Some animals at Great Bend’s Brit Spaugh Zoo were able to bear this week’s bitter cold spell in newly winterized quarters, thanks to two young men working on Eagle Scout projects. Bryce Divis and Nathan Brungardt, both Scouts in Troop 157, chose to build winter animals enclosures, Zoo Director Scott Gregory said.

Both projects were completed in November. Divis built a winter tortoise house. He started with a partial donation from Lowes and raised the rest of the money for the structure, which he then assembled.

"Nathan (Brungardt) constructed a building from wood we had lying around," Gregory said. That building is the winter enclosure for the zoo’s great horned owl, Thurston.

In addition to this much appreciated work by volunteers, the zoo continues to receive support from its Zoo Society, which will be meeting one week from today. After the meeting, members of the Great Bend Zoo Society will be announcing some exciting new benefits for members, Gregory said. These are still being fine tuned, but he’s expecting them to include special members-only events, including the opportunity to attend some behind-the-scenes tours of Kansas zoos.

For information about membership contact the zoo, 620-793-4226. Great Bend’s Brit Spaugh Zoo, located at 2123 Main St., is open daily from 9 a.m. to 4:30 a.m., and admission is free.