Enjoy Spring in Prescott at Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary. The zoo is open daily from 10am-4pm through April 30th. Open 9am-5pm beginning May 1st. Visit our website for upcoming events including Easter Eggstravaganza, Community Appreciation Day/FREE Day and Summer ZooCamp. All proceeds support the sanctuary, a 501c(3) non-profit. For more information, visit https://www.heritageparkzoo.org/
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 When you think of Easter, of course you think of bunnies.
00:05 You probably think of chocolate bunnies, but Raquel has just introduced me to this bunny
00:11 whose name is Carmel.
00:12 Carmel, we have a Carmel bunny for you.
00:15 She is so cute.
00:17 I already love her and we're like in an Aesop's Fable because we've got the tortoise and the
00:22 hare.
00:23 Cindy the tortoise is very much blending.
00:25 Yes, she is.
00:26 And that's exactly what they're designed for.
00:29 Their pattern is actually supposed to help them to blend into their environment for safety
00:33 sake.
00:34 So, yeah, they're a great pair to have out this morning.
00:37 Let's talk about Easter here at the Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary.
00:41 You guys really do it up for Easter.
00:44 You know, it's our very first event of the year.
00:46 It's on Easter Sunday and it's really just become a tradition, especially in the Prescott
00:51 area.
00:52 We do a zoo wide egg hunt for prizes that are available to the kids that finish their
00:59 game card.
01:00 We have our bunnies that will be out to meet and greet.
01:03 We have lots of photo spots and concessions and it's just a fun way to come out, celebrate
01:08 Easter, walk around the zoo for a little bit and then go home and do your own celebration.
01:13 So Carmel, the bunny, will be available for cuddling?
01:17 Yeah, we set up our bunnies on the lawn.
01:20 We have a whole fun area on the lawn for them to meet a variety of different animals, but
01:24 our bunnies are normally the hit of Easter.
01:27 And you can see they're great program animals, but we don't advise you get them as pets for
01:32 Easter.
01:33 Bunnies or chicks, these are animals that do require time and care and handling and
01:40 so they don't always make the best gift for Easter.
01:43 Okay, let's emphasize and highlight what you just said.
01:47 You might be thinking, you know what's going to be adorable?
01:51 A baby chick or a baby bunny in the Easter basket, but those are actually sort of complicated
01:56 pets.
01:57 Yeah, they really are.
01:58 And all animals, you should do your research before you bring them home because they all
02:02 have a time requirement.
02:03 They all need some attention, medical care varying from species to species.
02:08 But yeah, come to the zoo, visit with the bunnies, but don't bring one home.
02:13 There you go.
02:14 Public service announcement's been announced.
02:17 I mean, speaking of which, Cindy the hare I know was living in Tucson and her owner
02:23 had to leave the state and couldn't take care of her.
02:26 I mean, this animal can have a very long lifespan.
02:29 Exactly.
02:30 And so, Heritage Park Zoological Sanctuary is just that, a sanctuary.
02:34 So we provide permanent homes to animals that need homes.
02:37 And Cindy here is a great example.
02:39 She's a leopard tortoise and an animal that somebody had that they could no longer take
02:44 care of.
02:45 And you're exactly right.
02:46 They could potentially live up to 80 to 100 years.
02:51 And so this is not an animal that you're going to have within your lifespan most likely.
02:56 And so you really need to do your homework before you bring an animal home.
03:01 But yeah, but they're great for us to really have here and say, "Hey, this is what this
03:05 animal is.
03:06 They're normally found in Africa."
03:08 And you can see they're gorgeous.
03:11 They're not endangered right now, but they are a concern.
03:14 A lot of people like to poach them, take them home, but they're not really threatened at
03:20 this time.
03:21 But they're gorgeous animals.
03:22 I'm not trying to speak for Carmel, but I feel like maybe she's a little jealous that
03:27 you're saying all those nice things about them.
03:31 If you were, like, what don't people know about bunnies?
03:35 Because I feel like I wasn't expecting a bunny to be like a lap cat.
03:39 You know, and we spend a lot of time, especially with our program animals, because we want
03:45 them to be as comfortable as she is right now in your lap.
03:49 We take them-
03:50 Admit it, she loves me.
03:51 She does love you.
03:52 And you know, and that's what we have our program animals for.
03:56 We take them out.
03:57 They're education animals.
03:58 They're ambassadors for their species.
04:00 And we want to share their stories, you know, how they got here, what we need to know about
04:05 them.
04:06 Are they endangered?
04:07 And so this is one of the few animals that we have that, you know, people can hold.
04:13 And they actually, she actually goes out to senior homes and visits with senior residents.
04:18 And she's just a great lap animal.
04:20 But this takes a little time.
04:22 So if people want to come on Easter, they're also going to see some special Easter treats.
04:29 This is a giant peep.
04:30 Yeah.
04:31 So, you know, everybody likes Easter and including our animals.
04:35 And we like to give them special treats as well.
04:38 So we have lots of fun, you know, creating behavioral enrichment for the animals.
04:44 And you know, our education staff made this amazing giant peeps.
04:48 So what's in there?
04:49 It's like a pinata?
04:50 Yeah, exactly like a pinata, just like your kids would have.
04:53 We try and make them as safe as possible for the animals.
04:57 And then we fill them up with whatever animal treat that he like for, you know, Gus or bear,
05:03 his favorite are avocados.
05:04 So I would guess he's going to get an avocado.
05:07 Is he a millennial?
05:09 He wants it on toast?
05:12 But our cats, you know, probably get a variety of different meats.
05:15 So thank you.
05:16 Yeah, it should be a lot of fun.
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