Fozblog

Teddy Bear Rally sets new attendance record!

WOW! What a day at the zoo on Saturday! The annual Teddy Bear Rally sponsored by St. John's Children's Hospital set a new attendance record with more than 10,000 people taking advantage of free admission that day.

Kids were encouraged to bring a teddy bear to participate in contest and activities, including the Bear Care Clinic, a great way to introduce children to health examinations by focusing on the bear.

Entertainment included Mad Science, M Gym Dance Studio, Martial Artist Foundation and the Nixa DARE puppet show. Thanks to everyone for making it a great day!

Zoo names 2008 Earth Heroes

It's the zoo's Earth Day celebration today - Party for the Planet. And, we announced our 2008 Earth Hero Award recipients this morning.

Dr. Alice (Jill) Black is an assistant professor in the Department of Geology, Geography and Planning at Missouri State University. She is instrumental in educating preservice teachers and preparing them to inspire their students about science.

Sue Schuble is a retired teacher/coach who volunteers with numerous environmental organizations - Greater Ozarks Audubon Society (who nominated her for the award), the Springfield Conservation Nature Center and here at Dickerson Park Zoo.

Watch in the coming weeks for "This Week at Dickerson Park Zoo" podcasts including interviews with each of these Earth Heroes about their projects and involvement in Earth-friendly activities.

Kids Art Goes WILD!

Art students at Hickory Hills Middle School and Glendale High School joined Dickerson Park Zoo's Year of the Frog campaign by creating art based on frogs. The students' creations are showcased for public display in the lobby of the City of Springfield's Busch Building (city offices), 840 Boonville, for the month of April. Thanks also to Borders Bookstore for loaning frog and amphibian books to include with the display.

SPS AIMS and Zoo Team Up

Later this week, DIckerson Park Zoo will welcome students from Springfield Public Schools' AIMS program for one in a series of zoo encounters.These students will learn about zoo careers by shadowing zookeepers, the veterinarian and education staff members.

Read more in a posting online by The News-Leader.

This Week at Dickerson Park Zoo

Show Notes:
:09 Introduction
:26 Party for the Planet
1:28 Teddy Bear Rally
2:12 Summer hours

Right click here to Download TWDPZ_41408.mp3 (3313.6K)

Commentary highlights struggles for elephants in the wild

emagazine.com published Samantha Grasso's commentary "The Plight of the Elephant. She describes challenges facing wild elephants in Africa and Asia. While poaching remains a serious threat, disease, loss of habitat and human-elephant conflict all affect populations of wild elephants.

According to Deborah Olson, executive director of International Elephant Foundation, of all of these challenges, human-elephant conflict may be the most widespread and difficult to manage. Dickerson Park Zoo proudly supports conservation efforts in Sri Lanka to reduce human-elephant conflict.

Odd Zoo Trivia - April Fools' Day

Each year, we prepare for April Fools' Day and an onslaught of incoming phone calls. Unsuspecting coworkers often receive bogus phone messages to return calls to "Mr. Lion," "Ellie Fant" or "Mr. Bear" with the zoo's phone number listed. This year, we tracked eight hang-ups, five "wrong numbers" and about 30 actual April Fools' calls from folks asking for someone (or some animal) that doesn't work here.