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Fundraiser to auction animal works at Miller Park Zoo
By Scott Richardson
srichardson@pantagraph.com
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BLOOMINGTON -- One-of-a-kind art will be featured at an auction at a Saturday fundraiser to benefit Miller Park Zoo’s captive breeding program to help insure the survival of rare Sumatran tigers.

But don’t expect some of the paintings to be signed. The artists include a Rainbow boa snake, a cockroach, a millipede and other residents of the Bloomington zoo.

Zookeepers carefully coated tiny feet or undersides of scaled bodies with non-toxic paint before the creatures crawled, patted or slithered across paper. Others, like saki monkeys, were just handed paint brushes.

The snake put more than its heart and soul into the project. Its orange, gold and black creation features some of its own shed skin. But the monkeys fell short of high expectations zoo spokeswoman Susie Ohley had for them.

“I’m sure their aunts and uncles are proud of it. But it’s something only a mother could love,” said Ohley, laughing.

Deanna Frautschi, chairwoman of the event, came to the primates’ defense: “It could have been an off day. Artists are temperamental,” she said.

Past fundraisers by the Miller Park Zoological Society to benefit the zoo have been held at locations away from the 117-year-old facility at 1020 S. Morris Ave. But Frautschi thought it was important to have the zoo and Miller Park Pavilion provide the setting for the first-ever Zoo-Do: Safari in the Park.

“The whole idea of having it at the zoo is so people can see what’s there and what needs to be done,” said Frautschi, executive vice president of human resources and communications at Country Financial. “People have this affinity for the zoo because they go themselves or they take the grandkids. … It’s such a neat thing to have in our community.”

Zoo-Do also provided a way for zoo advocates to strengthen its ties to potential corporate and individual allies, she said. Country, State Farm Insurance Cos., The Pantagraph, AFNI, Commerce Bank,

McDonald’s, Verizon and Prairie Oak Veterinary Center all signed on to help.

Hear them roar

Organizers hope the event will raise $50,000 to kick off phase two of Operation Roar, a capital improvement program. The first phase led to construction of a new animal hospital that opened this year. The cost was about $400,000.

The next challenge is to raise as $500,000 to $700,000 to remodel the zoo’s oldest building, the Katthoefer Animal Building that dates to 1914. The structure, last remodeled in 1976, houses a single 17-year-old Sumatran tiger named Besar, among other animals. Plans call for the exhibit to be updated to include two new enclosures, one for a younger male tiger and the other for a female tiger, and eventually their offspring. The area would be enclosed in glass to offer visitors a closer view than possible now, Ohley said.

Just 400 Sumatrans remain in the wild. Illegal poaching causes their numbers to fall by about 10 percent every year.

“The $50,000 gets the project started,” Ohley said. “We feel this is an important to the future of the tigers and a wonderful thing to bring to the community.”

“What a gem that would be,” added Frautschi. “We will have these tigers for the people of the future to see. We are going to see more and more animals on that (endangered) list.”

Zoo superintendent John Tobias has embraced international programs to preserve endangered species. Under the Species Survival Plans, zoos like Miller Park agree to provide homes to specimens of the 105 species struggling to survive as a result of habitat destruction and disease.

Miller Park is home to: the Sumatran tiger; a sun bear; callimico, a species of small monkey; pallas cats; a red panda; radiated tortoise; snow leopard; and two red wolves. Captive breeding programs take the effort one step farther.

In addition to the Sumatran tiger breeding project, Tobias hopes to eventually embark on a breeding program involving red pandas.

Ohley said it seems right animals would provide artwork to help raise money for the effort. But Zoo-Do: A Safari in the Park also will feature human artwork, including photographs by Tobias, who started his career as a nature photographer. Bremer’s Jewelry has designed an original piece of jewelry valued at $4,500 to raffle at the event and Dr. Katherine Crockett donated a lasik surgery.

The Zoo Lady, Mickey Lower, who normally focuses on painting faces, will do a full-body tiger painting on a model who will greet up to 300 guests who will receive “passports” containing a map to events, food, beverages and activities on the zoo grounds and at the nearby pavilion. Tobias will give an update on Operation Roar.



Zoo-Do: Safari in the Park



What: A fundraiser for Miller Park Zoo

When: 6 to 10 p.m. Sept. 6

Where: The zoo, 1020 S. Morris Ave., Bloomington

What to expect: Food, entertainment and an auction

Cost: $60

Dress: “Safari casual”

Tickets: Call (309) 862-0007 or visit www.millerparkzoo.org

More information: www.pantagraph.com/zoogala

Take a look
Zookeeper Wendy Klessig dips the Jungle Foul's feet into paint to create an original artpiece for the Miller Park Zoo Due auction in Bloomington Saturday September 6th to raise money for a tiger exhibit. (Pantagraph/B Mosher)
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