Otter Celebration

Come and join us on Saturday, March 16, 2013 for our second annual Otter Celebration!  Our zoo includes five beautiful North American river otters.  Otters are traditionally born in March, and our otter triplets were born March 2, 2011.  They are now fully grown, and are doing very well at the Lowcountry Zoo.

We participate in a Species Survival Plan for North American River Otters, and we recently sent one of our triplets to another AZA accredited zoo.  He will miss his birthday celebration this year, but now he has an opportunity to make some cute babies of his own!

Our Otter Celebration is free with garden admission.  Brookgreen Gardens opens at 9:30 AM, and events at the zoo start at 10:00 AM.  We will have a kid's craft area, storytimes, tours of the zoo, and lots of staff and volunteers on hand.  Our two main events will be at the otter exhibits at 10:30 AM and 2:00 PM.  Because we manage two groups of otters, both events will have the same presents, cakes, and frozen treats for the otters.  Pick whichever time is more convenient!

Wildlife Rehab Symposium

Last week, the Curator of Animals and I attended the Wildlife Rehabilitators of North Carolina Symposium!  The conference was held at the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine in Raleigh, NC.

 

Our zoo at Brookgreen Gardens is not a rehab center, but we provide homes for non-releaseable animals.  Many of these animals are from rehabilitators, and some have permanent injuries that require monitoring and care.  

 

 

This is our newest great-horned owl from Sea Biscuit Wildlife Shelter.  Great-horned owls usually have bright yellow eyes.  We are not super sure why she doesn't!

 

The symposium had lectures and workshops on medical exams, bandaging of broken bones, wound care, and feeding baby animals.  I was able to practice bandages on tiny songbirds and large great-horned owls.  We met some wonderful experts and learned about products that we can use to care for our animals.

 

 

Did you know...that momma deer and rabbits leave their babies for hours at a time?  They leave to find food and to draw predators away from their young.  Next time you find a baby deer, enjoy the experience, but leave the baby there!  Its mother will be back soon.

 

Ever hear that if you touch a baby bird, the mother will reject it?  This is generally not true.  Many birds do not have a good sense of smell.  Next time a bird nest falls out of a tree, place it in a small basket, and attach the basket to the tree with twine or a cable tie.  The mother bird will continue to care for her babies.  This also works well with squirrels.  All baby animals need their mother for their best chance at survival.

 

For more information, check out the great links below:

 

NC Wildlife Rehab - http://www.ncwildliferehab.org/

Carolia Raptor Center - http://www.carolinaraptorcenter.org/

Found an animal that needs help?  http://www.nwrawildlife.org/content/help-ive-found-animal

Happy Thanksgiving!

Our animals like to eat every day, so zookeepers work holidays, weekends, and all the days in between.  These photos were all taken on Thanksgiving 2012 at Brookgreen Gardens!

 

It's a turkey...vulture.

This wild turkey avoided being someone's dinner.

 

Mute Swan

Grey Fox

 

 Black Crowned Night Heron (adult)

 We can't have a good hair day every day! (juvenile Night Heron)

Zebra Longwing

 

Fox Squirrel

 

Red-tailed Hawk

More from Harvest Home Weekend

Here are some photos taken at Harvest Home Weekend by our wonderful volunteer photographer.  Enjoy!

Harvest Home Weekend

We had a wonderful fall festival this year!  Visitors to Brookgreen Gardens enjoyed hay rides, scarecrow building, animal programs, and music.  Here are some pictures from Harvest Home Weekend. 

 

 North American River Otters checking out their decorations

 Alligator program presented by Jerry Walls

 

Virginia Opossum out for a stroll

Build your own scarecrow!

The Lowcountry Veterinarian

I would like to introduce our veterinarian, Dr. Sharon Jansky.  She works at Ark Animal Hospital in Surfside, SC, but she also takes care of our animals when they are sick or injured.  Once a month, Dr. Jansky does a visual check on all of the animals.

Dr. Jansky (left) is drawing blood on one of our triplet otters during its second exam.  He was born in March 2011.

 Megan (zookeeper) telling Dr. Jansky about one of the white-tailed deer.

Many of our animals are potentially dangerous.  Our vet has to use skill and caution (and a good dose of bravery) to examine this bald eagle during it's annual exam.

Virginia opossum annual exam.

She is testing the pressure in this Great-horned owl's eye.  Many of our birds are injured wildlife from rehabilitation centers, and this bird has a history of eye problems. 

 

We are fortunate that our vet is a patient teacher.  The zookeepers are often curious about the medical treatments.  Here, she is teaching our new zookeeper Kevin how to do a blood draw on a raptor.

  

When Elliott the otter was found orphaned on property, he was extremely malnourished.  Dr. Jansky came in to treat him and is giving him one of his first bottles.

Most of our foxes are not this cooperative with their exams, but the zookeepers use positive training and conditioning to allow some animals to receive voluntary medical care.  This red fox had some irritation in one of his eyes.

We also use a large animal vet for our farm animals, but Dr. Jansky cares for all of the rest.  She has the ability to care for so many different species - from snakes to screech owls!

Fallen Live Tree

    I'm not sure about every tree, but this tree in the forest certainly made a big sound. Around 8:30 in the morning, zoo staff was alarmed by a loud crack followed by a bassy thud. The sound was loud enough for other departments in Brookgreen Gardens to hear it. There was no lightning around so we figured a whole tree toppled over.

      We hurried down to our barn area and saw that a huge live oak limb had fallen near our chicken exhibit, crushing part of the fencing but luckily missing the chicken coop and all of our chickens. Zoo staff gathered up the slightly ruffled chickens and relocated them to an off exhibit holding area until their enclosure can be fixed.

      Live oak trees can live to be over 200 years old. One of the oldest in America is located right here in South Carolina. It is about 100 miles south of Brookgreen Gardens near John Island. Its name is Angel Oak and it is estimated to be between 500 and 1500 years old! Live oaks are the heaviest native hardwood weighing a little over 50 pounds per cubic feet when dry.

     We are glad none of our animals got hurt and we quickly saw the silver lining to this huge limb coming down. We grabbed a couple cart fulls of limbs and delivered them to different animals throughout the zoo. Our spanish goats and red devon cows loved all the browse we gave them. We also aquired a lot of gnarly limbs so keep an eye out for them in our aviaries shortly!

     Zoo staff would like to thank everyone from horticulture, landscaping, security, and Mike from DNR for acting so swiftly to get the zoo up and running in no time.