Zoo staff says Micke Grove is safe

The mountain lion at the Micke Grove Zoo rests under a shelter Friday. The male lion is one of two large cats at the zoo. The other is a male snow leopard. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Zoo staff says Micke Grove is safe

By Amanda Dyer
News-Sentinel Staff Writer

Saturday, December 29, 2007 11:18 AM PST

Comments (2 comment(s))

Animals don't escape too often at Micke Grove Zoo, but it has happened.

Years ago, a spider monkey named Cindy figured out how to open the latches on her cage and broke free, said zoo curator Matt McKim.

Cindy didn't go far — just to the zoo administration office that backs up to the spider monkey exhibit. She was found eating the zoo secretary's lunch at one of the desks.

Staff sent keepers into the building with specially made primate nets, and Cindy was later returned to her exhibit.

However, McKim said he's never seen a potentially lethal animal escape from its cage at the zoo.

McKim said he was shocked by the recent incident at the San Francisco Zoo in which a 350-pound tiger escaped from its enclosure and attacked three people on Christmas Day. The tiger killed one teenager before police officers shot and killed it.

"That's just terrible," he said.

Although McKim and his employees don't know any of the staff at the San Francisco Zoo, he said he's thought about the ramifications of the incident many times within the past few days.

While tragic, McKim said, the accident at the San Francisco Zoo reminds him and the people he works with just how dangerous animals can be.

Animal care specialist Dina Pettit echoed McKim's concern, saying cleaning the mountain lion dens was a bit creepier following the incident at the San Francisco Zoo.

Aside from the mountain lion, the zoo houses a few other animals that could turn lethal, including a male snow leopard and a couple of baboons.

Unlike the tiger exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo, the large cat exhibits and the baboon cages are fully enclosed.

The mountain lion exhibit is protected by vinyl-coated, welded wire and mesh, making it virtually impossible for the animal to get out on its own, said McKim.

Each day the zoo staff examines exhibit structures for integrity.

It was during one of these routine checks approximately five years ago, that McKim noticed a small hole in the mountain lion exhibit. Although the hole was not big enough for the mountain lion to escape, zoo staff quickly shut down the exhibit for two days while they repaired the fencing.

People behaving badly at the zoo

Zoo animals can be a threat to people if the right precautions aren't taken, but the reverse is also true.

Micke Grove Zoo Curator Matt McKim said most of zoo's visitors are great and have a positive experience at the zoo, but it's the actions of a select few for which he has to watch out.

McKim has seen people taunt animals, poke them with sticks, feed them and climb over the barrier.

"There's a temptation to chastise (visitors that break the rules), but we really try to turn a negative into a positive," McKim said.

Dina Pettit, an animal-care specialist at the zoo, said the bad visitor behavior happens very frequently, almost on a weekly basis.

When she sees a visitor behaving badly she tries to politely explain why what he or she is doing can hurt the animal.

A lot of the time, Pettit said, visitors think it's fun to interact with the animals, not knowing that what they're doing can add unneeded stress to the animal's life.

For example, feeding an animal food that's not on their diet can be really dangerous to an animal that's diabetic.

However, when a few polite explanations fail to work, zoo workers sometimes have to ask the visitors to leave.

On one occasion, McKim escorted a visitor out who was throwing coins at the snow leopard.

Often, McKim said, visitors' undesirable behavior comes from wanting to see the animal do more than just sit there.

"We sympathize with that," said McKim, adding that he never wants to intentionally embarrass a visitor.

However, for the safety of all involved, sometimes he has to act.

Source: Lodi News-Sentinel

At a small zoo like Micke Grove, McKim said, it's important to keep as many of the animals on display as possible. But safety is always the top priority.

"If an exhibit needs to be closed for safety reasons, there's no hesitation," McKim said.

Because Micke Grove Zoo is so small, McKim said, it doesn't have many open enclosures, like the tiger exhibit at the San Francisco Zoo.

Open exhibits are preferable, McKim said, because not only can people more clearly see the animal, but the animal has the opportunity to look up at the sky and feel less trapped.

Micke Grove Zoo does have one open exhibit that holds red-ruffed lemurs, a non-lethal animal.

A couple years ago, McKim said, one of lemurs escaped when a bamboo shoot fell across the moat surrounding the exhibit. The bamboo shoot made a small bridge, which the lemur crossed before heading up a nearby tree.

Often times, McKim said, when an animal escapes it's stressed, confused and looking for a way back into its habitat. The last thing zookeepers want to do is chase the animal, which would upset it even further.

In the case of the escaped red-ruffed lemur, a zoo visitor notified an employee at one of the kiosks. Zoo volunteers then sat and watched the lemur from about a 100 yards away. When it eventually came down, the volunteers radioed zookeepers, who netted the lemur, put it in a crate and returned it to its pen.

McKim said Micke Grove does have a more formal plan if one of the lethal animals were to get out.

The zoo's animal care specialists are also trained on how interact with the more dangerous animals.

"A lot of it's common sense, really," McKim said.

For instance, with the large cats, McKim teachers zoo staffers to kneel down to the cats' level to appear less threatening.

Also, if an animal becomes aggressive, animal care specialists stop whatever activity they're doing with the animal and, if safe, try to distract it with a piece of food.

Anne Metcalf, an animal care specialist at the Micke Grove Zoo, points to a hiding space used by a male mountain lion in an exhibit Friday. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

These precautions have helped Micke Grove Zoo staff avoid any serious incidences.

"I do want to knock on wood," McKim said. "We haven't had any close calls since I've been here."

Although zookeepers are never in the exhibit with the large cats, Pettit said, she's careful not to get too close to the fences either.

Several times, while cleaning an exhibit, Pettit said, she has surprised herself by not know how close she really was.

Contact reporter Amanda Dyer at amandad@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

lodi boy wrote on Jan 2, 2008 9:04 PM:

" If they were taunting the tiger, than that was wrong, but STILL, it should have not been allowed to get out in the first place. It think it's horrible that one post:
"I got all warm and fuzzy..." I mean, a person was killed. If it was a 10 year old kid that did the same thing, people would say, "poor child, he couldn't defend himself..." The zoo should have met the correct height for the wall. Period. "

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anonymous wrote on Jan 2, 2008 3:08 PM:

" The little bastards got just what they had coming to them for teasing the cat at the zoo in san fransisco. I got all warm and fuzzy inside when I heard one was killed and the other two shredded. Its a real shame the cat ended up dead though. "

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