Beastly Eating Habits Draw Animal Lovers
Bob the water buffalo grazed on a frozen block of citrus juice.
Mariah the camel munched on produce-filled pumpkins.
And twin African spotted hyenas Kasane and Savuti sharpened their formidable teeth by crunching on large beef hip bones donated by a local butcher, much to the delight of onlookers Saturday at a presentation staged by Moorpark College’s Exotic Animal Training and Management program.
“They don’t like ‘em cooked,” observed 3-year-old Charlotte Selters of Claremont.
The animal pigout was part of a post-Thanksgiving “Feast for the Beasts” for some of the menagerie of about 160 creatures at the nation’s only hands-on college program for budding lion tamers and other animal trainers.
The extra treats are not intended as a way for students to get rid of unwanted Thanksgiving leftovers. Instead, the feedings are part of the program’s new focus to attract larger numbers of paying visitors on weekends.
“Our operating budget is about $85,000 a year, and we only get $25,000 from the county,” said Mara Rodriguez, the program’s education coordinator. “So we need to raise $60,000 every year.”
A series of special programs is planned over the next year to coincide with such events as the Super Bowl. Next up is the pre-Christmas “Presents for the Primates” program on Dec. 15 that will allow children to wrap up food for the zoo’s apes.
As well as attracting paying patrons, such programs are beneficial for the captive guests too, said 23-year-old student Margaret Rousser.
“What we’re doing for the hyenas is for behavioral enrichment,” she said. “When they have something to do, it alleviates stress for the animal, and a relaxed animal is a happy animal.”
Kasane and Savuti certainly appeared as happy as possible for rather sinister-looking scavengers. But then hyenas have had something of an image make-over since their turn as the cackling comic relief on Disney’s animated smash “The Lion King.”
“Ever since ‘The Lion King,’ the fascination with hyenas kicked in,” said Phyllis Barbour of Simi Valley as her 6-year-old son, Tim, and 2-year-old daughter, Julia, clung eagerly to a wire mesh fence watching the canine-like beasts eat.
“Feast for the Beasts” continues today.
Mariah gets brunch at 11:45 a.m., followed by Chui the coati (a raccoon-like carnivore from South America), Chieftain the macaw, Bob, the hyenas and Moose the Great Pyrenees (a type of large, white sheep dog) at hour intervals throughout the day. Educational shows will also be presented at the zoo’s open theater. Admission is $4 for adults, $2 for children.
