Brevard Zoo Membership Newsletter Spring 2019 | Page 7

O
ur dedication to animal wellness
and conservation inspires us to
step up for wildlife in need. This
commitment begins with the creatures
at the Zoo and extends far and wide
into Brevard County, the state of Florida
and the world at large. Here are a few
of the ways we’ve “come to the rescue”
near and far in the past few months.
When you see photos and videos of
our staff hand-raising baby animals, you
might think, “wow, they have the best
job ever!” And while we do enjoy caring
for newborns, we would much prefer
for our babies to be naturally reared by
their own parents because it’s a lot of
work! You’ve probably seen Lorenzo the
Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth on our social
media channels; when he was born
in October 2018, Lorenzo’s mother,
five-year-old Tango, didn’t show interest
in raising him—likely because she
was a first-time mother. After multiple
attempts to reunite the two, we made
the difficult but life-saving decision to
hand-raise the young sloth. This job
was given to Lauren Hinson, one of
our curators, who also successfully
hand-reared red kangaroo Lilly in 2017.
Hinson, along with other staff members,
provided round-the-clock care and
feedings for Lorenzo for five months
before the sloth was ready to begin the
weaning process.
You might have seen our newest Zoo
member, a two-year-old Florida black
bear, in Wild Florida. This young female,
who is currently unnamed, came to us
in August 2018 after Florida Fish and
Wildlife Commission responded to a
report of a Tallahassee-area woman
feeding dog food and water to a bear.
This kind of interaction is dangerous
for all parties involved because the
animal became accustomed to receiving
food from this woman, and thus did
not know how to care for herself
without human intervention. Had she
not found a permanent home under
professional care, a tragic incident could
have occurred, resulting in the bear’s
euthanasia. This animal and her beautiful
new habitat represent the beginning
of our commitment to providing a

The Florida black bear habitat was made possible by the
generosity of the following individuals and organizations:
- The Hermansen Family in memory
- Event Network
of their Nana & Faff—Bjørg & Bjornar - Nelson Cover Jr., Gretchen Chell
(Old Bear) Hermansen
Cover and Nelson Cover III
- Chenzyme Foundation
- Theodore & Gillian Simon
- Walter J. Gatti
- Mike & Mary Louise Coleman
- Vince Lamb in honor of Helga Lamb
- Kehoe Animal Clinic
- Suemarie H. Goodell
- Mollen Family
Brevard Zoo News | Spring 2019 | www.brevardzoo.org
7