A 54-year-old orangutan at the Brookfield Zoo died Friday after a series of health problems.

Maggie, who lived at the zoo since 1995, was euthanized after showing “a gradual decline in her health, as degenerative changes associated with her advanced age began to severely impact her quality of life,” according to a statement on the zoo’s website. She was suffering from arthritis, heart disease, hypothyroidism and round cell sarcoma.

Maggie was born at the San Diego Zoo in 1961 and was “the oldest known female Bornean orangutan worldwide,” the zoo said. The primate staff members who cared for her described her as “curious, intelligent and playful.”

She gave birth to four offspring in San Diego and served as a surrogate mother for two infant orangutans at Brookfield Zoo, according to the statement. The most recent of these surrogates, Kecil, is now 2 1/2 years old.

Kecil will not be left alone after Maggie’s death, since zoo staff have recently begun initiating “play dates” between him and a 7 1/2-year-old female names Kekasih, according to the statement. They plan to introduce him to Kekasih’s mother, 35-year-old Sophia, soon.

Three one-month-old wolf puppies born at Brookfield Zoo on April 25 have recently emerged from the den and can be seen at the Regenstein Wolf Woods habitat.

The Shedd Aquarium and Brookfield Zoo are the first institutions in the United States to receive humane certification and merited appreciation from wildlife experts of the American Humane Association. They have been rightfully commended for their compassionate treatment and care for the many terrestrial and aquatic species that thrive under their benevolent guardianship. Their commitment to endangered species preservation and to the breeding of threatened creatures has also been acknowledged. It’s encouraging that the first two nationally renowned zoos and aquariums in America lauded  for ensuring the paramount well-being  of priceless animal species are based in the Chicago area.

Brien Comerford, Glenview

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Remake political party system

It is obvious to sane Americans that our nation’s two-party system is badly broken, with none of the willingness to compromise that this country was built on. It is time to construct a system in which elected officials vote their conscience, not strictly along party lines. It is time to eliminate special-interest lobbying, which has become bribery plain and simple. It is time for term limits for all elected officials. Until “we the people” finally assert ourselves, bought-and-sold elections will keep our country in the downward spiral.

Ken Karlson Wheaton

McCain’s confused crystal ball

Sometimes Vietnam war hero John McCain spouts off as if he’s lost it. Last week, he laid the blame for the lone-wolf Orlando massacre on President Obama because ISIS has not been defeated using our military might. Then McCain walked back that assertion. Maybe his staff persuaded him to do so to save face?

Instead, McCain should criticize his own party for upsetting the uneasy balances of power in the Middle-East, starting with launching the Iraq War on bogus evidence. That set in motion the ongoing turmoil, including ISIS.

If nothing else, Arab tyrants seem better able to keep a lid on ancient enmities. The Arab Spring that promised a regional renaissance has gone sour except in Algeria.

In the past, McCain himself has characterized our military action over there as pointless “whack-a-mole” activity, resolving nothing. Can’t he make up his mind?

Ted Z. Manuel, Hyde Park

The Brookfield Zoo is asking for the public to take a break from Fourth of July festivities and help decide the names of its three Mexican gray wolf puppies.

 Gallery

The choices for male puppy #1469 are:

• Pablo (named after zoo staff member John Pauley)
• Rio (which means river in Spanish)
• Mogollon (a mountain range in the Gila Wilderness_
• or Graham (a county in Arizona.)

The choices for male puppy #1470 are:

• Coronado (the name of a released wolf pack)
• Emory (named after Emory Pass in the Gila Wilderness)
• Reed (named after Reed’s Peak in the Gila National Forest)
• or Azul (which means blue in Spanish.)

The choices for female puppy #1468 are:

• Greenlee (a county in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest)
• Ela (which means Earth in Apache)
• Bailey (part of the Latin name of Mexican gray wolves)
• or Escudilla (the name of the mountain where Elk Horn Pack’s den is located.)

Two other puppies from the litter, Blaze and Brooke, were placed with the Elk Horn Pack in Arizona days after their birth on April 25 as part of a recovery program for the species.

Voting will remain open until 5 p.m. on July 11 at CZS.org/WolfPupNaming2016. The names of the puppies will be announced July 12.

He was crusty, a curmudgeon, as only the elderly can be. Sometimes he would shriek. While he did tolerate certain people, others he just wanted to bite.

“If he didn’t like you, he let you know it,” said Tim Snyder, a business associate. “He was like a cranky old geezer.”

Then again, he had reason. He had his infirmities — osteoarthritis and osteoporosis, cataracts. And perhaps the lingering effects of a broken heart.

“Back in the 1950s, we tried to introduce him to a female,” said Snyder. “She was not nice to him. He didn’t want anything to do with her.”

But Cookie the cockatoo, 83, who died Saturday, was seldom alone. He was the coddled patriarch of the Brookfield Zoo.  His years of putting on shows, and being on TV and on public display, were behind him, and he was cared for, outside of the public gaze, in an office at the Reptiles and Birds House. Cookie was the oldest Major Mitchell’s cockatoo known, a fact recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records. He was one of the zoo’s “biggest stars,” and the last of 270 animals present at what was then called the Chicago Zoological Park when it opened June 30, 1934, in Brookfield, on land donated by Edith Rockefeller McCormick. He had come from the Taronga Zoo in Sydney, Australia and was estimated to be a year old.

In recent weeks Cookie had been “a bit off,”  according to Snyder, the zoo’s Curator of Birds. The staff suspected allergies. Then “the first keeper came in Saturday morning and found him at the bottom of his enclosure,” said Snyder. “We got him to the hospital, but there was nothing much we could do.” The difficult call was made to euthanize Cookie.

No decision has yet been made as to the fate of his colorful pink and salmon remains. Typically, animals that die at the Brookfield are buried or cremated. But sometimes extraordinary specimens are preserved, and Cookie the Cockatoo might end up in the Field Museum collection.

“We’re still looking into that,” said Snyder.

Despite his cantankerousness, Cookie was loved. “There’s a lot of mourning in the department that cared for him,” said Snyder. “Cookie has been at the zoo longer than any of us working here. He’s seen a lot of people through their careers. If he could talk, he would have some amazing stories to tell.”

He actually could talk. Some of his trademark lines were “Peek-a-boo” and “Quit your screaming.” But not the type of talking Snyder was referring to, and lately Cookie only made “cute happy noises,” particularly when he received his daily taboo treat of two peanuts, unsalted, in the shell.

The Brookfield Zoo is accepting condolences on its Facebook page, and the possibility of a memorial is being discussed.

A baby Bornean orangutan born just before Christmas made her debut Tuesday at the Brookfield Zoo.

The inquisitive eyes of young orangutans Kecil (left) and Kekasih look at the new addition to the family, which can be seen most mornings in the zoo’s Tropic World: Asia habitat. | Jim Schulz/Chicago Zoological Society

The 2-week-old female orangutan, who has not yet been named, can be seen with her mother Sophia at the Tropic World: Asia habitat, according to a release from the west suburban zoo.

She has been bonding behind the scenes with her mother and being monitored by animal care staff since her birth Dec. 20.

She is Sophia’s sixth offspring and the fourth of Ben, her sire, according to the release.

Zoo visitors can see her nursing or, more likely, sleeping for long periods while clinging to her mother.

The infant can also be seen sometimes interacting with her older sister Kekasih, 8, and adopted brother Kecil, 3, who is very curious about the newborn. Though Sophia is protective of her newborn, she will allow the two an occasional touch, according to the release. 

The Bornean orangutan population has declined by more than 60 percent between 1950 and 2010, and a further 22 percent decrease is projected through 2025, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

“The birth is significant to the zoo population, but hopefully it will also help raise awareness about the threats facing orangutans in the wild,” said Bill Zeigler, the Chicago Zoological Society’s senior vice president of animal programs.

Dr. Jorge Galante had a gorilla of a case when he chaired the orthopedic surgery department at Rush University Medical Center.

Though renowned for his work on humans, in 1986 he reported to Brookfield Zoo, where he helped perform hip surgery on Beta, a 25-year-old ape. Severe osteoarthritis had limited her ability to move her lower body. She had been reduced to shuffling around, using her arms as crutches.

Working with veterinary orthopedic surgeon Tom Turner, Dr. Galante replaced both her hips in two operations three months apart. She survived the procedures, recovered much of her mobility through physical therapy, and lived another 22 years, making her one of the oldest gorillas in any North American zoo when she died in 2008 at 47.

Dr. Galante, who joined Rush in 1972, helped develop innovative techniques and devices that were named after him, including the Harris-Galante hip and the Miller-Galante knee prosthesis. His breakthroughs reduced patient pain, recovery time and the need for follow-up operations.

Dr. Jorge Galante joined Rush University Medical Center in 1972 and helped make it a leader in joint replacement surgery. | Provided photo

He spoke five languages, lectured widely, and “was one of the best-known orthopedic surgeons in the world,” said Dr. Joshua Jacobs, a professor and chair of orthopedic surgery at Rush.

Dr. Galante, 82, a former Oak Brook resident, died on Feb. 9 at his retirement home on Florida’s Sanibel Island. He had been diagnosed 18 years ago with prostate cancer, and fought it successfully until the past year, said his son Charles.

“He really helped change the way we do joint replacement,” Jacobs said. “One important aspect of his legacy is many of his trainees are now international leaders in the field of joint replacement surgery.”

Working with William Rostoker, a UIC professor of metallurgy and bioengineering, he co-invented a durable titanium fiber mesh that replaced a cement once used to anchor replacement joints to bone, Jacobs said. The mesh’s porousness enabled new bone to grow into the prosthesis.

“Dr. Galante would always partner with leading scientists,” Jacobs said, “and it was the collaboration of the surgeon and leading scientists in different areas that helped propel his research, which ultimately developed medical devices that have benefited millions of patients.”

At the time of Beta’s surgery, Dr. Galante noted it wasn’t necessary to modify standard replacement parts for the gorilla. “Her hip is about the size of a small human female,” he said.

Dr. Jorge O. Galante joined Rush University Medical Center in 1972 and helped make it a leader in orthopedic surgery. | Rush University Medical Center photo

Dr. Galante and Turner “kind of went above and beyond to see that she had a high degree of animal welfare and was able to have an extended life,” said Craig Demitros, Brookfield Zoo’s associate curator of primates. “She was the first — and only gorilla, as far as we know — that had bilateral hip replacement.”

Dr. Galante’s patients “adored him,” Jacobs said. “He was a wonderful clinician. He really knew how to inspire confidence in his patients.”

Once, a patient told Dr. Galante’s son his surgery had changed her life. When Charles Galante was about 10, he accompanied his father on rounds at Rush. In a hallway, the boy struck up a conversation with a woman who didn’t know he was related to the physician who had operated on her days earlier. “She started talking about how wonderful the doctor was, and how all of a sudden she was pain free, and it changed her life,” Charles Galante said. “She mentioned his name, and I felt so proud.”

Dr. Jorge O. Galante bred and raised Peruvian horses, a breed also known as the Peruvian Paso. Its smooth gait didn’t irritate his back problems. | Facebook photo from North American Peruvian Horse Association

A son of an ear, nose and throat doctor, young Jorge grew up riding horses near his hometown of Buenos Aires. Later in life, back problems affected his hobby. He became a fan of the Peruvian horse, also known as the Peruvian Paso. The breed’s easy temperament and placid gait allowed him to indulge his love of riding without jarring his back.

Dr. Jorge O. Galante. | Facebook photo

Dr. Galante bred, raised and showed champion horses at Estancia El Corcel, his farm in Clinton, Wisconsin. “He was one of the very best breeders of the Peruvian horse in the United States,” said Chris Austin, president of the California-based North American Peruvian Horse Association, where Dr. Galante served on the board.

Austin bought Commandant — a stellar stallion who has dominated horse shows — from the physician. “He’s won so much on the national level, he’s been forced into retirement, based on our national rules,” Austin said.

Dr. Galante moved to the United States for an internship at Michael Reese Hospital, where in 1960 he met his future wife, Lithuanian immigrant Sofija Kabliauskas, a clinical cytologist. They were married for 50 years until she died in 2010. He also survived by his stepdaughter Regina Benson; a brother, Juan Carlos Galante; and four grandchildren.

A reindeer aptly named “Bunny” has given birth to a fawn just days before Easter at Brookfield Zoo.

The male fawn was born Wednesday morning and only weighs about seven pounds, according to a statement from the west suburban zoo announcing its first reindeer birth since 1980.

The fawn, not yet named, was up and walking within an hour of his birth. A one-day-old fawn is capable of outrunning a human, according to the zoo.

Reindeer fawns are born with dark fur that acts as camouflage and absorbs radiant heat from the sun, according to the zoo. Between two and three months old, they begin to shed and lighter-colored fur grows in. His antler buds will begin developing in a few months.

The parents, Bunny and Karl, arrived at Brookfield Zoo in 2015 and 2016, respectively.

Zoogoers can see the new fawn, Bunny, Karl, and Crystal, another member of the reindeer herd, in their outdoor habitat at the Hamill Family Wild Encounters exhibit.

The baby reindeer is the first born at Brookfield Zoo since 1980. | Jim Schulz/Chicago Zoological Society

Brookfield Zoo welcomed twin North American river otter pups recently, the first-ever births among the species in the west suburban zoo’s history.

The pups, a male and a female, were born Feb. 23 to mother Charlotte, who arrived at Brookfield in June 2012 from Omaha’s Henry Doorly Zoo in Nebraska, according to a statement from the zoo announcing the arrivals. Their father, Benny, joined the zoo family in August 2004 from Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Missouri.

Otters typically mate between December and April, and most pups are born between February and April of the following year. They are born with their eyes closed, fully furred and weighing only about four ounces.

The pups remain behind the scenes, bonding with their mom and are learning how to swim, according to the zoo. They are expected to make their public debut later this month.

The Chicago Zoological Society is a participant in the Association of Zoos and Aquariums’ North American River Otter Species Survival Plan.

Otter populations that were once in jeopardy in many places are recovering nicely, some from animals moving in from elsewhere and some from reintroduction programs over the last 20 years, according to the zoo.

The otter pups are the first of their species to be born successfully at Brookfield Zoo. | Jim Schulz/Chicago Zoological Society

Two California sea lion pups were born at Brookfield Zoo on June 4 and 11. Photos by Jim Schulz/Chicago Zoological Society

A great-grandmother giraffe, the matriarch of the herd at Brookfield Zoo, has been euthanized after 25 years at the west suburban zoo.

At age 27, Mithra was one of the oldest giraffes in an accredited North American zoo, according to a Facebook post from the zoo announcing her passing Thursday. She well surpassed the median life expectancy for giraffes in professional care.

Mithra arrived in Brookfield in September 1992, and gave birth to a male giraffe, who went on to sire several of his own calves, according to the zoo. She leaves a grandson, two granddaughters and four great-grandsons.

Mithra was affected by degenerative changes in her joints and physical condition, symptoms encountered by all species as they age, according to the zoo.

Over the past year, veterinary and animal care staff had watched her closely. That allowed her to “remain comfortable and able to still be with the other giraffes,” a statement from the zoo said.

Recently, however, her condition declined and the zoo made the “difficult decision” to euthanize her “as the most appropriate option for her well-being,” the zoo said.

“She will be greatly missed,” the zoo said.

The remaining giraffe herd at Brookfield Zoo includes Jasiri, 12; Arnieta, 10; Potoka, 4; and Ato, 2.

Police are searching for the driver who crashed a vehicle into a family driving home from Holiday Magic at Brookfield Zoo Saturday night and then ran off.

At 8:24 p.m. Saturday, the head-on crash happened in the eastbound lanes of 31st Street just west of First Avenue, according to a statement from Riverside police.

Officers located a 2016 GMC at the corner of 31st and First Avenue and a 2003 Dodge Caravan that crashed at 31st and Golfview, police said. The GMC had two injured passengers.

A 63-year-old woman and 69-year-old man from Cicero were transported to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood with non-life-threatening injuries, police said. When officers went to check the Dodge, the driver had already ran away.

The airbags of the Dodge were deployed and there was blood on the airbag and steering wheel, police said. Shoes were found stuck under the gas pedal.

Both cars were heavily damaged in the crash and towed from the scene.

Riverside police requested the help of North Riverside and Brookfield police departments and obtained video from Brookfield Zoo that showed the driver running west on 31st from Glofview into Brookfield after the crash, police said. The driver was described as a male wearing a white puffy coat.

Officers discovered the Dodge license plates are not registered to that car and the Dodge’s identification number registers to a separate person, police said. The identification left in the Dodge does not match the registered owner or the vehicle identification number.

The license plates on the vehicle that didn’t match the Dodge were listed to 2002 Subaru station wagon, police said. Police also searched for the male at several address for the registered owner of the Dodge.

Anyone with information should contact the Riverside Police Department at (708) 447-2127 or the Detective James Lazansky at jlazansky@riverside.I.us.

Aussie, the oldest male polar bear in North America, was euthanized Friday at Brookfield Zoo.

Aussie was born at Adelaide Zoo in Australia in June 1985. | Chicago Zoological Society

At 32 years old, Aussie was experiencing several age-related degenerative diseases, according to a statement from the zoo announcing his passing. He had been on a variety of pain relievers, including several drugs used for treatment of arthritis in elderly people and dogs, which kept him comfortable.

Over the past several weeks, veterinary and animal care staff noticed a gradual decline in his condition and decreased response to medications.

“Our primary focus is always the wellness of our animals,” said Dr. Michael Adkesson, vice president of clinical medicine for the Chicago Zoological Society, said in the statement.

“Aussie has been part of our family here at Brookfield Zoo for more than 30 years, and today is a difficult day for our team. However, it is the best decision for Aussie as medications could no longer control the pain associated with his age-related arthritis. Our staff could tell his comfort was really declining and knew it was the right time. It is very similar to the tough decisions that people must make for their pets at home in deciding when to say goodbye,” Adkesson said.

Aussie was born at Adelaide Zoo in Australia in June 1985 and arrived at Brookfield Zoo a year and a half later, according to the statement. He was introduced to one of the zoo’s female polar bears and together they produced five offspring, including Hudson, who is now 11 years old. Aussie also had four “great grandkids.”

Hudson and a 24-year-old female polar bear Nan remain at the zoo.

Aussie leaves behind five offspring, nine “grandkids” and four “great-grandkids.” | Chicago Zoological Society

Brookfield Zoo animals were provided with repurposed Christmas trees for some fun in the snow. Photos by Jim Schulz/Chicago Zoological Society

It wasn’t gold, frankincense or myrrh, but the Brookfield Zoo got its own gift the day after Christmas: the birth of a gray seal pup.

The male pup was born Dec. 26 to 13-year-old Lily, the west suburban zoo announced Tuesday. He is the third pup born to Lily and 13-year-old sire Boone.

He will remain behind the scenes until late February while he nurses, learns how to swim and bonds with his mother, according to the zoo.

READ MORE at http://bit.ly/2AKUXtC

Photos by Jim Schulz/Chicago Zoological Society

A sure sign of spring: just before Valentine’s Day, a penguin chick hatched at the Brookfield Zoo.

The male Humboldt penguin hatched on Feb. 12, the west suburban zoo announced Wednesday. He does not yet have a name.

The chick is being handreared by animal care staff and is being carefully monitored, which includes being weighed three times every day — once each morning to determine how much he gained over a 24-hour period, as well as after each feeding to calculate how much of his diet he consumed, the zoo said in a news release.

As of Wednesday morning, the chick, who eats herring and marine smelt, weighed about 2.5 pounds, zoo spokeswoman Sondra Katzen said. He will molt from his down feathers into juvenile plumage by 2 months old, and then he will be introduced to a shallow pool of water.

You can’t see the chick yet if you visit the zoo, but he might play a very important role in the future. As soon as May — and if he chooses to participate — the chick will be an animal ambassador for the zoo’s Penguin Encounters.

Penguin Encounters begin with a member of the zoo staff sharing fun facts about the resident Humboldt penguins, and then the penguins are free to roam and waddle up to anyone they choose.

“While one animal may be camera-shy, another individual may enjoy a good selfie or two,” the zoo said.

She was a little late to come in an Easter basket, but a reindeer fawn was born the day after the springtime holiday at the Brookfield Zoo.

Bunny gave birth to the female fawn just after noon Monday, nearly a year to the day after giving birth to her first baby, a male, the west suburban zoo announced Wednesday afternoon. Within two hours of her birth, the fawn was up and walking around her habitat.

The fawn, who has not been named, weighed just over 12 pounds at birth, according to the zoo. However, she is expected to almost double her weight in the next two weeks due to her mother’s milk. She will also start grazing on solid foods in the next few weeks.

The fawn is a different color than her mother because the babies are born with dark fur that absorbs radiant heat from the sun and acts as camouflage. In a few months, she will begin to shed as her lighter-colored fur grows in.

“Also, little antler buds begin developing at about a month old followed by short spikes within the first year,” according to the zoo.

The fawn was likely not bothered by Wednesday morning’s snowfall — reindeer are found in arctic tundra in northern regions like Canada, Alaska and Russia.

Zoo guests can already see Bunny and her fawn bonding in their outdoor habitat at the Hamill Family Wild Encounters.

A female reindeer fawn born at Brookfield Zoo on April 2. | Jim Schulz/Chicago Zoological Society

A rhinoceros at Brookfield Zoo has undergone what’s believed to be the first CT scan performed on the species. It was no easy task.

Layla is 7 1/2 years old and 2,300 pounds. Zoo officials say the scan was needed to diagnose an obstruction in Layla’s nasal passageway that made it difficult for her to breathe.

Because Layla was too large to move inside the zoo’s hospital a CT scanner had to be brought to the Pachyderm House.

A front loader was needed to lift the rhino onto the surgical table. About 40 staff members helped with the process and did practice runs with 2,300 pounds of concrete.

The images revealed abnormal tissue near an upper molar. The zoo says Layla is resting comfortably and surgery is planned.

Visitors to the Brookfield Zoo can now experience the rare sight of a mother gorilla caring for her newborn baby.

The Chicago Zoological Society, which runs the suburban zoo, confirmed the birth of a newborn western lowland gorilla to 23-year-old Koola on June 1.

The sex of the baby is currently unknown, as zookeepers take a hands-off approach toward young primates and refrain from interfering with the mother gorilla too soon after childbirth, according to Senior Curator of Mammals Amy Roberts.

“The gorillas know what they’re doing, and we don’t really have to intervene at all,” Roberts said.

The only gorillas that have handled the newborn have been Koola and the baby’s older sister, 4-year-old Nora.

The baby has yet to be named, and the zoo isn’t sure yet how it will choose its name. In the past, the zoo has held naming contests or accepted name suggestions from donors.

A newborn gorilla isn’t an everyday occurrence for the zoo. The last birth at Brookfield was now-2-year-old Zachary, born in 2015, and Nora before that in 2013, according to Roberts.

“Now that we’ve got three young ones out there … that are able to wrestle and play with each other, it’s going to be absolutely fantastic,” Roberts said.

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• Brookfield Zoo’s oldest animal, 50-year-old gorilla Ramar, euthanized

Roberts said a few zoogoers were lucky enough to be present at the habitat the day of the birth to witness it.

Visitors can see the newborn at the zoo’s “Tropic World: Africa” exhibit. After about three months, the baby will begin riding on Koola’s back.

The infant’s father is a 35-year-old gorilla named JoJo, who was brought over from the Lincoln Park Zoo in 2012 as part of the Western Lowland Gorilla Species Survival Plan, which promotes healthy breeding and population management for species.

Western lowland gorillas are considered a critically endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Causes for their endangerment include habitat destruction and degradation, diseases such as Ebola and commercial hunting.

There are currently about 350 western lowland gorillas in captivity in North American accredited zoos and around 200,000 living in their native West Africa.

As National Zookeeper Week is set to kick off on July 15, two employees at Brookfield Zoo recently sat down with the Chicago Sun-Times to describe their jobs as the first line of defense for wild animals held in zoos.

“You get to see [the animals] every single day in your job, you get to observe them, and take care of them, and be around them, and that in and of itself is amazing,” said Dara Kelly, 43, a senior animal care specialist — or zookeeper — for the Chicago Zoological Society for six years.

The zookeepers at Brookfield Zoo are responsible for the overall care of the animals in their habitats, including feeding, cleaning their spaces, husbandry, health care and more, including working with nutritionists. The zoo, at 8400 W. 31st St. in Brookfield, sees about 2.2 million visitors every year, housing more than 3,000 animals representing 507 species and 133 animal care specialists, who are members of the Teamsters Union Local 727 and earn between $46,030 and $61,422 a year.

Kelly, who lives in Berwyn, specializes in the Mammal Department, which includes 10 Mexican wolves, five mongoose, four giraffes, four African painted dogs and one klipspringer. She is also a relief animal care specialist (she fills in when someone takes a sick day, etc.) for six bison, four Przewalski’s horses, three black rhinoceros and two camels.

The morning of June 27, Kelly fed and weighed the mongoose, one of whom is geriatric; cleaned the yard for the painted dogs and placed enrichment in their habitat, which was wood wool with dill and coriander sprinkled over it so dogs can scent-mark, roll and play; observed the wolves; and cleaned and put hay in the giraffes’ yard.

“What don’t I get out of this?” she said, adding that she works eight hours a day, Monday through Friday, and has a degree from Santa Fe College’s Zoo Animal Technology Program in Florida.

“It’s kind of like, I can’t imagine doing anything else. It might sound kind of corny, but it’s like a calling.”

In 2007, Congress established that the third Sunday of every July would start National Zookeeper Week to recongize the “contributions zookeepers make to the care and conservation of captive exotic animals and to research, public education, and recreation,” according to the American Association of Zookeepers.

Nava Greenblatt, lead animal care specialist for the zoo’s Tropic World Asia, started out her day with a training session with one of six orangutans in her care, 37-year-old Sophia, whose 1-year-old daughter Heidi sat clinging to her mother’s arms and torso.

“The animals voluntarily cooperate in their training sessions, which allow us to provide even better care to them,” she said. “We can ask them to show us body parts we might not be able to see easily. We brush their teeth, we file their nails, and [the orangutans] are all trained to accept an injection.”

Sophia was rewarded with peanuts during the training session, during which Greenblatt chatted with the apes, saying things like, “Good girl!” and “Nice job!” and referring to Heidi as “little one” or “munchkin.”

She also set up the orangutan habitat with challenging enrichments, such as placing peanut butter high up on a wall, so the apes are forced to problem-solve a way to get to it; fed two pygmy loris; and set up the pygmy loris habitat. She is also responsible for four Asian small-clawed otters, three white-cheeked gibbons and three white-bellied pangolins.

“I really love my job,” said Greenblatt, who asked that her age not be provided, lives in the southwest suburbs and has a degree in biology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. “It’s always different, I love caring for animals, they’re always doing surprising things. Even though I’ve been here for 31 years, every day is a new adventure and I wouldn’t want to do any other job.”

Greenblatt added that the hours and unpredictability can be difficult, saying that being a zookeeper is not the type of job you leave at work. The animal care specialists also regularly engage zoo-goers in “Zoo Chats,” in an effort to get out the zoo’s mission and educate about conservation.

“But, the first time I came to Brookfield Zoo, I said, ‘I would even pick up garbage at this place.'”

As a Brookfield Zoo volunteer for 46 years, Arnieta Kurtz gave so much of herself that the zoo named a newborn giraffe for her.

Born in 2007, Arnieta the giraffe grew from 4 feet to 15 feet, is still at Brookfield and is now a “grand-giraffe” with an offspring, Dave, who went on to father a female calf.

Naming the giraffe for her was a fitting tribute to the Ms. Kurtz, the zoo’s longest-serving volunteer, who died last month at 73.

Once, when, she was visiting with her namesake, she overheard some zoo visitors wondering about the name of “her” giraffe.

“She said, ‘That’s me!’ ” according to her sister Judy.

“Arnieta liked to tell the story of how a giraffe got a German girl’s name,” said Regi Mezydlo, the zoo’s director of volunteers.

That German girl grew up in Downers Grove at a time it was still surrounded by working farms. She and her sister Judy and brother John would go ice-skating at Prince Pond, toasting their hands on a potbellied stove in its warming house. They sipped nickel Green Rivers at the old-fashioned drugstore in town.

The sisters used to collect plastic model horses made by Chicago’s Breyer Molding Company. When Ms. Kurtz died, she still had some of those horses at her retirement home in Mesa, Arizona.

She had returned to Illinois for a family reunion and died after a fall, her sister said.

That day, she’d been planning to volunteer at the zoo.

Arnieta Kurtz with Arnieta, the giraffe named for her. | Brookfield Zoo

Ms. Kurtz came from a family of animal lovers. They had a collie called Silk and a cat named Patrick. At one point, they had eight cats and five dogs in the house, thanks to a litter of kittens and puppies born to another dog, a Basenji named Princess.

Arnieta was named after her mother, who grew up downstate in a German community in Effingham.

She went to grade school at St. Joseph in Downers Grove and graduated from Nazareth Catholic Academy high school.

After two years at Quincy University, she transferred to Loyola University Chicago, where she earned an education degree.

Settling in Naperville, Ms. Kurtz taught for 35 years at Woodridge School, now Murphy Elementary in Woodridge. Her classroom, filled with life, had rabbits, guinea pigs and fish-filled aquariums.

She sometimes combined her love of animals with global lessons. “She would have her kids write letters to the prime minister of Japan, protesting whaling practices that kill dolphins,” her sister said.

Ms. Kurtz once wrote that “one of the first things I did as a wage-earner was to become a member of Brookfield Zoo, since I’ve always been crazy about animals of all kinds.”

In 1972, she became one of the zoo’s first volunteers. She would stuff envelopes and worked in the Elephant’s Trunk gift shop. Sometimes, she talked with kids about animals in the Children’s Zoo or at Holiday Magic.

“She was very kind and very caring and extremely smart,” Mezydlo said.

When the zoo’s Tropic World opened in 1982, she helped with gorilla observation, taking note of grooming and eating habits and interactions with juvenile primates.

In 1983, Ms. Kurtz joined the zoo’s docent program, in which trained volunteers educate visitors about animals and artifacts.

Observing golden lion tamarin monkeys in 1998, she told the Daily Herald, “I can’t see them in their real habitat in Brazil, but this is as neat an experience.”

In 2005, she moved to Arizona, where she worked as a paraprofessional at the New Horizon School for the Performing Arts. “The kids just loved her,” her colleague Sherry Occhuizzo said.

And she loved being surrounded by the giant saguaro cacti of the desert.

Still, Ms. Kurtz regularly returned to Chicago and volunteered more than 50 hours a year for the zoo.

Mezydlo said, “There’ll never be anyone else like her.”

Ms. Kurtz owned, bred and showed champion basenji dogs and was active with basenji clubs in Chicago and Phoenix. After she died, a Phoenix basenji club found new homes for her dogs, her sister said.

Ms. Kurtz is also survived by her niece Kelly, nephew David and great-niece Adeline. Her sister said a memorial is being planned at Brookfield Zoo.

Arnieta the giraffe, named for Arnieta Kurtz, is now 11 and had a grand-giraffe child. | Brookfield Zoo

A “severely disoriented” 84-year-old woman crashed her vehicle Thursday evening inside the Brookfield Zoo, according to Riverside police.

Authorities received 911 phone calls at 9:23 p.m. that the vehicle had crashed inside the east end of the zoo at First Avenue and 31st Street, police said.

When officers arrived, they found the vehicle in a grassy area south of Roosevelt Fountain, in the center of the zoo, police said. Riverside paramedics evaluated the woman, but she declined medical treatment.

She was cited for driving on a sidewalk and failing to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

The woman had driven past the gate into the zoo from the South Gate entrance on Golf Road, which is adjacent to Riverside Brookfield High School, police said.

After driving in, she crashed into a Holiday Magic setup and pole that was in a pedestrian walkway area, police said. No one was hurt.

A bizarre scene inside Brookfield Zoo on Thursday night, when an elderly woman crashed into a concrete post. | Riverside police

The 84-year-old driver told police that she was trying to get to Ogden Avenue and was confused. She had originally been stopped by zoo police, but when an officer walked up to her vehicle, it rolled into a large concrete post.

Officers drove the woman home, and her vehicle had to be towed away. Drugs and alcohol were not factors in the crash, police said.

Authorities said she has had a few traffic run-ins with Riverside police over the last several months.

Police said they’ve requested that the Illinois Secretary of State’s office evaluate her driving privileges, but that hasn’t happened yet.

“I am very grateful this crash did not involve any visitors to the zoo,” Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said. “Without a doubt, we avoided tragedy here.”

Notes from around Chicago outdoors.
FIELD NOTES
WILD OF THE WEEK
Kelly Tone of the Chicago Zoological Society photographed this bald eagle (below) near the Mexican Wolves exhibit at Brookfield Zoo. It soon flew away to join another eagle, emailed Sondra Katzen, director of public relations for CZS/Brookfield Zoo.

Bald eagle near the Mexican Wolves exhibit at Brookfield Zoo.
Kelly Tone/Chicago Zoological Society

WOTW, the celebration of wild scenes around Chicago outdoors, runs as warranted on Sundays on the Sun-Times outdoors page. Send nominations by Facebook (Dale Bowman), Twitter (@BowmanOutside) or email straycasts@sbcglobal.net.
DALE’S MAILBAG
“Whooping cranes have been stopping near the NIPSCO plant in Jasper County, Ind. This is two years in a row that they’ve stopped for extended stays there.” Bill Peak last month. One of Peak’s dramatic photos is at the top.
A: I am waiting to see my first whooper there.
BIG NUMBER
327 7/8: Inches measured on Luke Brewster’s buck, arrowed Nov 2, 2018 in Edgar County, and announced by the Pope and Young Club on Thursday as the archery world record for non-typical whitetail. Click here for more.

Luke Brewster with his pending world-record buck, taken Nov. 2 in Edgar County.
Provided

LAST WORD
“There will be no historic precedent for these new climates, and migratory bird populations will increasingly encounter ‘novel’ climatic conditions. The most likely outcome will be a period of ecological disruption as migratory birds and other species try to respond or adapt to these new conditions.”
Frank La Sorte. Cornell Lab researcher and lead author of a paper published in the journal Ecography, click here to read it.
WILD TIMES
FISH GATHERINGS
Tuesday: Jim Saric, Chicagoland Muskie Hunters chapter of Muskies Inc., North Branch Pizza & Burger Co., Glenview, 7:30 p.m., chicagolandmuskiehunters.org
Tuesday: Capt. Al Johnson, Salmon Unlimited, Elk Grove Village VFW,, 7 p.m., salmonunlimitedinc.com
Wednesday: Lee Tauchen, Fox River Valley chapter of Muskies Inc., Schaumburg Golf Club, 7 p.m., frvmuskie.com
Wednesday: Wisconsin biologist Luke Roffler, Lake Geneva Fishing Club, Cabela’s, Hoffman Estates, 6 p.m., lakegenevafishingclub.com
Thursday: Capt. Mike Hanson, Riverside Fishing Club, LaGrange American Legion, 6:30 p.m.
SHOWTIME
(Click here for the list of shows, classes and seminars)
Thursday-Sunday, March 14-17: Ultimate Sports Show, DeVos Place, Grand Rapids, Mich.
ILLINOIS PERMITS
Tuesday: Applications begin for resident firearm and muzzleloader deer hunting, click here for more info . . . Remaining spring turkey permits go on sale over the counter, click here for more info
HUNTER SAFETY
(Click here for full package of northeast Illinois hunter safety classes)
March 28 and 30: Chicago Heights, ducks56@comcast.net
March 30-31: Chicago (taught in Polish), (630) 479-0708
April 9, 11, 16, 18: Downers Grove, (630) 963-1300 Class #271006-01
April 12-13: Morris, philliparnold3@gmail.com or (815) 343-7330
DUCKS UNLIMITED
(Click here for the general list of Illinois DU events)
Thursday: Downtown Chicago Happy Hour, Fremont, Chicago, Steve Wierema,(630) 209-0439 or Bob Wierema, (630) 729-4566
NATIONAL WILD TURKEY FEDERATION
(Click here for general list of banquets and events)
Friday: Cook County Turkey Baggers banquet, Chicago South Elks Lodge #1596, Carleton Rendel, (708) 349-8862
Saturday: Kendall County Gobblers banquet, Yorkville American Legion, Tammi Schleining, (630) 385-2288
PHEASANTS FOREVER
(Click here for general list of Illinois PF events)
Thursday: McHenry County banquet, D’Andrea’s Banquets, Crystal Lake, Jack Lampe, (773) 531-0904 or lampe.jack@outlook.com
U.S. COAST GUARD AUXILIARY
(Click here for full listings of classes in the area)
Saturday: About Boating Safely, Fox Lake, Winston Tumaneng
winstoncgaux@gmail.com