The Woodland Park Zoo reports that attendance has topped 1,000,000 visitors for the eleventh year in a row. Last year the zoo had 1,094,514 visitors.

The zoo also raised $68.5 million of its $80 million goal in the “More Wonder More Wild” fundraising campaign.

The zoo will introduce two new species to its exhibits later this year – warthogs and Visayan warty pigs, which have mohawk-like manes.

Visayan warty pig; photo by Michael Durham, courtesy of Oregon Zoo.

“The exotic pigs will be showcased in two naturalistic exhibits evoking the endangered warty pigs’ fragile habitat in the Philippines and the warthogs’ arid savannas of East Africa,” according to a press release. The exhibits will open this summer.

Photo of warthog by Siri-Maura Giles, courtesy of Indianapolis Zoo.

Adult admission prices are going up 25 cents, effective immediately. Winter fees are now $11.75 for adults, and $8.50 for children ages 3 to 12. Beginning May 1, summer rates will go up to $17.75 for adults, and stay at $11.50 for children. Toddlers 2 and under are free.

Yesterday, Woodland Park Zoo euthanized an elderly, male arctic fox named Feliks.

“After showing signs of decreased quality of life due to his advanced age, the zoo’s animal care and health teams made the difficult but humane decision to euthanize Feliks yesterday,” said Dr. Jennifer Pramuk, curator at Woodland Park Zoo.

Born in the wild, Feliks came to Woodland Park Zoo in 2004 after he was discovered at the Port of Seattle, stowed away on a trash container en route to Seattle from the tiny, remote Aleutian island of Shemya. Judging by the condition of his teeth, zoo experts estimated he was 3 to 5 years of age when he arrived.

The zoo determined that Feliks was not a good candidate for reintroduction into the wild. He was not in the best of health at the time, underweight with ear mites, a skin mass and hind limb weakness. Woodland Park Zoo provided a home for Feliks in its award-winning Northern Trail exhibit, and under its excellent animal care program, gave him the proper nutrition and health care needed to restore his condition and ensure his wellbeing.

“In the wild, many arctic foxes do not live past 3 years of age,” said Dr. Pramuk. “Yet when Feliks was around 3 to 5 years old, he not only survived an unexpected, tremendous adventure, but continued on to live out a healthy life for many more years at his new home at Woodland Park Zoo.”

Feliks, estimated to be 10 to 12 years old, lived in a mixed species exhibit including mountain goats and a female arctic fox, 11-year-old Somer, which remain on view.

The Arctic fox, weighing 6 to 10 pounds, lives in the far north, in the tundra, and coastal areas of North America, Iceland, Greenland, Scandinavia and Siberia. Found farther north than any other land mammal, the arctic fox travels more extensively than any terrestrial animal other than humans. The arctic fox has a gray or blue coat in the summer and a thick, warm white coat in the winter. In the summer, the fox feeds primarily on lemmings, other rodents, fish, birds and even berries. In the winter, it may follow wolves or polar bears in hopes of eating scraps left behind.

The Woodland Park Zoo last night again performed an artificial insemination procedure on 32-year-old Asian elephant Chai.

Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

From the press release:

Semen for the procedure was contributed by a 13-year-old bull at ABQ BioPark Zoo in Albuquerque, N.M. With no offspring to date, the bull is genetically valuable to the North American population of elephants.

“It will be approximately 15 to 16 weeks before we can confirm a pregnancy by ultrasound and through hormonal changes in Chai,” explained Dr. Nancy Hawkes, the zoo’s general curator and resident expert in elephant reproduction. The gestation period for elephants is 22 months. “If Chai is pregnant, we would expect her to give birth in late 2013.”

Dr. Dennis Schmitt, a leading expert in elephant reproductive physiology and a professor of animal science at Missouri State University, joined the zoo’s elephant management and animal health staff in performing the artificial insemination.

Chai has been inseminated with this state-of-the art and proven technique during 10 ovulation cycles since 2005 but only one has resulted in a pregnancy. “Her pregnancy in 2008, unfortunately, ended in an early miscarriage, which is not uncommon in mammals, especially during the first trimester,” said Hawkes.

Hawkes said that animal welfare is the principal goal of the zoo and its effort to inseminate Chai. “It’s enriching for the herd to include calves and this technique allows us to help females get pregnant without needing to transport them to another institution that houses bulls, spending months away from their home and social group,” said Hawkes.

Woodland Park Zoo remains committed to sustaining a genetically healthy population of elephants in zoos by participating in the Species Survival Plan (SSP) for elephants.

Chai was the mother of Hansa, a female elephant who was born at the zoo in 2000 and died unexpectedly at 6½ years old from a newly discovered elephant herpesvirus. “A baby would help us begin to re-build a multigenerational social group here at the zoo,” said Hawkes.

Schools and banks are closed on Thanksgiving Day, and many stores and restaurants are closed or close early so employees can spend the day with their families. Here are a couple of other reminders:

Parking meters take a holiday on Thanksgiving, but are back on for Friday.

King County Metro Transit will operate on a Sunday schedule on Thanksgiving Day, and a reduced weekday schedule on Friday.

On Saturday, Metro will have special shuttles downtown for the 104th Apple Cup between the UW and WSU at CenturyLink Field. The closest shuttle to us is from Northgate. Cost for the shuttle is $2.50 one way, or $5 roundtrip. Metro will also operate its regular Saturday bus schedule.

And, by the way, Chai, a female Asian elephant at Woodland Park Zoo, predicted on Tuesday that WSU will win the Apple Cup. Chai chose a papier mache apple full of real apples and biscuits bearing the Cougs’ crimson and gray, over the UW’s papier mache swag.

Photo by Dennis Dow, Woodland Park Zoo.

Last year Chai correctly chose the Dawgs as the winner. Any UW or WSU fan can get half-off zoo admission through Sunday by wearing their school’s logo (hat, sweatshirt, gloves, jersey, etc.) or show valid student I.D.

The 8th annual Thanks-Giving Dance by Wassa Dance and Village Volunteers happens from 9-10:30 a.m. Thursday at ARC School of Ballet, 9250 14th Ave. NW in Crown Hill.

Come dance barefoot to live percussion music. Each dollar donated goes directly to support education for girls in Africa.

The funds raised with Seattle-based 501c3 non-profit organization Village Volunteers will assist women and girls by starting a cooperative making sanitary pads using water hyacinth, an invasive aquatic species on Lake Victoria in Kenya.

Last year, the funds raised started a social enterprise to make fuel briquettes out of water hyacinth. This year we will use the same invasive species but make sanitary pads that are low cost, biodegradable and will subsidize hygiene products for girls in school. Young women can miss up to 50 days of school a year because of their menstrual cycle. Due to high absence rates, girls are rarely eligible for scholarships or to attend secondary schools based on low test scores.

Access to an education can change the course of a girl’s life. When a girl receives seven or more years of education, on average she marries four years later and has 2.2 fewer children. Education for girls is also critical in preventing HIV infection rates and increasing potential future income for the young woman and her family.

The Woodland Park Zoo says one of its lions somehow escaped from its den and into a service hallway yesterday afternoon.

Kalisa the lion. Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

At approximately 3:55 p.m. (PST), a 12-year-old, female African lion at Woodland Park Zoo left its sleeping den and gained access to the service hallway that is behind the scenes of the felines building. The incident occurred minutes before the zoo closed to the public. The lion was contained inside the building and at no time were visitors or the staff in any danger.

The zoo’s emergency response team composed of the zoo’s firearms units and veterinary staff equipped with tranquilizer darts was immediately deployed.

The lion was safely tranquilized and secured at 4:53 p.m. inside the service area of the felines building.

In addition to the 12-year-old female lion, the other African lions at the zoo are a 12-year-old male and 2-year-old female. The other two lions were secured in their dens during the incident.

The zoo will conduct a thorough investigation into the cause of the incident.

As an institution accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums (AZA), Woodland Park Zoo conducts several staff emergency drills throughout the year, practicing various scenarios including dangerous and non-dangerous animal escapes, earthquake and natural disasters and visitors in an animal exhibit.

Woodland Park Zoo is offering some unique holiday experiences at its annual Zookeepers’ Holiday Silent Auction on Friday Nov. 18: behind-the-scenes animal tours (like watching an elephant take a bath), animal feedings, photos with a raptor, or meeting an orangutan up close.

Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

The auction is hosted by the Puget Sound Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers.

Guaranteed bidding, preview, lunch and a bake sale is from 12-2 p.m. Silent auction, dinner, bake sale, and wine and beer cash bar are from 4-8 p.m. in the zoo’s Education Center near the South Entrance at North 50th Street and Fremont Avenue North. (Entrance to the auction is free, but access to the zoo is not included and requires zoo admission.)

The Charles and Lisa Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences has donated $1 million to the Woodland Park Zoo for a new, more naturalistic tiger and Asian bear exhibit complex.

The new exhibits will represent the lush forests of tropical Asia and will be designed to encourage natural behavior such as stalking “prey” (actually a lure line), climbing trees and splashing in a pool.

Part of the zoo’s $21 million Asian Tropical Forest fundraising initiative, the new tiger and Asian bear exhibit complex will replace the 60-year-old, outdated infrastructure that critically endangered tigers and Asian bears currently inhabit at the zoo.

To bring the behind-the-scenes care of these animals into the forefront for zoo visitors, the exhibit design includes specialized training stations where keepers will interact one-on-one with tigers and bears. These training presentations will get visitors closer to live predators than at any other exhibit at the zoo, and provide insight into how the zoo safely cares for such large and dangerous animals.

The Simonyi Fund gift marks the second seven-figure leadership gift made this year to the zoo’s Campaign for More Wonder More Wild, a comprehensive campaign that includes the Asian Tropical Forest initiative as well as seven other fundraising initiatives focused on animal care, conservation, education and the zoo visitor experience.

Since making its public launch in March 2011, the Campaign for More Wonder More Wild has reached 82% of its total $80 million fundraising goal.

Woodland Park Zoo is celebrating fall with Autumn Fest during the remaining weekends of October. Autumn Fest activities include professional pumpkin carver Russ Leno; bluegrass music by Boys of Greenwood Glen and Cahalen Morrison & Eli West; hula hooping by Hoop to the Beat; Thriller dance by Roosevelt High School; clog dancing with The Tallboys; Tribe, a children’s dance troop from Art Rise Dance School; and demonstrations by Alpha Martial Arts, plus special talks on wolves at the wolf exhibit on Oct. 22-23 in honor of Wolf Awareness Week.

The weekend before Halloween is Pumpkin Bash with daytime trick-or-treating, pumpkin treats for many of the zoo’s animals, live entertainment and crafts.

Photo by Dennis Dow, Woodland Park Zoo.

Autumn Fest is free with admission. (During the weekend of Oct. 29-30, one child 12 years and under in costume is admitted free with a paid adult.) You can purchase your zoo admission tickets in advance online.

Check out the online schedule for daily events. The zoo’s fall and winter hours are 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily (last entrance at 4 p.m.)

Woodland Park Zoo will highlight its orangutans this weekend, with special keeper talks and enrichment activities for the apes from Borneo and Sumatra.

Activities take place on the boardwalk of the orangutan exhibit in Trail of Vines, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Keeper talks and animal enrichment takes place at 11:30 a.m. each day.

Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

The zoo’s expert orangutan keepers will give an inside look at the zoo’s orangutans and orangutans in the wild. Posters on display will highlight: how specialized training helps facilitate quality care for the orangutans; the complex palm oil crisis and its impact on orangutans, tigers, and countless species of other plants and animals; the direct involvement of the zoo’s orangutan keepers in the field; and how the zoo’s orangutans have helped advance reproductive studies on wild orangutans. The orangutans will be treated to tropical fruit favorites during a keeper talk about the zoo’s enrichment program. Docents will be on hand with orangutan biofacts, and coloring pages will be available for kids.

Orangutans, a highly endangered species, belong to the family Pongidae, which includes all three great apes: gorillas, chimpanzees and orangutans. Distinct subspecies of orangutans live on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. Orangutans are losing ground to the unprecedented loss of habitat due to unsustainable palm oil plantations, illegal logging and mining, overpopulation and other human activities. According to the Orangutan Foundation, fewer than 54,000 individuals of the Bornean subspecies remain in the wild. The Sumatran subspecies is critically endangered with 6,600 individuals in the wild.

Orangutan activities are free with zoo admission.

Just a little roundup of various news in the neighborhood.

Woodland Park Zoo is holding a contest to choose the cover photo for next year’s zoo calendar. Go to the contest website and view the 10 choices, then vote on your favorite. Voting started yesterday and goes through 5 p.m. Friday. The winning photo will be announced on Monday. One vote per person.

Fuerte Fitness in Wallingford and Zoom Language Center in Ballard are holding a Spanish Family Boot Camp at 10 a.m. Saturday at Woodland Park. Families can exercise together and learn Spanish at the same time. The one-hour class is free, but you need to register online.

Naked City Brewery & Taphouse is expanding its kitchen and, hence, its menu. The restaurant and bar at 8564 Greenwood Ave. N. is installing a grill with a hood, stove, salamander broiler, fryer and more ovens.

The city is offering funds for neighborhood cultural and arts events. The application deadline is Oct. 26
The Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs’ Neighborhood & Community Arts program is looking for neighborhood arts councils and community-based groups that want to produce festivals and events that enhance the visibility of neighborhoods, promote cultural participation, celebrate diversity and build community through arts and culture.

Neighborhood arts councils and community-based groups may seek support for a recurring festival or event that has been in existence for at least one year, has a significant arts and cultural component, is open to the public and takes place in Seattle. Applicants are not required to have 501(c) (3) tax-exempt status.

Funded organizations each receive $1,200 to support direct project expenses, including artist fees, marketing and promotional fees, venue and equipment rentals or other production-related expenses. Funds may not be used for fundraising or organizational administrative expenses. The deadline to apply is Wednesday, Oct. 26. Link to the online application at www.seattle.gov/arts.

In 2011, the funding program provided $1,200 each to 40 organizations to support annual public festivals and events, including the Wedgwood Art Festival, Moisture Festival, Bastille Day Festival and Iranian Festival.

Woodland Park Zoo is offering a series of classes to help people turn their yards or school yards into wildlife habitats. Experts from Seattle Audubon, Bats Northwest, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington Native Plant Society and the Zoo will help you design your habitat to attract birds and other wildlife, select native plants, manage your yard sustainably, and get your yard certified as a Backyard Habitat.

Photo by Ryan Hawk, Woodland Park Zoo.

Classes are designed to build on each other as a series, but can be taken separately. Cost is $25 per person, per class; or $100 per person for the five-part series if you register before 4 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 22. You can register online.

Wildlife Garden Design and Management – Thursday, Sept. 22, 79 p.m.: “Join Allen Howard, Woodland Park Zoo horticulturist, to learn the basic principles of creating habitat for wildlife, with a focus on planning, site analysis, design and garden maintenance.”

Attracting Birds to your Backyard – Wednesday, Oct. 5, 7-9 p.m.: “Join Neil Zimmerman, Seattle Audubon Outreach Chair and Master Birder to learn how to attract and care for birds in your yard through plant selection, placement and maintenance of bird feeders and nest boxes, and use of water features.”

Fall Plants and Planting – Saturday, Oct. 15, 9- 11 a.m.: “Join Monica Vander Vieren, Washington Native Plant Society Native Plant Steward, and David Selk, Woodland Park Zoo horticulturist, to discover how different plants in your garden can provide for the basic needs of wildlife. The class includes a plant walk around zoo grounds focusing on aesthetic and size considerations, as well as proper planting techniques.”

Preparing your Backyard Habitat for Winter – Saturday, Oct. 15, 1-3 p.m.: “Winter can be a struggle for the inhabitants of your wildlife garden. Join David Selk, Woodland Park Zoo horticulturist and Neil Zimmerman, Seattle Audubon Outreach Chair and Master Birder to learn how to provide for the needs of plants, insects, birds and other wildlife throughout the winter.”

Bats and Nocturnal Wildlife – Tuesday, Oct. 25, 7-9 p.m.: “A whole new world of wildlife comes out when the sun goes down, including bats, coyotes and flying squirrels! Join Bats Northwest and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to learn more about these nocturnal creatures, including how to attract as well as live peacefully with them.

Gardeners have been anxiously awaiting the time when they can send in their postcards for a chance to buy the much coveted “Zoo Doo” or “Bedspread” composts from the Woodland Park Zoo.

A steaming pile of Zoo Doo. Photo courtesy Woodland Park Zoo.

Well, the time is now. Send in a postcard from Sept. 1-23 to request your compost (you can request both Zoo Doo and Bedspread, but separate postcards are required and only one postcard per person is eligible for each drawing). Entry cards will be selected randomly for as many entrants possible. “Dr. Doo” will contact the lucky drawn entries only.

Send a standard postcard to Dr. Doo, Woodland Park Zoo, 601 N. 59th St., Seattle, WA 98103. Include the following information:
-Name
-Day and evening phone numbers
-Preference: Zoo Doo or Bedspread
-Amount of Zoo Doo or Bedspread you’d like to purchase (anything from a garbage bag to a full-size, pick-up truck load)
-Weekday or weekend preference for pick-up

Pick-up dates for Zoo Doo or Bedspread begin Oct. 1 and end on Oct. 17. Winners load their own compost, but Dr. Doo will provide shovels. Costs: pick-up truck 8×4 bed - $60; 6×4 bed – $45; 6×3 bed - $35. Limit one full truck per person. Garbage cans: $8 to $10 depending on size; bags $4 to $6 depending on size. Two-gallon and pint-sized buckets are available anytime at the ZooStores for $14.95 and $4.95, respectively.