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Page 20/The Battalion/Thursday, January 17,1985
mm
s
Texas zookeeper
keeps bird friends
in feed, feathers
Associated Press
FORT WORTH — Not everyone
can talk to a swan or a cockatoo and
have it pay attention.
But when Ronald Kimbell tells
Tornado the swan to straighten up
and fly, the creature lifts his graceful
head to the sky and croons like a folk
singer.
Gossips at the Fort Worth Zoo
have long maintained that Cookie
the Cockatoo is madly in love with
Kimbell and shamelessly ignores her
mate to flirt with him whenever he’s
in the neighborhood.
Kimbell has a way with birds. As
supervisor of the zoo’s bird depart
ment, he is responsible for keeping
nearly 400 birds well-fed and feath
ered.
It’s a job that has changed
markedly since Kimbell joined the
zoo as a high school graduate more
than 20 years ago.
“I was looking for a temporary
job,” Kimbell said. Except for a two-
year stint in the Army, the Fort
Worth Zoo has been his only em
ployer. He is a bachelor and has de
voted his life to the art.
These days, a person would have
a hard time getting a job at the zoo
without a college degree in the field,
Kimbell said.
“But when I started I’d never
worked with birds before and I’d
never studied them,” he said. “I’ve
taught myself as I went along and
learned from experience. Some
times experience is the best way to
learn about birds.”
There have been many changes in
the way birds are cared for since
Kimbell started at the zoo.
“The techniques have changed,”
he said. “We have better foods and
medical care. Also many of the birds
used to be so easy to get, we didn’t
worry when one of them died. Now
some birds are so rare, vou’d better
really take care of them.’
Kimbell still mourns the loss of
177 birds that died Christmas Eve in
1983 when the birdhouse at the zoo
burned down. Some of them were
rare and some on the endangered
species list.
“We had 10 Bali mynas in the
birdhouse that we hoped to release
back into the wilds of Bali,” Kimbell
said. The endangered mynas were
part of a breeding program at the
swap around with each other. WJ
be getting some scarlet ibis backfc
our spoonbills.”
The spoonbill breeding pn
has been so successful that it |
nered a Silver Propagation Aw
? ;iven by the American Asso
or Zoological Parks and Aquarim
in recognition of 25 successful t
ings.
"Our spoonbills are really in
mand,” Kimbell said.
But for Port Worth’s zoo lol
come one of the leaders in the fid
of bird propogation, a new indi
aviary is vital, he added. Plans»
being drawn for one before thefirtl
T he projected aviary would <
more than $3 million, said EliiJ
Turner, director of the zoo. Fin
ing has been sought from sonKs
Fort Worth’s major foundations.
“Right now we don’t know win
we stand." Turner said. “Wei
told that no funding was aval
last year, but we were asked tot
ply this year. That’s what wedid,li
we haven’t heard anythingyeL"
As envisioned by Turner
Kimbell, the new aviary wouldbti|
state-of-the-art facility that wo
make Fort Worth one of thei
leading zoo’s in the country whea:|
comes to birds. The other twoarq
San Diego and Bronx zoos.
The new facility would havefos
major exhibit areas representi|
four climatic zones: tropics, swai
pine and savannah. Birds ind
nous to each area would be sho«|
But the facility also would over
some of the propagation obsta
now faced by Kimbell and his sera
person staff.
“Some birds need a natural!
itat setting in which to breed," Kitl
bell explained. “For example, so "
tropical birds need a certain amo
of numidity before they’ll mated
the tropics, the rainy season ini'!
cates to them that there will 1
enough food for their young.”
Thanks to much research, zo«|
have a far better understanding!
how to get birds to breed than ihrl
did 20 years ago, Kimbell said.
“It used to be that zoos i
want birds raised in captivity, bel
cause they didn’t think they woill
breed,” Kimbell said. “Now weknovl
that these birds often are bettti|
breeders because they are calmeri
a zoo setting."
Along with many other zoos in
this country and around the world,
the Fort Worth Zoo regards propa
gation of rare and endangered spe
cies as one of its major functions.
“Zoos working together may be
the best hope some of these animals
have,” Kimbell said,. “A lot of our
purpose is to propogate and release
back into the wild. Unfortunately, in
some cases, there is no wild to re
lease back into, so zoos are trying to
help some of these species survive in
captivity at least.”
Fortunately, not all the Fort
Worth Zoo’s breeding programs
were damaged severely by the fire.
Many birds were housecl in other
cages or in the large outdoor aviary.
“Right now, we have 44 roseate
spoonbills, and we just shipped 12 to
Walt Disney World,” he said. “Nor
mally, zoos breed the ones they’re
be
the best at breeding, and then we
jppets
ing with tne babies.”
“It’s a problem because we're til
ing to get her to mate, but whenevei
I’m around, all she wants is for meto
scratch her tongue.”
Kimbell deals with this misplaced
love by avoiding the cockatoo mosl
of the time.
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Vol. 80
By
For
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Some
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Av
Imprinting is another problet
that has been overcome. Imprintiri
is the tendency of a young animallil
decide that it is the species thatl
first sees, and birds are particulail||
f irone to it. If a newly hatchedbini
irst lays eyes on a human, upotl
reaching adulthood, it’s likely todiJ
play mating behavior toward a fal
vorite zookeeper while ignoritil
those of its own kind. Obviously,thil
can thwart most breeding programsl
“The Bronx Zoo has developedail
effective way to deal with imprintinfl
in those cases where the adult birdl
can’t or won’t take care of theitl
eatin
Plan,
rized
will i
days
treni
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used
cans
fatil
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young,” Kimball said. “They usfl
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