| WILDLIFE CONSERVATION SOCIETY
A Penguin Encounter
At Central Park Zoo Story by Roger Webster
Photos by Chance Yeh  ILDLIFE Conservation Society and the staff at the Central Park Zoo hosted A Penguin Encounter to thank committee members, including Allison Stern, Jennifer Creel, with her daughter Alix, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, with Peter, Sophia and Nicholas, and Debbie Bancroft, with Serena and Will, for their hard work generating ticket sales for the upcoming spring fundraiser, Penguins and Pearls.
Also present were Grace Hightower with her son Elliott DeNiro, Lisa Jackson with Quinn, Catherine Aaron with Oliver, Jill Brooke with Parker, Patricia Duff with her daughter Caleigh Perelman, Tama Janowitz with her daughter Willow Hunt, Nicole Miller with Palmer, Andrea Stern with her son Simon Perzman, Jeffrey and Fiona Slonim with Finbar and Declan, Joanna Molloy with her son Eamon Rush, Joelle O’Reilly-Hyland with Ogden, Aaron Gell, Alison Oneacre, Tom Gates and R. Couri Hay. Zookeeper Mark Hall showed the children how to make food out of carrots, honey, apples and peanut butter, freeze it, and feed it to the polar bears Gus, Ida and Lily. They took a break for cookies and milk in the penguin habitat, after which zookeeper Rob Granzay taught them how to feed the Chinstrap and Gentoo penguins. The memorable afternoon ended with the sea lions singing for their supper as the children, carefully guided by Hall, tossed fish in their lagoon. Meanwhile the adults excitedly chatted about Penguins and Pearls, a gala black-tie dinner dance under a tent around the sea lions island on May 30. Call Susie Hanchett at 718-220-5090 for tickets. The children thanked Mark and Rob for the lessons and everyone left with even more love for the animals and a better understanding of the importance of the Wildlife Conservation Society, which runs New York City’s zoos and aquarium and is dedicated to saving wildlife and wild lands all over the world. |
