NEWS

Dingoes arrive at Binder Park Zoo

Andy Fitzpatrick
Battle Creek Enquirer
Dingoes roam around their enclosure in Binder Park Zoo's new exhibit on Wednesday afternoon.

As fifth-grader Rachel Snyder held a clipboard and watched wild dingoes roaming, she jotted down observations and talked to her fellow Gordon Elementary School classmates about how cool the animals were.

"We're not just kids on a field trip," Snyder later explained. "We're, like, researchers here."

The kids from the Marshall school were participating in Binder Park Zoo's Big Zoo Lesson Wednesday. The program turns the zoo into a classroom for a week for third-through-fifth grades at area schools.

The Big Zoo Lesson allows kids to get a different perspective on what can be learned at a zoo, but the kids there Wednesday were getting a special project to work on. Binder Park Zoo received a pair of dingoes from Fort Worth Zoo Tuesday, and the Gordon kids were the first non-zoo workers to see them on exhibit, Binder Park Zoo Education Supervisor Amanda Bailiff said.

"This is amazing for them," Bailiff said, pointing out that being the first to see new animal arrivals is one of the things about working in a zoo she brags about. "I'm jealous."

The dingoes, the male Yango and the female Airlie, bounded and played in their enclosure as a group of four students watched. The exhibit previously held bald eagles. The eagles have been relocated to another part of the zoo.

Binder Park Zoo Director of Wildlife, Conservation and Education Jenny Barnett said dingoes are probably the oldest breed of domesticated dog in the world. In fact, while the pair at the zoo isn't trained, Barnett said zoos have trained dingoes for use in educational programs. Yango and Airlie, although wild, didn't look all that different from any decent-sized domesticated dog breed.

In Australia, they're treated similarly to the way wolves are here: A species in danger that finds itself the subject of controversy.

"Generally, they keep populations of rabbits and other smaller rodents down," Barnett said. "And they'll prey on wallabies and kangaroos as well. But occasionally they'll take a sheep from farmers, so that's where the controversy comes in."

One of the student researchers, fifth-grader Kooper Lewis, said he's been busy waiting for the dingoes.

"Since the dingoes weren't here until today, I've been studying the emus," Lewis said. "They run around a lot and made a lot of noise yesterday."

Snyder said that for her, it's been a big wait for Wednesday.

"I'm really excited because we've been doing the kangaroos," Snyder said. "There's nothing wrong with them but I've been really anxious to look at (the dingoes)."

Contact Andy Fitzpatrick at 269-966-0697 or afitzpatrick@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow him on Twitter: @am_fitzpatrick.