mavis Staples / Marc Cohn July 2 — Gregg Allman July 6 — Carolina Chocolate Drops / The Del McCoury Band July 30 — Josh Ritter & the Royal City Band with special guests Lake Street Dive July 31 — Lucinda Williams August 6 — Taj Mahal Trio / John Hiatt & The Combo August 10 — Robert Cray Band / Shemekia Copeland August 17 — Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue / Galactic August 20 & 21 — Pink Martini featuring China Forbes and Storm Large August 24 — Ziggy Marley Join us on the North Meadow for great music all summer long. When you see concerts, you save animals by supporting Woodland Park Zoo’s mission! Tickets go on sale to the general public on Fri., April 25 at 8:00 a.m. Current zoo members enjoy a special presale on Wed., Apr. 2

Posted by: Laura Lockard, Public Affairs A suited Mayor Murray greets a tuxedoed penguin. Photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ. We had a very special guest at the zoo this morning, our very own Mayor of Seattle, Ed Murray ! Senior Zoo Walkers enjoy a Q&A with Mayor Murray at the zoo. Photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ. As they wrapped up this morning’s stroll around zoo grounds, the Senior Zoo Walkers —who participate in a joint Seattle parks and zoo senior health program—were joined by Seattle Mayor Ed Murray for conversation and a cup of coffee. After a welcome by zoo President and CEO, Deborah Jensen, Mayor Murray addressed several of the walkers’ questions and concerns about our city, including traffic and bicycle safety, and funding for the city’s parks and the zoo. Coffee and conversation at the zoo. Photo by Ryan Hawk/WPZ. The Mayor acknowledged that many necessary infrastructure projects at the zoo, local parks and community centers have gone unfunded and incomplete. He express