Meet The Team That Keeps The Elmwood Park Zoo Running Like Clockwork
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It takes a whole team to keep the Elmwood Park Zoo running smoothly. From preparing the diets to caring for the animals, zookeepers and staff stay busy on a daily basis at the Montgomery County zoo.
Every year over 700,000 people pay a visit to the Elmwood Park Zoo. It takes a small army to keep things running like clockwork.
Fifteen zookeepers, multiple veterinarians, an education team and lots and lots of volunteers.
Kathy and Barb have been volunteering at the zoo for years.
On this morning, they're in the kitchen preparing meals for Pepito the skunk and the Tamarin monkeys.
General curator Marina Haynes says meal preparation at the zoo is precise. The contents of each bowl are weighed to the gram.
"We want to make sure we're giving our animals not only the best items of food for their diets but in the right amounts," Haynes said. "A big problem in the zoo world, believe it or not, is obesity."
Feeding all those animals doesn't come cheap.
"It's pretty expensive $2,000 a week to feed the whole animal collection," Haynes said.
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While Pepito gets table side service, Rocky and Aria, North American river otters, have to work for their extra snack of chopped up fish by participating in training routines with their handlers.
The same goes for Mokolo, Dhoruba and Gerald, giraffes who get trained several days a week as well – and take lots of selfies too.
The trio consumes over 100 heads of lettuce, two bales of alfalfa and 32 pounds of grain daily.
The attention to detail is evident everywhere you turn, from nutrition to health care.
"We are very fortunate that we have full time veterinarians and two part-time vet techs that take care of our entire animal collection," Haynes said.
One recent morning Mohave the lizard was getting a physical and Munchkin the screen owl was getting vaccinated against West Nile virus.
Working behind the scenes to keep the zoo's residents in tip-top shape.
"It's basically like trying to run a little city," Haynes said. "Everything that you need to have in a city, we have in the zoo here too."
