Lions, Tigers & Bosco

Despite budget problems, zoo remains one of Fresno's better-known spots

By Rebekah Herbert

You’re in Fresno.

You think there’s nothing to do but go out to the occasional dinner and movie.

It’s a daily relationship going on 20 years now between Mary Morgan, reptile keeper with Fresno’s Chaffee Zoo, and Knobbie, a tortoise more than 40 years old. Knobbie sprints to the entrance to his exhibit every time he hears Morgan’s voice. Photo by Joseph Hollak

But on the corner of Belmont Avenue and Golden State Boulevard sits a place that has been here longer than most Fresno State students have been alive and provides hours of fun, entertainment and some good laughs—the Chaffee Zoo.

And although the Chaffee Zoo isn’t one of the top zoos in the state, it’s still one of Fresno’s secrets.
The zoo houses about 625 animals on 18 acres of land, each animal with its own unique story and personality.

“The greatest joy in my job is to be trusted enough to share space with these animals,” said senior zookeeper Lynn Myers, who has worked at the zoo for six years. “It takes a long time (to gain that trust), but when it happens, it is life-altering.”

Myers said there is an age gap in the groups who go to the zoo.

“You experience the zoo when you’re young and then when you’re old,” Myers said. “There is a college gap where that age group doesn’t see it, and that’s too bad.”

The most recent addition to the Chaffee Zoo is the giraffe feeding station. For $2, visitors can feed the giraffes—Uzuri, Angollia, Gamba and Baba—four times a day. Because giraffes have no upper teeth, there’s no threat of feeders being bitten.

The Chaffee Zoo’s reptile house is the first in the country to successfully breed spider tortoises in captivity. Photo by Joseph Hollak

The Fresno Zoological Society sponsored the $90,000 exhibit, the first since the Sunda Forest opened in 2000.

The daily bird show and the Small Wonders petting zoo are at the top of the list for visitors’ favorites, in addition to the rainforest exhibit and the reptile house.

Perhaps one of the most famous animals at the Chaffee Zoo is Bosco, the 34-year-old chimpanzee known for throwing everything he can get his hands on—including poop.

“Bosco doesn’t like me much,” said zoo curator Dale Thompson as he scrambled to hide behind a tree, just in time to avoid being hit by Bosco’s morning biscuit.

Thompson, who has worked at the zoo for six years, said many of the primates at the zoo have what appears to be trash in their living areas, but it’s not.

“The animals get bored, so we give them what looks like trash. Really we might hide their food in it or they may use it as a toy,” Thompson said. “It keeps them busy and we change it all the time to give them a new game to play.”

But, not all the animals need something to keep them entertained. The zoo’s lone hippopotamus, Bulgie, does nothing but lie in his pool and occasionally open his gigantic 48-year-old mouth when dinner comes around.

Unfortunately, once Bulgie is gone, there won’t be another hippo at the zoo due to space and budget issues.

“We have had to move everything closer together because of space, and another hippo would require the same amount of space as the elephants have, and we can’t do that,” Thompson said.

The zoo is also home to two Indo-Chinese tigers, one of the rarest and most endangered species.
“It is difficult finding a way to continue breeding this species because there are so few of them left that they are all related,” Thompson said.

Though there are low numbers of some species, there are no breeding problems with for others.
The flamingos, which have been a part of the zoo since the 60s, reproduce up to six times a year.
Some of the original flamingos from the exhibit’s first opening are still there.

The sea lions and harbor seals are also crowd pleasers, periodically plopping up on the deck to bark and clap at the visitors.

Pismo, the youngest sea lion, was actually a rehab animal found on a beach in Ventura, Calif. Though most rehab animals are released back into the wild after they are treated, she was unable to be reintroduced to the wild. Two-year-old Pismo is blind and was adopted by the zoo.

Although Pismo is not at the barking stage yet, she occasionally squeals with excitement.

Myers said although the zoo is changing, it still has a long way to go and needs maintenance work.
“People need to come out to the zoo to see the good parts, but they also need to see the bad parts too,” Myers said, adding that the zoo’s 75-year-old underground sewage system needs to be completely redone.

“We need volunteers, and most volunteers we have are college-aged,” said Myers. “It is a good experience to learn here before you really go into it (working with animals). It needs to be explored,” Myers said.

The Chaffee Zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. until the end of October and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. November to January. General admission is $7.