How the Fresno Chaffee Zoo feeds their animals
FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – There is a lot of work that goes on behind the scenes to keep the animals you love to visit at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo healthy.
There is no shortage of food at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo which feeds about 3,000 animals every day.
Each day staff arrives around six in the morning to start preparing about 150 diets, most of which are specialized to each species and weighed out to an exact amount.
“My job is focused around ensuring the diets are nutritionally balanced, so a lot of my days are checking in with vets and checking in with the area managers to make sure the animals are eating their food,” said Katrina Eschweiler, who is the Nutrition Services Manager.
Prep time can take between two to four hours, while staff chops vegetables, fruits, and portions out several different grains.
80% of the diets are prepared inside the nutrition center which opened last Nov. after receiving funding from Measure Z.
”People don’t understand how much of a variety the diets are, so we try to make sure that we are changing produce on a daily basis for them so that animals don’t get the same two items on a daily basis,” said Eschweiler.
Making sure each animal is at a healthy weight, and getting all the nutrition that they need, helps animals stay healthy and happy for as long as possible.
But their high-quality diet might surprise you.
“Just the quality of the food we use is very high, human-grade quality and I like to say that the animals do eat better than I do at home,” said Eschweiler.
While most appreciate what they are served each day, some are picky— so adjusting the diet takes effort.
“It’s a lot of work with me and the keepers and the area managers of like okay I really need you to eat this item so what can I do to doctorate it up or to make it a bit fancier or taste better for you,” said Eschweiler.
A lot of Eschweiler’s job is looking at the wild type of diet and how to turn it into a managed setting diet here at the zoo.
One important part of the diet includes something called browse.
“Browse is a very important nutritional thing in the zoo setting, it is tree parts, so it chunks of trees that we give animals to consume which mimics what they would be getting in the wild,” said Eschweiler.
If you’re looking to help feed the Fresno Chaffee Zoo animals there’s a browse program where you can drop off your pesticide-free tree parts to an approved drop-off location.
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