‘Looking for people’: Zoo animals call out to community during coronavirus closure
The sounds of the Sacramento Zoo still resonate in the trees above William Land Park.
The roar of a lion, the call of a lemur and hooting chimpanzees remind Land Park residents of the wonders that await them when the coronavirus lockdown is lifted. On better days, Heinie, a 34-year-old plain-colored Amazon parrot, dances and sways to the music on her radio to greet visitors as they enter the zoo. But Heinie hasn’t had anyone to dance with lately.
The zoo locked its gates March 13 under recommendations from local, state and national health officials in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. Executive director Jason Jacobs, director of animal care Matt McKim and bird keeper Kristene Hirsch said the closure has been difficult — and has not gone unnoticed by the animals.
“It’s really surreal and it’s hard to not have the zoo full of visitors,” McKim said. “As a staff, we definitely love it when the zoo is busy, and we see that not all but many of the animals notice when they don’t have that interaction with visitors.
“The lions kind of perk up more often when a zookeeper or staff member walks by. We can definitely see a change in behavior and the way they’re looking for people, so to make up for it our staff is spending more time out there with the animals providing behavioral enrichment and cognitive enrichment, making sure they’re mentally stimulated during this closure time.”
Hirsch said Heinie still likes to listen to her music, but she doesn’t get to greet as many people as she would like.
“A couple days after we closed, I noticed when anybody walked by, she would catcall or whistle to get people to pay attention to her,” Hirsch said. “We put the radio up there every day now and that seems to have helped her. She’s calmed down a little bit, but I told all the keepers, whenever they walk by, to spend a little time with her.”
Revenue losses and layoffs
The Sacramento Zoo is a nonprofit, educational organization accredited by the American Associated of Zoos and Aquariums. Organization leaders say their mission is to promote appreciation and respect for wildlife and nature through education, recreation and conservation, something they’ve done for nearly 100 years at their William Land Park location.
The zoo opened in 1927 with 40 animals on 4.2 acres. It expanded to 14.3 acres in the early 1960s and now features nearly 500 native, rare and endangered animals representing more than 120 species.
Jacobs said the zoo is losing $1 million per month during the closure. He said the zoo would normally attract 1,000 daily visitors this time of year, many of them families and students on school field trips. The zoo had more than 100 employees prior to the closure, but 52 were laid off, 17 were furloughed and 28 had their hours reduced in sweeping staff moves earlier this month.
“We will rebuild as we grow and, as our budget grows again, we’ll rehire positions, but at this time the great unknown is when will we reopen and what is the visitorship like when we do reopen,” Jacobs said.
Jacobs was a volunteer at Zoo Miami when Hurricane Andrew decimated South Florida in 1992. The zoo was closed for 3½ months.
“When we did reopen, people came back and they appreciated their zoo,” Jacobs said. “They love their zoo just like the people in Sacramento do. The Sacramento Zoo has been here for 93 years and, through community engagement, we know they can’t wait for the zoo to reopen.”
Community engagement
The zoo is posting social media updates and live streaming from its exhibits a couple of times each week to stay connected to the community.
Lesley Kirrene, the zoo’s director of institutional advancement and marketing, said the staff is broadcasting on Facebook on Mondays and Wednesdays at 11 a.m. Kirrene said the broadcasts could move to Instagram at some point.
“We’re doing a lot of social engagement, different videos we’re posting and people are definitely appreciating that,” Jacobs said. “They want that interaction and we’re happy to have it to keep that connection between the zoo and the community during these times.”
This story was originally published April 17, 2020 at 8:28 AM with the headline "‘Looking for people’: Zoo animals call out to community during coronavirus closure."
