By Gitanjali Singh
Two 16-month-old baby Harpy eagles at the National Zoological Park were yesterday among a number of animals that were removed from their cages and placed in a new living environment.
Stabroek News
August 21, 2001
According to a zookeeper, the eagles were donated to the zoo six months ago by Kurt Hezroy who was in the interior felling trees when he found them in one of the trees there.
The movement of the eagles into a new living environment is to facilitate proper development by providing more space and an area that is similar to their natural habitat.
Apart from the Harpy eagles, two Red Billed Toucans from the Ramphastos Tucanus family, and a male and female Carnivora Cougar from the Felis Concolor species were also placed in more natural environments.
Aiding in the movement of the animals, were the local zookeepers and a team of persons from the USA. Members of the team from the USA are the director of the Smithsonian Institution at the National Zoological Park in Washington DC, Lucy Spelman; Vince Rico a curator at Amazonia Exhibit; and Alena Lomicky, an educator with the Friends of the National Zoo (FONZ). Since their arrival in Guyana on Saturday, the team has treated a Jabiru Stork also known as the Ng-a-cup, which is from the species of the Jabiru Mycteria and has de-wormed the wild cats.
According to the director of the US team, the group has been conducting annual visits to the National Zoo in Guyana since 1995. These visits are aimed at providing local zookeepers with the necessary training in various areas, providing health care for the animals, performing surgeries and for the sharing of information. Spelman said that together with the Calgary Zoo in Canada and the Florida Aquarium in Tampa they will be sharing information and conducting training sessions for the local zookeepers in Guyana early next year.
Spelman further stated that the zoo should be a "window into what is wild." She placed much emphasis on the fact that Guyana has a rich biodiversity and the local zoo should be the window to the richness of that biodiversity, by providing the residents of Georgetown and the citizens of Guyana with a vast view of what was wild.
Spelman said that the moving of the eagles was a way of opening the window into the wildlife of Guyana since the spacious environment will encourage them to behave as if they were in their natural environment and in the process this behavior would strengthen their wings.
She said that the zoo should be fun and educational and was doing a great job in terms of its development.