Teens Making a Difference

Our teen volunteers went the extra mile this past weekend to help out Cheyenne Mountain Zoo's local conservation partner, Pinello Ranch. Pinello Ranch, located just north of Venetucci Farm, "serves as an oasis for wildlife along Fountain Creek." The property is surrounded by an urban landscape but is made up of pristine wetland environment making it a valuable habitat for birds, deer, and aquatic life.

Our teen volunteers signed up to spend their Saturday helping install trail markers for future birding tours and clean up over 150 gallons of trash along the Fountain Creek Watershed. In return they were able to explore the wonders of this magical environment.

Interested in helping this local champion? Look for the little yellow bird and vote for Pinello Ranch at the Quarters for Conservation Booth at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo.

UCCS Volunteers at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Then Interacts with Mountain Lions

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – After three hours of volunteering, the University of Colorado Colorado Springs men’s soccer team worked with Cheyenne Mountain Zoo to take part in a unique educational opportunity with the zoo’s four Mountain Lions.

UCCS started at 9 a.m., with volunteers in three different areas of the Zoo. One group started in the Asian Highlands area, and worked near Helga’s exhibit on the walk bridge and exhibit sign. Helga, an Amur tiger, frequently visited the student-athletes working on the sign.

Another group worked on the main road through the Zoo between the main administrative building and the developing Encounter Africa exhibit. The group dug holes and planted trees along the roadside with the Zoo’s staff.

The third group started in the Zoo’s Safari Lodge assembling seed sticks for the Budgie Buddies exhibit. The other groups rotated in, and during the three hours, the team put together approximately 5,000 seed sticks for the visitors to feed the more than 100 free-flight Australian birds. The Safari Lodge area also allowed the team to repaint a cart for the Zoo.

Some student-athletes took advantage of the nearby “All About Giraffes” exhibit, where the largest giraffe herd at any zoo walked up to the walkway to meet the athletes. The team ate lunch at the Zoo and took part in an aerial tour with the Sky Ride before meeting the Mountain Lions.

Staff members at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo arranged for an educational opportunity, which allowed the UCCS men’s soccer team to prepare food boxes to hold chicken breast for the four Mountain Lions at the Zoo. The team prepared the eight boxes with logos of the other eight RMACmen’s soccer teams, and the four Mountain Lions in the exhibit proceeded to destroy and tear the boxes apart to close out the day.

We Love Our Volunteers!

Do you ever wonder how we clean, feed and care for hundreds of animals everyday? It is not magic, it is our volunteers!

April is the time of year when we reflect upon the amazing impact our volunteers have had on the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo! Our Docents are over a hundred strong and help shape our education programs. We have fifty adult volunteers who lend a hand anywhere they are needed. This can range from animal care and cleaning, horticulture, education and administrative work. We have large groups of students, military personnel and adults who come in for a day and take on large projects and assist with special event operations. Summer is around the corner and you will soon be seeing teens on zoo grounds helping animal keepers and educating the public. It takes many helping hands to make the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo run smoothly!

We are currently looking for groups to come and volunteer at this year's Run to the Shrine on May 19th. This is one of the zoo’s largest fundraising events of the year. Receive a Run to the Shrine t-shirt when you volunteer.

Do you want to be a part of the volunteer family? More information: http://cmzoo.org/getInvolved/volunteer/

Thank you to our Docents!

 

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is truly fortunate to have an enthusiastic group of supporters within our Auxiliary, or Docent program. We can’t thank them enough for everything they have done and continue to do at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. The Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Auxiliary (CMZA) was formed in 1969 as a non-profit organization to give aid in carrying out the Zoo’s objectives. It is an active and founding member of the Association of Zoo and Aquarium Docents (AZAD). The docent volunteers within the Auxiliary are required to be members of the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo and pledge to serve at least 30 hours a year in a variety of support activities.

 The zoo would surely not look the same as it does today, without the support of our docents. Many of the educational opportunities at the zoo are a direct result of the Auxiliary’s efforts in starting school group “safaris” (pre-trip programs) and zoo tours, the original Zoo On The Move (ZOOM) program, special event and on-grounds education stations and presenting puppet shows in classrooms out in the community for grades K-2. The docents also played an active role in several of the Zoo’s early marketing campaigns including the “Name the Baby Elephants” contest in which the names for Lucky and Kimba were chosen. They also played an active role in the Zoo’s first capital campaign, Zoo for All Reasons. As the zoo has grown, so have the ways in which the Auxiliary continues to support the zoo!

In addition to all of the activities listed above, our docents also play integral roles in the renewed ZOOM program, zoo-wide animal enrichment, special animal care efforts such as health or birth observations, and financially and physically support our conservation initiatives. There’s just nothing this group of enthusiastic individuals won’t do! In the last year alone, 106 docents collectively contributed over 15,000 hours of service to the zoo. That’s the equivalent of over seven full-time staff members.

 It’s clear that Cheyenne Mountain Zoo is a better place because of the docents and the enthusiasm and support they provide. So to bring “National Thank You Month” to a close, on behalf of all of the staff at Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, We say – “THANK YOU” to the Auxiliary for all you do.