A new building may not be as exciting as a new animal, but it can be equally as important to the progress at the Great Bend Brit Spaugh Zoo. Curator and Zoo Supervisor Ashley Burdick reported on the alligator building that was added this month near the alligator pond.
As noted previously, the zoo houses two adult American Alligators, Alvin and Allister, who are about 16 and 13 years old and around 8-9 feet long. Zookeepers used to have to physically capture the gators every fall and spring to move them, but due to their increasing size, this method became unsafe.
“This new building will have a water area and a land area to keep the gators nice and toasty in the winter,” Burdick said. “The building will connect to their current pond/yard area and they will move back outside every spring. This building will also have a viewing window, so visitors can enjoy our alligators year-round.”
Now the building is up, along with a chute the alligators will use to move from their yard to the building.
The next steps are to add the electrical wiring, insulation, and the interior walls and ceiling.
“We are hoping it will be finished by the end of next month so we can get the gators inside before it gets too cold,” Burdick said. “Our plan is to have them come inside in the fall and they stay in all winter. Then we will let them back out in the spring and they’ll stay out all summer again.”
Ed Shed is available
An existing building at the show, the “Ed Shed,” has been undergoing renovation. Burdick said this building is now available to rent for birthday parties, meetings, family reunions etc. “We are still waiting on a sink and counter-top for the area,” she added.
Lion pride
An ongoing story at the zoo since 2018 has been the effort to unite the male lion, Luke, with the two females, Amana and Sauda, as a pride sharing the outdoor exhibit space together. Earlier this summer, the girls spent some time in the outdoor exhibit when Luke was also outdoors.
The veterinarians and several keepers were placed around the perimeter as the lions spent about 2.5 hours in the yard together on Aug. 11.
It looked promising at first, but Burdick said the sessions took a backward step a few days later.
“During our last session, Luke was quite aggressive, so we aren’t sure whether they’ll be able to ever share the yard full-time or not,” she said. “We will likely keep trying periodically, but we don’t want to force anything and have one of the cats end up injured. The girls still are able to go outside in the morning to the afternoon and we switch them around 2-3 p.m., so everyone is still getting yard time and visitors can still view either the girls or Luke each day.”
