An orangutan who sells original art in New York – Who Knew??
Chahinkapa Zoo’s Talukan, an orangutan, has a hobby, painting. He is believed to be the only orangutan in the USA who has had his own gallery showing. He is certainly the only one whose art sells in New York. Local media stories were picked up by a New York magazine including a picture of one of his paintings prompting a reader in New York to call the zoo to purchase that original. That was one of several stories the Chahinkapa Zoo’s Executive Director Kathy Diekman shared with Rotary members at their regular noon hour meeting on the upper level of Prante’s Tuesday May 28th. There to promote Blue Goose Days June 1-2, 2013 she did get into the Zoo itself which many people in the community do not realize is much more than a place to look at animals in captivity. Primarily it is accredited by the American Zoological Society which means it maintains a very high standard including that every animal keeper has at the least a bachelor degree in zoology, wildlife biology or a related field. As an accredited zoo it is involved, with considerable success, in wildlife animal research. It is also involved with breeding of endangered species and has just been licensed to handle international species in the breeding program. Under that license a female snow leopard has come from the Granby Zoo in Quebec, Canada to be bred with a male snow leopard here. Once again their breeding program has had considerable success such that the San Diego Zoo invited them to come teach them how to breed the Madagascar Fossa. One starts to understand the education component of the Zoo when one checks out where all the yellow buses in the parking lot are from. However few people know that the zoo internship at Chahinkapa is one of the toughest in the world to get with applicants from all around the world.
Which brings us back to Blue Goose Days for a component of that celebration will be the presentation of a Habitat Hero Award to Dr. Will Bieier from North Dakota State University for his ambassadorship of Chahinkapa Zoo and long term partnership in the NDSU Zoology/Chahinkapa Zoo internship program. He was one of the critical elements in starting the program. Also receiving a Habitat Hero Award will be NDSCS’s Shannon King who uses the zoo for field experience for her Zoology students and has developed a poster and video program with her students and the zoo.
So Blue Goose Days is all serious right??? --- NOT! A destination celebration for the community and area it will kick off with a parade Saturday June 1st and have many activities including the Dick Bell Catfish Tournament (this is another one residents often don’t know about – people come from all over the world to fish catfish here); a wildlife walk, discovering wildlife in your own back yard, the Junior Duck Stamp display, free Carousel Rides, a crafters festival, Boy Scouts with a hatchet throwing demonstration and much, much more. See you in Wahpeton at the Chahinkapa Zoo Saturday June 1st and Sunday June 2nd.
