L and I went to the Oakland Zoo last Friday to visit the animals, most notably the elephants. Now, before you get all judge-y about how terrible zoos are, the Oakland Zoo has made great strides in implementing safe and humane ways of taking care of their 660+ native and exotic animals. It is also involved in various conservation projects around the world.
In particular, O.Z. was the first zoo in the country to stop the use of bull hooks when interacting with elephants. Bull hooks are essentially long wooden sticks with metal hooks on the end that are stabbed into the elephants’ flesh to control them. After a zoo keeper was stomped to death by a ‘phant in 1991, O.Z. implemented a new management program called Protected Contact. Instead of forcing a ‘phant to move in a certain way (such as lifting up a foot, so a zookeeper may clean the foot pad), a passive strategy is used. With a barrier in between the ‘phant and keeper, the keeper will use a padded target pole and verbal cues to communicate – additionally, the keeper offers food. When the ‘phant lifts her foot to the fence, she is rewarded with the food (and also a nice foot rub). If the ‘phant doesn’t want to comply, she is not forced to. This program was so successful that the Association of Zoos and Aquariums mandated that all accredited zoos implement Protected Contact by 2014. Furthermore, O.Z. spearheaded efforts to ban the use of bull hooks anywhere in Oakland, which will hopefully incite other cities to do the same. Unfortunately, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed a bill that would ban bull hook usage anywhere in California, but at least cruel bull hook practices are generating more exposure with the general public.
Anyway, back to the fun stuff. I hadn’t been to O.Z. since I was a kid, but L and I waited until November because every year, after Halloween, O.Z. grabs pumpkins from various pumpkin patches around the Bay Area to give to its animals. As you all know, Halloween is my favorite holiday, so when I heard that O.Z. shares the holiday spirit with the animals I was incredibly excited. Most of the exhibits just had pumpkins as toys and decoration, as pictured above in the giant tortoise enclosure.
There were also cute decorations in a reptile tank and the fruit bat “caves”. (I don’t know if the bunny stuffed animal is a regular guest of the bat caves, but the bats seems to get along with him well enough.)
We walked around and saw some other animals before the main el-event. There were a whole bunch of other cute animals not pictured above, such as emus, sun bears, lemurs, Egyptian geese, and a variety of brightly colored poison dart frogs.
Before we spent some quality time with the ‘phants, we said “Hi” to the camels. I wanted to stick around longer because they were so friendly and approached us almost immediately. L was pretty sure they were gearing up to spit at us though.
Three times a day there is a public elephant feeding, which was what L and I were really there to see. We started off our visit with the second feeding of the day, checked out the rest of the zoo, and then stuck around for the final feeding. O.Z. dedicates a full 6 acres just to the ‘phants – one of the largest enclosures in the country (not including elephant reserves). To prepare the public part of the area for the last feeding of the day, the three female elephants, or phanties (elephant aunties) as I like to call them, were led out. Elephants are highly intelligent creatures, so their enclosure has a lot of fun toys and objects for them to interact with. In the pictures above, you can see a pumpkin hanging from a string next to wind chimes, a log, and a plush toy. Clearly, pumpkins or other treats had been hung here before because one phantie made a bee-line for the toy structure and ripped the pumpkin off.
Another phantie went for an egg carton that was balanced on the inner fence. She delicately pulled the carton off the railing and consumed the hay and carrots within. She ended her meal with the box itself as dessert!
The last phantie went to the back of the enclosure where another pumpkin was tied to a string. After much struggling, she was able to pop the pumpkin off and before it could roll away, stomped on it with her foot for easier consumption.
I hadn’t noticed this earlier, but the zookeepers also hid some treats in a blue plastic barrel high up in a tree, which the first phantie expertly grabbed.
It seemed pretty clear to me that this was a coordinated attack. Instead of fighting over all the various treats, each phantie went to her own area to feast in peace. I wonder if the same phanties go to the same treats each day or if they’ve figured out some sort of rotation system. Regardless, it was wonderful to see the phanties enjoy their holiday treats and I was sad that there wasn’t more food for them to play with.
Before we left, we ducked into the gift shop and got a cute lil bat to add to our stuffed animal collection and commemorate the special day. I considered trying to save the snakes out front, as they looked very uncomfortable hanging by their necks, but L told me it would be unfair to rescue some and not all of the snakes and, really, we couldn’t afford to buy them all.
If you find some time, making a trip to the Oakland Zoo is a great way to spend a sunny day. It’s winter hours are 10am-4pm daily, except Thanksgiving and Christmas when it’s closed. Located in the Oakland Hills, you get the added benefit of gorgeous views of the Bay Area on the drive there and back.
Happy ‘Phanting,
D
P.S. For fun after dark, check out O.Z.’s Zoo Lights from December 4, 2015 – January 3, 2015.
monter au beurre 
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