Winter brings special challenges, responsibilities to Cosley keepers
While commuters zip by on Gary Avenue, not far away several women start their days at a decidedly slower pace.
It's still winter at Wheaton's Cosley Zoo and the season brings with it myriad additional tasks for the zookeepers, from the crucial to the mundane.
"What we do in the winter is to make sure all the animals have unfrozen water because the temperature is so low," says Lauren McMenamin. That often means breaking up ice on the pond so ducks can jump in at night to escape predators, and to keep the zoo's coyote away from visitors.
Some of Cosley's residents, like their human counterparts, can find winter a bit boring, so the zookeepers provide toys to relieve animal ennui. Jenny, the Grand Canyon burro, enjoys playing with a ball when she isn't being trained by Tammy Janik, of Aurora.
Perhaps the pigs are the most pampered, though. Some of them enjoy being petted by zookeepers such as Alicia Atkins while they lounge on electric heating pads.
Even though they have to put on extra layers, warm gloves and rubber boots to take care of the animals in winter, zookeepers like 7-year zoo veteran Katy Briggs say they love working with the animals.
Cosley Zoo, at Gary Avenue and Jewell Road, is part of Wheaton Park District. It opened in 1974 and is an important resource for animal education in the DuPage County area.
On Friday, visitors can help Cosley celebrate its Animal of the Year - Speed Bump the Blanding's Turtle - during an open house.
The zoo is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily until April when spring and summer hours expand to 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. For details, call (630) 665-5534. or visit cosleyzoo.org.
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