Come March 17, the Randall Oaks Zoo in West Dundee will stop selling feed cups and providing access to feed machines through which visitors could offer handfuls of grub to its cows, goats, ducks and llamas.
But that not to say patrons will no longer have that hands-on interaction with the animals, zoo officials say.
“We will still be allowing our guests to actually feed the animals, but it will be responsibly led by our staff,” zoo Manager Sara Peters said. “Guests will be utilizing the animal’s actual diet to feed and our staff will be making sure all animals get their share.”
The change will end a practice the zoo has had in place for the last the 60 years, Peters said.
“Now we are planning on charging $1 to feed a smaller sized amount,” she said. “The smaller amount will allow more guests to be able to experience the feeding as food will only be available to the public during the new feeding schedule and until the diet allotment runs out.”
Three feeding opportunities for the public will be offered each day and guided by staff members.
“These sessions will ensure responsible feeding and provide our guests with an educational and interactive experience,” Peters said. “Staff will be teaching our guests about the nutrition of our animals, the eating mechanisms of the animals as well as sharing fun facts about each animal.”
Feeding time at the petting zoo, which is where the goats are, will be at 11:15 a.m. The domestic and wild ducks will be fed at 12:30 p.m. followed by the cows or llamas at 1:15 p.m. Sessions will last about a half-hour, depending on the number of guests and how many animals they are feeding, Peters said.
The zoo has been selling an average of about 40,000 cups of feed annually at $2 per cup, she said. That adds up to about 7,500 pounds of food.
“It sounds like a lot but we have plenty of animals to feed that with,” Peters said.
While the fee to feed the animals is being cut in half with the new system, it’s hoped that it will be made up for with additional animal connection experiences being planned for the summer, she said.
The zoo’s major concern with ending the current program was trying to determine just how much each animal was getting based upon guest attendance, Peters said. Its nutrition program identifies each animal individually, calculates what each needs to eat based on factors like age, weight, body condition and season, and then sets the diet accordingly, she said.
“With the new method, we should be better able to be sure that our animals are eating the correct amount of food as well as making sure each individual animal is getting the proper nutrition in their diet,” Peters said.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
