By Alexander Dworkowitz
The Queens Zoo unveiled a giant birthday cake last week, but the groups of schoolchildren who came for the celebration did not get to take a taste.
Instead, the children watched amazed as five bison — Rosie, Sage, Thelma, Dakota and Bruiser — ate a layered stack of fresh hay, sod and 11 carrot candles. Ten represented each year and one stood for good luck.
The Queens Zoo marked its 10th anniversary last week. The celebration included feeding various different “cakes” to the zoo’s animals: hay and sod for the bison, ice and frozen fish for the sea lions and actual fruitcake for the spectacled bears.
Although the staff of the zoo said the event recognized the organization’s 10th birthday, the Queens Zoo was technically founded in 1968 on the grounds of the 1964 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
The zoo was originally operated by the city’s Parks Department. But in 1988, the city’s zoos and one aquarium were transferred to the Wildlife Conservation Society. The Queens Zoo then closed for renovations for four years and reopened in 1992.
“I think you guys are doing a much better job than we did,” Richard Murphy, Borough Commissioner of the city Parks Department told zoo officials at the ceremony.
The Queens Zoo specializes in North American animals. Of the 340 wild animals in the zoo, only a pair of spectacled bears are not native to the continent.
The 12-acre ground currently hosts 12 major exhibits, from animals ranging from elk to bald eagles to alligators in the summertime.
City Councilman David Weprin (D-Hollis) noted that many school groups came from around the city to observe the North American animals at the zoo.
“It’s really an institution that services the entire city of New York,” Weprin said.
Of the 200,000 annual visitors to the zoo, about 60 percent are from Queens, said the zoo’s director, Robin Dalton.
The birthday celebration comes as the Queens Zoo is planning to open two more exhibits within two years: one for jaguars and another for the thick-billed parrots, the only parrot species native to North America.
“It’s an endangered species, no longer found in the United States, only the mountains of Mexico,” Dalton said.
Dalton estimated that just 4,000 to 5,000 thick-billed parrots are left on the planet. The zoo will be home to 14 of the birds, which is likely to make it the largest exhibit of the parrot in the world.
The jaguar display is being designed to allow visitors to come as close as possible to the animals, Dalton said.
The new exhibits are funded by a $4.3 million from the office of former Borough President Claire Shulman.
But for the attendees of the celebration, the existing exhibits were exciting enough.
“They have the horns, they’re cute, they’re hairy!” said Tadir Shapir, a student at Yeshiva of Crown Heights Elementary School, as he watched the bison devour the cake.
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 141.
