Feeding time at the zoo
Jo Lines-MacKenzie donned a Hamilton Zoo keeper’s hat recently, while Christel Yardley took photos.
A serving of half a horse head wouldn’t be everyone’s choice of breakfast but for the tigers at Hamilton Zoo, it’s pretty satisfying.
We got the opportunity to walk a few kilometres in the well-worn boots of a zookeeper at Hamilton Zoo to find out what goes into looking after more than 600 native New Zealand and exotic animals on the 25 hectares of zoo land.
The day starts with individual team meetings of the various species, we join the ungulates (hoofed mammal) team, with team leader Aaron Gilmour our guide for the day.
Some keepers get in early to conduct containment checks of the dangerous animals – making sure nothing has happened to them overnight.
The meeting disperses and keepers pick up their various animals’ food allotments – the tiger food bins confront us first – a horse ear sticks out of the white bucket – inside, with the hide, eyes, brain still attached, is what the tigers will be served.
It’s just one of the delicacies the tigers get. The meat comes from a company in Christchurch, which also supplies other exotic fare such as wallaby. The different types of carcass keep tigers interested in food.
In the kitchen, notes on the wall detail the amount of food each animal is to get.
Oz, the zoo’s largest tiger, gets 4kg of meat every day – not including the hide and bone.
A number of keepers are working at a kitchen bench chopping up a variety of fruit and vegetables, ensuring the various animals can eat what they need without any problems.
The fresh fruit and vegetables come from a Dinsdale business and the zoo has started planting some of its own vegetables so it can cut down on costs and be more self-sustaining.
Rhinos are a lot easier to feed – a bucket of pellets with some equine supplements to maintain the health of their horn makes up their general meal, along with hay and fruit.
The giraffes get a lot of tree foliage and people from the community often phone the zoo offering their offcuts.
It’s to the giraffes’ enclosure we head. One of the seven males has a lump on his neck that needs to be checked by contracted vet Andrew Gore from Global Vets.
This is where patience is a virtue, the boys are in no hurry and, having just had breakfast, pellets aren’t as appealing as they normally are.
Eventually, after plenty of persuasion, the big boy is in the crush and is quickly examined without too many concerns.
It’s then off to the rhinos who spent the night out in their open enclosure but must be brought into the backyards for a check.
The females have a fecal check three times a week to see when their cycle is. It’s also used as an opportunity to do some general conditioning and training – teaching them to pick up their feet, for instance, and getting them used to having their ears touched as blood tests are taken through the veins in their ears.
Before they are released back into the public enclosure they’ve been taught to back away from the gate on command – for health and safety reasons two keepers are used to move rhinos in and out at all times.
Young Samburu is first through the crush, enticed with a bit of chaff, we get to pat the 18-month-old. The skin is tough – almost concrete in texture. He’s encased in mud after an evening wallow. He departs followed by his mother, Kito, who is now out on display for the public and the rest of the crash follow not long after to wow the visitors.
It’s down to the savannah where we await the animals release from their nightly enclosures – first cautiously down the race are the two ostriches, Iris and Doris. The zebras come next with stallion Malawi leading the mares. A newborn foal, the second for 2017, has joined the herd and canters along on her stick-like legs.
We then hiked back to the veterinary centre where red panda Tayla, 10, is under anaesthesia for a health check after keepers noticed she wasn’t eating normally. Knocking her out allows them to do extensive testing, like blood, teeth, and X-rays.
Then it was time for some interaction with the lemurs – the cheeky little Madagascar natives can’t resist lemur cake made of eggs, dog biscuits, red kidney beans and an open tea bag – pulling our hands to their mouth or jumping on our shoulders for a feed.
A visit to the siamangs is up next, adorable couple of 30 years Iuri and Itam are a retired breeding pair. They lap up being hand fed apple and beetroot before having to figure out how to get the mashed pumpkin out of a piece of hose – all enrichment for the elderly duo.
Red panda Tenzing, Tayla’s son, is suffering in the 25-degree heat – laid out on a tree branch, not even grapes are enticement enough to make him move too far. He awakes slightly once the sprinklers are turned on. Next we visit his sister Jamuna who is a lot more interested in having her fill of grapes.
This has taken seven hours and over 6km of walking and now the process is about to be reversed with keepers starting to think about getting the animals in for the night.
I leave knowing that if not for zookeepers and zoos, there are some animals that my grandchildren and great-grandchildren may never see.