Our ZooParent Party was a hit

Photo by Kelli O'Brien.

The Zoo hosted a party for all of its ZooParents on Thursday night (September 23) and we had quite a turnout, with over 150 people RSVPing! Guests enjoyed raffles, and cake and ice cream in honor of Dara (one of our Bornean orangutans), who turns 11.

We also had plenty of gifts in the form of enrichment items for our animals (treats, spices, extracts, etc.) – four boxes full of them! These items are extremely helpful and help keep our animals healthy and alert by providing them with challenges and exercise.

The Zoo wants to thank all of its ZooParents. Our animals thank you too!

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Birthdays, brews and a recycle rally

Photo by Grayce Scott

There is a ton of fun on tap this weekend at the Zoo – starting with a special birthday celebration for one our animals.

Dara, one of our Bornean orangutans, turns 11 and visitors can help us sing “Happy Birthday” to her at 2 p.m. tomorrow (September 25). The celebration will be complete with birthday treats and decorations; please come out and wish Dara a great birthday!

Later on, the Zoo will host a Brew at the Zoo and Wine, Too event from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m, complete with New York State beer and wine; guests can choose from Saranac, Lake Placid, Custom BrewCrafters and Dundee beer or delicious wine from Casa Larga, Bully Hill and Fulkerson. Tickets are $15 for members and $20 for non-members; ticket price includes Zoo admission, great food and live music from Ezra and the Storm. Beverages are purchased separately.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday (September 26) the community is invited to bring their used clothing, shoes, bicycles, electronics and much more (click here for a complete list of acceptable items) to our Go Green! Recycle Rally, just one of the Zoo’s recycling efforts.

We hope to see you here at the Zoo this weekend.

- Kelli O’Brien, Public Relations & Marketing Coordinator

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A fun day at Xerox

Photo by Kelli O'Brien.

The Zoo felt right at home at the Xerox Monroe County Supplier Discount Awareness Day on September 16.  Xerox is one of the Zoo’s corporate sponsors and plenty of employees took an interest in our raffle for a free Household Basic Zoo Membership and snow leopard plush animal. Visitor Services Manager Ruth Ostrander and I were quite busy talking with employees about the great benefits of a Zoo membership (Xerox employees can take $5 off any Zoo membership too!) and listening to them tell us how much they enjoyed coming to the Zoo; always a fantastic thing to hear! We also had some of our hard-working Docents at our booth to talk about river otters, polar bears and more.

Photo by Kelli O'Brien.

To promote our upcoming ZooBoo event, we treated (not tricked!) people to Halloween-themed toys and animal crackers; the glow-in-the-dark vampire teeth we were giving out seemed to be the most popular item!

We had a great time and can’t wait to go back next year. If you were there, we would love to hear your thoughts about how we did!

- Kelli O’Brien, Public Relations & Marketing Coordinator

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Grandparents Day: 31 years strong!

Photo by Grayce Scott.

Since 1979, when President Jimmy Carter signed a proclamation creating National Grandparents Day, grandparents throughout the country have been celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. The Zoo is honoring that tradition and will host two events from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, September 12 — Grandparents Day and Elephant Day. A grandparent will be admitted free with one grandchild (youth or adult) admission all day, and a special membership promotion will also be going on – $10 off a new Grandparent Level or Grandparent Plus membership!

Visitors can enjoy encore presentations of our summer programming, a Scavenger Hunt, as well as various activities involving our elephants Genny C and Lilac! We hope to see you there.

- Kelli O’Brien, Public Relations & Marketing Coordinator

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Vulture Awareness Day at the Zoo

Our International Vulture Awareness Day was a hit at the Zoo this weekend. The cooler weather was a nice change and families came out to learn about the importance of vultures as well as meet our resident vultures Healthcliff and Gertrude. Visitors also got an up-close experience with a visiting bird, Cleo, a juvenile Egyptian vulture, and kids made vulture masks and enjoyed animal face painting. Check out some of the photos from the event below!

Photos by Kelli O’Brien

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Butterflies in Brockport

We had a fantastic crowd for the butterfly release at SUNY Brockport this morning, where Conservation Education Coordinator Tina Crandall, who is also the coordinator of our Butterfly Beltway Project, presented the college with their sign and a butterfly education program, followed by the release of several Monarch butterflies into the garden planted at the main entrance of the science complex.

David Turkow, Director of Environmental Health and Safety at SUNY Brockport, worked with Crandall to become the first collegiate butterfly beltway site this year through the Zoo’s corporate offering. We are thrilled to have SUNY Brockport on board! Check out some of the photos from the event below:

Photos by Kelli O’Brien

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Last chance to see our summer programming!

Our summer programming was a hit all season long and will be presented for the last time this upcoming weekend. Did you  see our elephants get their bath? Watch our live stage show? Observe the animal enrichment and demo sessions? If not, we encourage you to include the Zoo in your Labor Day plans!

All photos by Grayce Scott

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