At LR Zoo, free critters at home, too

A foraging squirrel catches the eye of a bald eagle Friday in the eagle’s habitat at the Little Rock Zoo, where officials say small wild animals often sneak into open-air exhibits to snatch food.
A foraging squirrel catches the eye of a bald eagle Friday in the eagle’s habitat at the Little Rock Zoo, where officials say small wild animals often sneak into open-air exhibits to snatch food.

— As spring approaches, animals at the Little Rock Zoo are up and about, but some have more freedom than others.

Because the zoo is essentially an oasis in an urban area, where tasty fruits and vegetables are often lying about in open-air exhibits, it is a beacon for free-roaming critters - rabbits, raccoons, opossums and especially squirrels.

Susan Altrui, a spokesman for the zoo, said there’s not a lot the park can do to keep native animals out. While most of them pose little threat, she said, raccoons are particularly unwelcome.

“If we find raccoon tracks or other evidence, we set traps to catch them and remove them,” she said. “Raccoons carry distemper. We had an anteater killed a couple years ago from catching distemper from a raccoon.”

The rabbits and squirrels are no big deal, Altrui said.

“We have lots of squirrels,” she said. “We’ve even had guests say they come just to see them because of their antics. They’re very active and seem to be more people friendly than in other places.”

Not many of the bushy tailed rodents could be seen midday Friday as the warm, sunny weather had drawn a crowd to the zoo. The little creatures seemed almost to be taking a break, perhaps resting after trying to steal food from the apes and monkeys.

A walk through the zoo revealed a squirrel lounging in a tree in the elephant yard as another could be seen scurrying stealthily through the hedge that surrounds the spider monkey exhibit.

Stealing food can be dangerous for the little creatures, Altrui said.

“Sometimes they’re successful, but usually they’re not,” she said. “And every now and then, we have an animal catch a squirrel or a rabbit. It’s not a pretty sight. It’s not a good fate for the rabbit or squirrel.”

Lingering at picnic tables in the shade, Rebecca Hoffman and Jon Warren, both of Conway, said they visit the zoo every couple of weeks. On Friday, they said they had seen squirrels flitting around them and often notice rabbits in the exhibits.

“It’s always fun to watch the free animals hanging around the caged animals,” Warren said.

“Yes,” Hoffman said, as she completed his thought, “It’s neat to see the animals that we don’t really see as exotic running in and out with the exotic animals.”

“And really squirrels and rabbits are just as exotic as these other animals,” Warren continued. “It’s just that we’re so used to seeing them. We actually knew a Swiss girl who was just fascinated by squirrels.”

With so many native critters scurrying about, there are also a lot of native critter catchers such as hawks and kites.

For that reason, zoo officials believe that Tucson, the hawk that escaped from the zoo about a month ago, is still in the area, though they aren’t very hopeful that he’ll return home.

“A bird of prey killed one of our ducks and carried it off,” Altrui said. “There’s such an abundance of critters around here for them to hunt, and Tucson was a falconer’s bird that hunted rabbits and squirrels.”

Tucson, startled by construction noise, broke free from the leather straps that normally would hold him to his perch and crashed through the netting over the yard and on to freedom.

Altrui said the netting is primarily meant to keep birds of prey and other predators out rather than keep zoo animals in.

In addition to raptors, such predators as minks and foxes have been discovered and trapped on the zoo grounds, Altrui said.

“The mink went after some ducks we had,” she said.

Dogs also are unwelcome because they also carry distemper. However, the zoo does keep a few cats around.

“The cats are good mousers, but they get veterinary exams and shots first,” Altrui said, noting that animals get extensive examinations and go through a lengthy quarantine before being introduced to new habitats, just make sure no diseases are spread.

“They tend to hang out around the hay barn because that’s where the rats or mice are,” she said. “We do feed them, but not so much that they won’t want to hunt.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/17/2012

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