Woodland Park Zookeepers and other members of the Puget Sound chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers (PSAAZK), will raise money for endangered black rhinos at the annual “Bowling for Rhinos” on May 18 at Lynnwood Bowl and Skate.

Matt Mills, giraffe keeper at WPZ, says they hope to raise $13,000. The money will be used for rhino conservation projects in Kenya and Indonesia.

Did you know that in 1970 it was estimated that there were approximately 65,000 black rhinos in Africa – but, by 1993, there were only 2,300 surviving in the wild, a 96% decrease? Intensive anti-poaching efforts have had encouraging results; but because the growing purchasing power of many Asian countries, and the existence of organized gangs of poachers who sell rhino horn to black market syndicates in some range countries, the poaching threat remains great and anti-poaching efforts must be continued and accelerated.

100% of all proceeds go directly to support Lewa Wildlife Conservancy (LWC) in Kenya, and Ujung Kulon, Bukit Barisan Selatan, and Way Kambas National Parks in Indonesia. LWC is a 65,000-acre sanctuary that protects black rhinos as well as other species from orchids to elephants residing within the sanctuary. Ujung Kulon National Park is home to the last 47 Javan rhinos in the entire world!! Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park is a 3,500 square kilometer lush, lowland tropical rainforest where the Sumatran rhino, tiger, and Malayan sun bear live.

Registration is $25 and includes three hours of bowling, shoe rental and pizza. If you don’t want to bowl but would like to watch and eat pizza, the cost is $15. They will also have a party with trivia, games and a raffle. Bowlers are required to raise a minimum of $30 in donations.

Check out the Bowling for Rhinos Facebook page for more information, and a link to donate directly.

Woodland Park Zoo’s popular ZooTunes series is back for its 30th season this summer. Zoo members can buy online beginning at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Members will receive a pre-sale link by email, and can purchase up to eight tickets per show. Non-members can purchase tickets online beginning at 8 a.m. Friday. Tickets also will be available at the zoo’s West and South gates beginning Friday. One child 12 and under per paid ticket is admitted free.

Concerts are held outside on the North Meadow. Concert-goers should bring their own blankets or low-backed folding chairs. Food vendors are onsite, including a beer and wine garden, but no outside alcohol is permitted. Gates open at 5 p.m.; concerts begin at 6 p.m.

Brandi Carlile’s 2011 ZooTunes’ concert. Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

Here’s the lineup:

• June 23: John Prine with Kendel Carson & Dustin Bentall ($32.50)
• June 30: Old Crow Medicine Show ($32.50)
• July 7: Huey Lewis and the News: SPORTS 30th Anniversary Tour ($39.50)
• July 17: John Hiatt & The Combo with Holly Williams ($28)
• July 24: An Evening with Randy Newman ($28)
• July 26: LeAnn Rimes ($32.50)
• July 30 & 31: Indigo Girls with Lindsay Fuller ($28)
• Aug. 7: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue with JJ Grey & Mofro ($26)
• Aug. 11: Todd Snider’s Traveling Folk Show featuring: Shawn Mullins, Hayes Carll and Sarah Jarosz ($24)
• Aug. 15: Loreena McKennitt ($32.50)
• Aug. 22 & 23: Brandi Carlile ($39.50)

The first phase of Woodland Park Zoo’s new Bamboo Forest Reserve, with Asian small-clawed otters, tropical aviary, kids’ nature play area and the zoo’s new twin sloth bear cubs, opens on May 4.

Opening day celebrations will include crafts, bouncy houses, music by local favorite Johnny Bregar, performance, games and giveaways from Radio Disney, and a free Otter Pop when you purchase a kid’s meal at the Rain Forest Food Pavilion.

The kids’ play area includes a wobbly bridge and mini zipline.

Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

The second phase of the Bamboo Forest will include space for Malayan tigers.

The board of Woodland Park Zoo has appointed a panel of community leaders to evaluate all aspects of the zoo’s elephant program and exhibit, from the elephants’ health and care, to the value of having elephants at the zoo, as well as the zoo’s education and conservation objectives.

Chai, WPZ’s 34-year-old female Asian elephant. Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

The task force will meet for the first time from 4-7 p.m. this Thursday at the Central Library downtown, 1000 4th Ave., in the Washington Mutual Foundation Room (Level 4, Meeting Room 1). The meeting is open to the public. Written comments from the public will be accepted and made part of the record, but this is not a public hearing. Task force meetings also will be videotaped and posted on the task force website.

The task force is co-chaired by Jan Hendrickson, co-founder of Denny Hill Capital and a former WPZ board chair; and Jay Manning, an environmental attorney and former chief of staff to Gov. Christine Gregoire.

Other task force members include:

• Marianne Bichsel, founder and president of Bichsel Public Affairs and former senior advisor to Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels;
• Grant Degginger, chair of the Construction and Environmental Practice Group at Lane Powell PC in Seattle and former Bellevue mayor and city council member;
• Gene Duvernoy, president of Forterra, a regional organization dedicated to land conservation;
• Ellen Ferguson, director of community relations at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture;
• Annette Laico, executive director of the Progressive Animal Welfare Society (PAWS);
• Jeff Leppo, a law partner in the Seattle office of Stoel Rives LLP, specializing in environmental, wildlife and natural resources law;
• Rob Liddell, M.D., medical director for Center for Diagnostic Imaging Seattle, and founding member of Woodland Park Zoo’s Conservation Committee;
• Jeannie Nordstrom, community volunteer and YWCA board member; Bryce Seidl, president and CEO of the Pacific Science Center;
• Andrew Shouse, Ph.D., associate director of the University of Washington Institute for Science and Math Education;
• Lyn Tangen, former senior director, Corporate Communications, for Vulcan Inc., and legal advisor to Mayor Paul Schell;
• Suzanne Walsh, senior program officer in education at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation;
• Bryan Slinker, D.V.M. Ph.D., dean of the college of veterinary medicine at Washington State University.

Bichsel, Leppo, Liddell and Slinker are current members of the zoo’s board of directors. The task force is expected to name a separate panel of experts to focus on the health and care of the zoo’s elephants.

More than 2,000 people voted to name two of Woodland Park Zoo’s four lion cubs. Two of the cubs were named by staff.

Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

The cubs’ names are Rudo (“love” in Zulu, pronounced ROO-doh), Busela (“happy and independent” in Zulu, pronounced BOO-sayla), Pelo (“heart” in Sotho, pronounced PEE-lo), and Nobuhle (“the beautiful one” in Zulu, pronounced no-BOO-sche).

The cubs will be out in the African Savanna from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, weather permitting.

Here’s a roundup of various neighborhood news, in no particular order.

Snoose Junction, 10406 Holman Rd. NW, closed its doors on March 9.

Tony’s Coffee Bar, 7001 3rd Ave. NW, is hosting the second in its literary series on Friday evening. “Three Washington Writers and One From Portland” is from 7-10 p.m. on Friday, March 22. Four authors will read from their works: Nicole Rosevear, Ellen Parker, Jennifer D. Munro and Erin Gilbert. The event is free; refreshments will be served. Tony’s also will be giving away free Italianos from 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. that day to celebrate the literary event.

Greenwood nonprofit writing and tutoring center 826 Seattle is partnering with Couth Buzzard Books for a “Whipper Snapper’s Cabaret” Saturday night. Talented students from 826 Seattle will take the stage for poetry and singing. Joining them are jazz musician Kenny Mandell’s jazz workshop Students, spoken word artist/DJ William Higareda (MC Vajra), humor essayist Marianne Hale and “trickster/wordsmith” Holly Brown. Free; food and drinks available for purchase. The Cabaret starts at 7:30 p.m. at 8310 Greenwood Ave. N.

Phinney resident Howard Snyder, a fine art landscape photographer, has a solo photography exhibition called “Chasing Shadows, Chasing Light” at Seattle Creative Arts Center through the end of this month.

PhinneyWood reader Joey Pauley contacted us, seeking witnesses to a car accident at the intersection of North 80th Street and Linden Avenue North on Thursday, Feb. 28, at 7 p.m.

This is a photo of Pauley’s red car…

And the other driver’s black car.

If you witnessed this accident, please call Joey at 206-651-5639.

A PhinneyWood reader contacted us because they were concerned about the new Greenwood Fred Meyer’s lack of recycling containers for customers to use. We contacted Fred Meyer and received this response:

Fred Meyer takes pride in the recycling program we have in each of our stores. It is part of our commitment towards a more sustainable business. We work hard to wrap up all loose ends with a new store opening as quickly as possible. Recycling stations for Customers are now available at your new Greenwood store. Thank you for shopping with us and for recycling!

Woodland Park Zoo’s new lion cubs now have full access to the entire lion exhibit from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, weather permitting. The waiting line to view the cubs in the lion shelter has been removed.

Photo by Dennis Dow, Woodland Park Zoo.

“The Cheap Bastard’s Guide to Seattle” author David Volk is looking for recommendations on freebies and deals in Greenwood and Phinney Ridge for his book’s second edition, due in May. (We profiled Volk in December 2010.)

If any of your readers know about great happy hours, places to go to hear live music for free, ways to see movies for free or cheap, amazingly cheap restaurants and places to see comedy for cheap, please have them drop me an e-mail. All people who make suggestions that he uses will be named in the book’s acknowledgements, the top five win a wonderfully kitschy prize and the best one wins a free copy of the new book when it comes out.

Time once again for Woodland Park Zoo‘s Spring Fecal Fest, when gardeners get excited about the prospect of rich compost made from animal poo.

Photo  by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

The annual Spring Fecal Fest begins on Monday, March 11, and ends March 31. Enter online for a chance to purchase Zoo Doo and Bedspread. Only one entry per person is eligible for each drawing.

Zoo Doo is the most exotic and highly prized compost in the Pacific Northwest. Composed of species feces contributed by the zoo’s non-primate herbivores such as elephants, hippos, giraffes and more, Zoo Doo is perfect for growing veggies and annuals.

Bedspread, the zoo’s premium composted mulch, is a combination of Zoo Doo, sawdust, and large amounts of wood chips. Bedspread is used to cushion perennial beds and woody landscapes including rose beds, shrubs and pathways.

If you don’t enter online, you can send in a postcard. Separate postcards are required for Zoo Doo and Bedspread drawings (and only one postcard entry for each). Send postcards with your name, phone number, whether you want Zoo Doo or Bedspread, how much you want, and whether you want to pick-up on a weekday or weekend, to: Dr. Doo, Woodland Park Zoo, 601 N. 59th St., Seattle, WA 98103.

Pick-up dates will be April 13-28. Winners load their own compost; the zoo will provide the shovels.

Prices for both kinds are: Pick-up truck 8×4 bed - $60; 6×4 bed - $45; 6×3 bed – $35. (Limit one full truck per person.) Garbage cans are $8-$10 depending on size; bags are $4-$6 depending on size. Two-gallon and pint-sized buckets are available anytime at the ZooStore for $12.95 and $4.95, respectively.

For more information, call the Poop Line at 206-625-POOP or check out the website.

Woodland Park Zoo is hosting an open house from 5-7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, to show neighbors designs for its reconfiguration of the North parking lot. The open house will be in the zoo’s ARC building, next to the West entrance, at 5500 Phinney Ave. N.

The reconfiguration will add 165 spaces, remove two storage buildings, and relocate at least seven portable trailers that currently house the zoo’s administrative offices.

Woodland Park Zoo has applied for a permit to expand and re-stripe its North parking lot, adding 165 parking spaces. Two storage sheds will be demolished, and seven portable office buildings will be moved to another site. The project requires SEPA Environmental Determination.

The North lot, seen from the northeast corner.

The project includes moving about seven mobile trailers that house administrative offices from the Inner North parking lot. They will move to a currently unused space between the penguin exhibit and the zoo’s ARC Building near the West entrance.

Entrance to the Inner North lot. The administrative trailers are just inside to the right.

David Schaefer, the zoo’s director of public affairs, tells me the zoo currently has 754 parking spaces in five lots: South lot – 265; Tower lot (just off Phinney Avenue near the water tower) – 145; West lot – 57; Inner North – 92; North lot – 195. The project would add another 165 spots, for a total of 919.

The City of Seattle has said it will pay 75 percent of the construction costs, up to $2 million. The zoo is paying for the other 25 percent. Schaefer said they don’t have the final costs yet, because the final design is not yet finished. He says the city asked the zoo to apply for SEPA environmental determination first, then the city will appropriate the money.

The zoo plans to have an open house at the end of the month for neighbors to look at the parking lot designs. The zoo will notify neighbors by mail when the date and time are set.

“There are 30 or 40 days in the summer where there’s just no place to park around here or on the streets,” Schaefer said. “And we think this will be a significant help toward that.”

Comments on the project can be submitted through March 6. You can comment online, by fax to 206-233-7901, or by mail to: Department of Planning and Development, ATTN: Public Resource Center or Assigned Planner, 700 Fifth Ave, Ste 2000, P.O. Box 34019, Seattle, WA 98124-4019. Include the project number (3014618 ), project address (5500 Phinney Ave. N., Seattle 98103), and your mailing address with your comment.

(The DPD permit application says the comment period goes to Feb. 20, but Schaefer said they asked for two additional weeks to give people more time to comment. Land use signs on the perimeter of the zoo show the comment period ending March 6.)

Friends of Woodland Park Zoo Elephants will hold a rally today in support of releasing the zoo’s elephants to a sanctuary.

The rally will take place at the zoo’s south entrance, at North 50th Street and Fremont Avenue North, from 12-2 p.m.

Woodland Park Zoo’s annual zookeepers Holiday Silent Auction is this Friday. You can bid on behind-the-scenes jaguar tours, hippo feedings, Family Farm animal experiences, and artwork by the animals. It’s sponsored by the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.

Orangutan painting, by Carolyn Sellar, Woodland Park Zoo.

A bake sale, lunch sale, and auction preview are from 12-2 p.m., with the silent auction, and dinner sale and bake sale from 4-8 p.m., at the zoo’s Education Center, next to the South Entrance at North 50th Street and Fremont Avenue North. Entrance to the auction is free (but zoo entrance is not included). Parking is free after 4 p.m.

Proceeds from the auction support animal and habitat conservation projects around the world, and education outreach.

Four lion cubs were born at Woodland Park Zoo Thursday night, the first lions born at the zoo in more than 20 years.

The lion’s den as seen from a surveillance camera above.

The mother is 3-year-old Adia; the father is 13-year-old Hubert. The genders of the cubs have not been determined.

The mom and cubs are off public exhibit in a maternity den to allow the new family to bond in a hushed, comfortable environment. Animal management staff are closely monitoring the litter via a web cam to ensure the mom is providing excellent maternal care and the cubs are properly nursing.

According to Martin Ramirez, mammal curator at Woodland Park Zoo, average litter size for lions is two to three, so this is a large litter, especially for a first-time mother. “The first 48 hours are critical, and animal care staff will be monitoring each of the cubs closely for signs of normal behavior and development over the next several weeks.”

Woodland Park Zoo’s lions belong to the South African subspecies, Panthera leo krugeri. A 13-year-old female lion, named Kalisa, also lives at the zoo’s award-winning African Savanna. Known as the Transvaal lion, it ranges in Southern Sahara to South Africa, excluding the Congo rain forest belt, in grassy plains, savanna and open woodlands. These lions range in weight from 260 to 400 pounds.

To minimize disturbance to the newborns, the other two adult lions are indoors and may not be on public exhibit throughout the weekend.

Cubs typically weigh about 3 pounds at birth. They are born blind and open their eyes within a week or two after birth.

Approximately 199 South African lions currently live in 100 AZA-accredited zoos in North America.

Adia nursing her cubs.

You can see video and photos of the cubs here.