Happy Volunteer Appreciation Week!
I hope you know how thankful we are for all you do for the Zoo! It has been a wonderful week to celebrate your accomplishments! In 2022, 320 adult volunteers logged 90,754 volunteer hours in 38 roles across 7 departments and this year we are on track go far above those numbers! The support you provide to this organization is unmatched!
After a heartbreaking cancellation of our Sunday Open House and social, we were able to get together on Thursday for a fun filled event. Thank you to all the Volunteers who came and let us celebrate you! There was a riveting chat with Dr. Mike, some volunteers were able to meet Charlotte in CREW for the first time, Tosh led a lovely Garden chat and we were able to get a thorough first peek the new North America space. On top of those events, volunteers were able to skip the line for the Train and Carousel, feed our giraffes and get a birds eye view of the Elephant Trek construction. Thank you to the individuals who sent a snapshots of the day!
We also had a Zoo History Scavenger Hunt, which had some volunteers scratching their heads. Many asked me to share it in the update just for fun! The Scavenger Hunt is posted below, I will post the answers in the next update!
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Volunteer Appreciation Daily Giveaway Winners
Every day this week we announced a Daily Giveaway! We had over 200 entries every day…which is AMAZING! I will contact each winner by e-mail next week to arrange pick up or give further instructions. Below you will find the names of the winners, I hope you see your name.
Day 1 – 12 Zoo Tickets
- Jim Dewan
Day 2 – Fiona Kiss Print & Zoo Bucks
- Barb Nienhaus
Day 3 – Jomo Painting
- Debbie Dryden
Day 4 – Garden Tour with Tosh
- Amy Faught
Day 5 – Toast to the Wild Tickets
- Bourbon – Judi Cline
- Wine – Melina Mazuk
- ZooBrew – Jessica Sepp
Day 6 – Behind the Scenes Tours
Giraffe
- Martha Nobunga
- Marge Webb
- Cindy Thompson
- Erin Russell
- Mary Ann Fieler
- Linda Stentz
Hippo
- Mary Lou Zins
- Peggy Surface
- Lynn Blattman
- Steve Jacobs
- Karen Martin
- Roberta Phillips
Lion
- Tricia Hempel
- Samantha Halili-Felse
- Pat Walsh
- Amanda Behne
- Thomas Bosarge
- Pam Giglio
Zoo Updates
Elephant Trek Update
Pool will be filled soon! Stormwater tanks coming after that..
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CityBeats Bloom Feature
Check out the Fabulous write up in CityBeat!
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Enquirer Feature
Check Out a Wonderful Tulip Write-Up in the Enquirer
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Remembering Gregg Hudson
Message From Thane Maynard:
I am writing to share the sad news that former Cincinnati Zoo Director Gregg Hudson passed away last Friday following a valiant battle with cancer.
At the turn of the century Gregg served more than five years as the President and CEO of the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden before returning home to the Dallas/Ft. Worth area to lead the Dallas Zoo.
In his time in Cincinnati Gregg created a variety of important programs and facilities that continue today.
- Our Rowell Chase Animal Hospital opened in 2005, ushering in a new wave of diagnostics and care with our Animal Health team.
- The Harold C. Schott Education Center was open in 2006, then and now the largest zoo education center anywhere, with 13 classrooms, a multi-use theater/auditorium, and a full time public high school.
- And plans were put in place for the Zoo’s expanded parking and new Historic Vine Street Village entry, which were game changers for zoo attendance and revenue.
Most of all, those who knew Gregg and worked with him remember his positive spirit and his work to make the Cincinnati Zoo and the whole zoo field better.
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New Raffle
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NICU Renovation Brings New Technology, Cincinnati Zoo Animal Art to Families
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Invest in Our Planet
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ZooTales
The Cincinnati Zoo partners with Dr. Varun Goswami & Dr. Divya Vasudev & Conservation Initiatives to help save elephants in the wild! Learn more about their work to save the world’s largest land mammal!
Click Here to Listen to the new episode of Cincinnati Zoo Tales
Plant & Animal Updates
Mshindi’s Troop is Moving
Mshindi, Tulivu, and Bandia will be moving to another Zoo later this year, as recommended by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. They will be behind the scenes more frequently to focus on training prior to departure, so stop by Gorilla World in the next couple of weeks if you would like to see them and say farewell. Ndume and Mbeli’s groups are staying, and a third group will eventually be coming to Cincinnati. Stay tuned for details!
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Kip
Sister buff-cheeked gibbons, Skittles and M&M, have adopted Kip the baby white-cheeked gibbon that arrived at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden on March 7!
“We observed positive interactions throughout the introduction process, so we were optimistic that the three would do well when we removed the mesh barrier for the full introduction,” said Cincinnati Zoo zoological manager Victoria McGee. “It went even better than expected! Both females have shown interest in Kip and they have spent the last two nights sleeping all together in one hammock.”
Kip’s parents at the Dallas Zoo showed little interest in caring for him, so the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) Species Survival Program (SSP) recommended trying to place him with Cincinnati Zoo’s teenage females.
“We were hoping that Skittles and M&M would accept Kip as a member of their group, and that appears to have happened,” said McGee. “They both seem to be interested in being Kip’s surrogate mom, so he may end up getting more attention than he wants! While we are supporting Kip’s confidence with this social development, we already see grooming, cooperative feeding, and play behaviors.”
The group will continue to bond behind the scenes while Kip builds his locomotion skills on the special gyms that the Zoo’s volunteer enrichment team built for him.
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New ZooBabies x2
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Native Plant Sale
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Penguins
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Oz, the Mississippi Kite
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Fritz Update
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Little Blue Penguin Baby Update
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Cute Chicks
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Bongo Baby Bump
Baby Bump Alert! We are thrilled to announce that Stevie the bongo is pregnant and due later this spring. This is a bittersweet bundle of joy. Bitter because Stevie’s mate, Beau, passed away earlier this year. Sweet because this little bundle will keep his legacy alive. Eastern bongos are critically endangered so every birth is important.
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Birthdays:
4/13 – Lana’s 44th Birthday
Just For Fun
Briar the Tenrec
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Plant for Pollinators
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Hobbes
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4/17 – Bat Appreciation Day
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4/16 – Save the Elephant Day
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Silly Rico
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Little Blue Poo
Conservation Corner
Rain Barrel Time
Click Here to See the Rain Barrel Auction
Opportunities
Volunteer Diver Openings
Are you, or do you know, a Scuba Diver that would be interested in Diving as a Volunteer here at the Zoo? If so, we are taking applications!
Volunteer Update
Staff Update
Promotion for Jenny Gainer
Message From: Christina Gorsuch – Director, Animal Care
Many of you have had the pleasure of working with Jenny Gainer over her 20+ year career here at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden. From Zoo Academy student to Curator, she’s accomplished much in her time here. Most recently, Jenny has partnered heavily on the design and construction of multiple new and renovated animal habitats, pushed for mixed-species opportunities in many areas, collaborated on numerous neonate and quarantine situations, helped devise new enrichment tools, championed the Zoo’s involvement with North American Songbird SAFE, and has been an ardent supporter of Zoo Academy… among many other things to make this organization and our impact stronger. With a commitment to making our animals’ experiences better and a dedicated focus on building teams and empowering others, we find Jenny to be the right fit for a new role and growing responsibility.
We’re excited to announce that over the next few months, Jenny will start transitioning into her new role of Curator of Birds and African Animals. She will be taking on the curatorial role for Africa, Veldt, and Mast Farm areas, while continuing to lead Team Bird and support our Zoo’s quarantine/neonate program. Please congratulate Jenny when you see her!
Some side notes:
- Eric Byrd will continue as Zoological Manager of African Animals but will now report to Jenny Gainer instead of directly to Christina Gorsuch.
- African Animals includes the following areas: Africa, Veldt, and Mast Farm
- Christina will begin transitioning responsibilities to Jenny over the next several months. Please include them both on pertinent emails for the time being.
- As Director of Animal Care, Christina will now be able to more evenly spread her focus across all teams in the Animal Department, while also making sure the Zoo is well-positioned to open the many new habitats in the coming year.
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CREW Restructuring and Promotion
Just a note to let everyone know that CREW is slowly transitioning to a new internal structure. When I started at CREW in 1996, I inherited the existing structure, and it has served us well for many years with me as CREW Director, Bill Swanson as Director of Animal Research, and Valerie Pence as Director of Plant Research. However, our Signature Conservation Projects have expanded becoming more complex, and the structure no longer reflects how things are functioning, so we are going to test a new model, one that is comprised of a CREW Director (me) and a Director of each Signature Project. This change was partially triggered by Bill’s desire to cut back to half-time for the next couple of years as he transitions into retirement. So, you will see even less of Bill around the zoo in the coming years.
However, the change also comes with some exciting promotions. Bill is handing the reins of the cat program to Lindsey Vansandt who will now serve as Director of the Imperiled Cat Signature Conservation Project. Additionally, Erin Curry is promoted to Director of the Bear Signature Conservation Project, a role she has really already been fulfilling for some time. I will continue to lead the Rhino Signature Conservation Project, and Valerie will continue leading the Exceptional Plant Signature Conservation Project.
As I said above, this will be a transition, so for now, Bill and Valerie will continue to retain their titles: Director of Animal Research and Director of Plant Research, respectively.
And, just to cover all the CREW changes, I want everyone to know that Louisa Rispoli (Rhino Project) and Megan Philpott (Exceptional Plant Project) have completed their tenure as CREW Post-doctoral Researchers and now hold CREW Scientist positions. Megan actually started her CREW Scientist position last September – hopefully, some of you already knew that.
Please join me in congratulating folks when you see them, especially Bill who is moving that work-life balance needle much further toward life after many years of tireless devotion to CREW.