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Returning to the YMCA, Tim Hunt offered our invocation while Anthony Nordan was our song leader. Our guests were Lisa McFarland and Steve Austvold. New member Jacklin Steege was formally inducted into the Club - welcome! Parts of a letter of appreciation from the Chief Executive Officer of Engineers Without Borders - USA, were read and Jake Hexum was thanked for spearheading our donation of $1,200. Jake reported that construction of the school in Guatemala is just beginning and that all necessary funds have been raised. Members were reminded to keep Dave Peters in their thoughts and prayers. To kick off Brags and Fines, members were also reminded that any Brag and Fine card they have now will expire on June 30, 2022, so that they need to get busy bragging. Katie Johnson then welcomed Jacklin to the Club, noting she is a world class pretzel maker from their work at the speech tournament concession stand two Saturdays past. Pete Wasberg brought up a volunteer opportunity at a boys' basketball tournament just this past Saturday. Ken Harty reminded us that Fergus Falls is celebrating its 150th Anniversary, while this will be The Daily Journal's 149th year of existence. Mary Pettit grew up in Wahpeton and expressed her appreciation for the Chahinkapa Zoo. Wally Cole remarked on the 100th year of Cole Chiropractic Health Center, having been first started in 1922 by Dr. Welander, followed by Dr. Christenson in 1952 and Wally in 1982; he anticipates son-in-law Zach will carry on when Wally is ready to retire. With all this history Greg Darling added that his great-great grandfather was in Fergus Falls when it was founded. Lisa McFarland also bragged about [I'm sorry - I can't read my notes] and that she was leaving for a vacation the next day. Kathy Austvold capped off the brags and fines with $7.00 to celebrate what will be a significant other's (and her guest at the meeting) seven decades of life on February 24th. Ken Harty introduced Addy Paul from the Chahinkapa Zoo. She has been at the Zoo 14 years and is now serving as lead keeper and trainer. Addy reported that she knew we had been previously visited by a baby kangaroo that is now six feet tall, weighs 250 pounds and is at the Kansas Zoo. She brought as our guest a corn snake that was very docile and wrapped itself around Addy in various ways during the program. They are indigenous to the Midwest all the way down to Texas and grow to be two to six feet long. Their diet consists of mice so they are actually a friend to farmers. She referred to the snake as mellow and sweet and reported that it became the snake of choice for her visit because another one she was going to bring just started shedding, and when snakes shed the first thing that goes is their eyes. The Zoo expects to have its new tiger den open by this spring. She also told us about the fossa, with Chahinkapa being one of only 30 zoos to host the species. It is a predator from Madagascar that is on the endangered list. It can grow to be six feet long and weigh up to 50 pounds. They were only recently discovered, in 1994, and Chahinkapa was the first zoo to have a female successfully raise its offspring. They look most like a mongoose and have been placed in that family, although exhibiting both cat and doglike features. The Zoo has six full time zookeepers and is adding a seventh. There is also an office staff. In response to a question about losing its accreditation with the American Zoo Association (AZA) she said that has not affected anything and they are considering applying to the Zoological Association of America (ZAA) to be accredited by it. She said the latter Association has some programs she is really looking forward to implementing. She also noted that the well-known Columbus Zoo also lost its accreditation with AZA at the same time. While the loss of accreditation also means a loss of reciprocity with AZA members, Chahinkapa does not intend to reapply for accreditation with the AZA, believing the matter was more political than anything and looking forward to being associated with the ZAA. |
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