SATURDAYS:

10:30 a.m. African Wild Dogs (Wild Dog Drive)

11:00 a.m. Children’s Zoo (Barnyard)

1:15 p.m. Elephant Behavioral Presentation (Elephant Pavilion)

1:30 p.m. Andean Condor & Harpy Eagle (across from picnic pavilions)

1:30 p.m. Great Apes (Great EscApe Building)

2:00 p.m. Upper Aquarium (Noble Aquatic Center)

2:30 p.m. River Otters (Oklahoma Trails)

3:00 p.m. Grizzly Bears (Oklahoma Trails)

3:00 p.m. Sea Lion Habitat (Noble Aquatic Center)

3:30 p.m. Indian Rhino

4:00 p.m. Alligators (Oklahoma Trails)

SUNDAYS:

10:30 a.m. Giraffes

11:00 a.m. Children’s Zoo (Underground)

11:30 a.m. Galapagos Tortoise (Island Life)

1:15 p.m. Elephant Behavioral Presentation (Elephant Pavilion)

1:30 p.m. Andean Condor & Harpy Eagle (across from picnic pavilions)

1:30 p.m. Great Apes (Great EscApe Building)

2:00 p.m. Lower Aquarium (Noble Aquatic Center)

2:30 p.m. River Otters (Oklahoma Trails)

3:00 p.m. Grizzly Bears (Oklahoma Trails)

3:00 p.m. Sea Lion Habitat (Noble Aquatic Center)

3:30 p.m. Indian Rhino

4:00 p.m. Turkey Vulture (Oklahoma Trails Aviary)

A male harpy eagle that was acutely ill has recovered, said Jennifer D’Agostino, director of veterinary services. The bird had stopped eating and was lethargic. “Hopefully it was just a passing bug we took care of,” D’Agostino said. The eagle was caught in the wild as an adult and has been at the Oklahoma City Zoo since the 1970s.

A honey badger, also known as a ratel, is a species related to weasels that lives mostly in Africa and the Middle East. Adult males can reach 35 pounds, but what makes this creature special is it compensates for its small size with an unparalleled vicious demeanor. It has been named by the Guiness Book of World Records as The Most Fearless Animal on the Planet. It is known to fight off leopards, lions and other large predators despite its small size and often feeds on extremely venomous snakes like cobras and adders. As its name implies, it is also fond of honey. It feeds on honey and bee larvae despite having no immunity to bee stings. It merely takes whatever the bees can dish out while it raids their hives.

I first saw a National Geographic documentary about the honey badger about 10 years ago when I was in college. It immediately became my favorite animal and the mascot of all of my fantasy sports teams. Recently, the honey badger has become a bit of an online craze because of a Youtube video using some clips of the National Geographic documentary with humorous and profane commentary by a guy named Randall. This video has more than 17 million views. As a long time fan of the honey badger, I could not be happier about its newfound fame.

I got to thinking the other day that it is time the Oklahoma City Zoo added a honey badger to its collection. So I started a Facebook page for the cause and began amassing supporters. I’m not totally sure what would need to be done to make this happen, but I figure building a groundswell of support is a good start. I’m willing to raise money for the cause, and I hope I can convince zoo officials that a honey badger would be a welcome addition in Oklahoma City.

To help promote the effort, I have pledged to get a honey badger tattoo on my upper left arm when my Facebook page amasses 500 likes. If you want to see a honey badger in Oklahoma City, or if you’d just like to see me tattoo a picture of a 35-pound weasel on my arm, join the movement now.

Viva Honey Badger!

- Staff Writer Bryan Dean

September 20, 2011

Cameron Crowe, Director

We Bought a Zoo

Dear Mr. Crowe,

My name is Bob Ingersoll. You may have heard of the recent documentary Project Nim, by Academy Award winners James Marsh and Simon Chinn. In part, the film chronicles my relationship with Nim Chimpsky, a chimpanzee. I met Nim in September of 1977 and became a lifelong advocate for him and other captive primates and continue to do that work to this day. For almost 15 years now, I’ve served as president of Mindy’s Memory Primate Sanctuary in Newcastle, Oklahoma, where we provide a permanent home for almost 100 monkeys, many of whom come from situations similar to Crystal’s.

By now you’ve read the several other letters explaining why it is a bad idea to use live monkeys in movie projects. I don’t need to reiterate what my colleagues have written in their letters, except perhaps to point out that your use of Crystal perpetuates a problem that we have been trying to both bring to an end and provide a solution for, for many years. And I’ll add that in my opinion, computer-generated imaging has made using live animals entirely unnecessary and hopefully soon obsolete.

In my experience, monkeys that come to us from entertainment and pet situations are the most difficult to resocialize with members of their own species, since they’ve had little or no social experience with other monkeys. Being around humans may be fun and cute and entertaining for the humans, but it’s psycholo-gically devastating for the animal. The laughs for the brief moment in a movie or television show are not worth the suffering that animal generally will have to endure. Also, it is not unheard of for entertainment animals to end up in invasive medical research when their entertainment days are through, often in a few short years. The people that make a buck on the use of their animals for entertainment seldom have qualms about making a buck on them when they outlive their cute stage and enter the dangerous stage.

Another problem is that use of monkeys in movies stokes the public’s desire to own a monkey as a pet, thereby perpetuating more sales of captive primates. These monkeys are sold to people who are unequipped to provide for the magnitude of care needed for a primate’s physical and mental well-being over the decades of the monkey’s life. A capuchin can live to be 50 years of age. That’s a long time. Neeko spent eight years in a dog carrier, in a diaper, in an apartment. Abu ended up in a windowless tool shed in a backyard for a number of years before he was rescued by us. There are many more examples at our sanctuary alone, but you get the point. The bottom line is, using monkeys in entertainment ultimately just leads to many more monkeys in bad situations.

Capuchin monkeys are social animals, and they deserve the opportunity to live their lives as the monkeys they are, with members of their own species. They shouldn’t have to spend their lives being trained to do tricks for humans’ entertainment.

Thanks for taking the time to read this letter. Feel free to contact me directly if you would like. My number is (415) 609-4856; e-mail is newtrogs@hotmail.com.

Regards,

Bob Ingersoll, President

Mindy’s Memory Primate Sanctuary
Newcastle, Oklahoma

• Animal chiropractor helps from head to tail. (Oklahoma City)
• For many students, it’s a zoo out there. (Oklahoma City)
• Metro students work alongside zoo experts. (Oklahoma City, Edmond)
• Lead sickens rare baby bird. (California)
• Wild fishing industries exploring strategies. (Gulf of Mexico)

Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll

• City zoo to play host for gorilla conference. (Oklahoma City)
• Pet tales: Everybody loves Sammy. (Yukon)
• Bill updates: Pet fund. (state capitol)
• Shark tales always come with teeth. (Jenks)
• Cuts urged on season, bag limit. (southeast Oklahoma)
• Wolf law could change. (Montana)

Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll

• Dog, owner hurt in dispute. (Oklahoma City)
• Fish hatchery’s closure could be bad news. (Oklahoma City)
• Benefit walk was Saturday at the zoo. (Oklahoma City)
• Pet Tales: A big, friendly bunch. (Oklahoma City)
• Police seek dog dollars. (Stillwater)
• Center to host nature day Saturday. (Frederick)
• Bone marrow gives patients a new chance. (Sand Springs)
• Staycations, tourism on rise. (statewide)
• Derby set up for wild finish. (Kentucky)
• Super Saver wins as Borel bags another one. (Kentucky)
• Tech Tidbits: My Pet Speaker by Pet Acoustics. (Tuesday, page 3d)
• Rescue set up for animals. (Louisiana, Saturday, page 3a)

Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll