European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 2, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Because of the ponies. Ii was a great show. She Gol up to 50 Miler per hour. I moan where else would people gel to one Hal if act n t do Itimus like this " asks foot or Al 55 shall excited Al watching animals do whal comes naturally to i hem such As in the cheetah s Case run. Just then anole or car pulls up and Zsa Zsa gels Oul Wilh three Little hulls of poodle i Dove on the explains Fowler in a this is what daddy did Al to if Loday Oieu he was t hurl Bui hell show you tracks on his right aim irom a not so successful encounter Wilh a cheetah he has been nipped bitten and clawed but was most seriously injured when to was gored by a while tailed Deer a Deer Mora zoo keepers Are killed by members of the Deer family than anything he explains. We think of those Antlers As hat Racks but they Are very lethal weapons born near Albany a Fowler trained Birds of prey As a boy walking through the Fields of mud Creek Plantation the family farm. He graduated trom Earlham College in Richmond ind., with degrees in geology and zoology unsure of his career. He turned Down a Bonus baby Otter from the Philadelphia Phillies raised Callie Lor a while and continued working with raptors As a Hobby. He has travelled the world diving Tor great while Sharks off Australia walking unarmed in Tiger preserves in India and becoming lha Tirol Man to trap a harpy Eagle in Brazil and bring it Back to the United Stales alive. He s lived with lha Kalahari bushmen in Africa led expeditions to Peru to study the andean Condor and walked unarmed Loots Leps away from a Polar Bear thai had just kilted another Polar Bear a feat he would not repeal unarmed. Besides his Manhattan apartment. Fowler has a tarns in new Canaan Conn and keeps thai ,000-Acra family farm where he raises Elands ostriches and zebras. Married and the father of two teen aged children one of whom is missing his pet Boa Constrictor Fowler has become a spokesman for endangered animals. Fowler also consults in designing zoos and Parks. He wishes More Iuo directors would do what he is doing. Some 700 directors have multimillion Dolla. Budgets Tor education and they bring Black snakes and ferrets to demonstrations he says. That won t Doit anymore. You be got to capture people s imagination especially Young people s. I can t go on a show with Field mice and rabbits alter i be appeared with a water Fowler a big Man just under 6-loot-6. Uses zoo animals and trained animals in his demons Lions. Sometimes meeting the animals just minutes before curtain time he also knows when to quit. I be always got backup animals in Case one of the animals is out of Fowler says. I would never put an animal in a is Zuahon where it could gel Hurt or be once he was travelling by Van with a 6-Monlh-old cheetah named Arthur two anteaters thai he used to walk on leashes in a Chicago Park a harpy Eagle and a Python. To put the Snake in the drawer. Hotel drawers make perfect Lille Snake boxes Fowler says. I had the anteaters and the Eagle which is so big it eals 30 Pound monkeys in giant cardboard he secured the cheetah in the bathroom taps turned tightly Oil rugs and t Wels removed door closed and went out. The Motel management had m idea what was going on. "1 just Back the Van up and Sam of slip twigs in one Fowler confesses. Upon his return to the Motel. A. Ler saw red emergency lights blinking outside a s room the whole fire department a there and water was pouring out he says the firemen had opened the door and then decided prudence dictated shutting it the chief was reassessing a first took had revealed iwo anteaters hopping around on a Sota. An enormous Bird Flap. And some kind of Wildcat in the Bathtub. They missed the Snake. The playful Arthur had knocked kleenex Inlo the Basin and turned on the water hooding the entire room destroying the cardboard cages i raced in there afraid Arthur had drowned Fowler says Bui Arthur was nestled in the Bathtub the Only dry spot. Fowler smiles Al his own s lories people Aie always telling me i have the Best Job in the world he says maybe they re dec Ember 1987 for a Batman Polar tear at of Cologne zoo what would it More natural than playing with Freer Keg toys for tigers and cars by Carolyn Petersen United press International if you think your kids Are real animals when incomes to breaking toys consider the problem facing american zookeepers who must find Wayslow entertain Lions and Ligers and bears. Consider Gordon Noyes whose Job is to Imd playthings thai will stand up to the antics of Conrad and Yegyan iwo 1,200-Pound Polar bears at Tho Washington Park zoo in Portland Ore. They like to try to sink their Teeth Inlo toys said Noyes a zookeeper for nearly 25 years who has spent the last is of those taking care of the bears. Noyes must find playthings Tor the Bruins Hal Are hard enough to withstand the bears Biles Yel Sod enough to Bounce off the Glass windows surrounding their enclosure. We used to buy chipped Bowling balls Lor the bears which they really liked. But with the Glass windows in lha new exhibit area we can t do Hal anymore Noyes said. Tho bears like Loys that Ore moveable that they can control he said. He has been experimenting Wilh dilute real types of Halls and floats to see which ones the bears prefer although he s Learned plenty about the punishment his charges can hand out he has t yet determined in the bears have a favorite toy or what that might be. The males like Large floats they can jump on he said. But the females can get inti Midale by the big ones so Well put in some smaller Llo als. Our youngest female was very timid at first but has come to enjoy playing with things " several toys Are Given to the bears at the same Lime to avoid tights. For Yegyan and Conrad fewer than Lour toys can Lead to an argument. He also withholds a Loy for a Day or two so it will seem now and interesting. Bruce Brewer assistant curator of mammals at the Brookfield iii., zoo said he also tried and rejected used Bowling balls. We got some Bowling balls made without holes so the animals would t break their 1eelh on Thorn. Tho Polar bears thought they were terrific but we had to take them away when we discovered the balls were the perfect size lot plugging the drains in their Moal Brewer said. The balls proved just As problematic for the Lions one male liked a Ball so Well he adopted it and refused to Lei Llic females near it for two Days. The big cats also look to Balling the balls Back and Forth and bouncing them of the Walls of the Cage which left holes Brewer sad. The zoo now uses aluminium Bebr kegs in to Polar Bear exhibit since the kegs Floal the bears can ump on them or bal them Back and Forth Wilh their paws the kegs Haven t plugged the Drain Yel. Although Many too have had to use unlikely objects from other industries As toys Teal trend is changing. Joan Schultz of Grayslake ii. Decided to Slart her Pel Loy business Boomer balls after she Hart trouble finding playthings thai would land up to Hor Bull terrier Boomer Schultz first marketed the balls to the show dog Industry. Within a few months she was Selling the toys through local Pel shops and looking Lor ways to expand the business. The zoo Markel offered a unique solution some people feel up Long Loys in a zoo exhibit detracts from the Nal uial Bea Lyof the animals Bui often animals Wilhour something to do Wib just Lay around. The balls help show off the activity of the animals she said. Boomer balls Are available in 1q-. 7 and 4vi Inch diameter sizes Wilh plastic an eighth of an Inch thick the 10-Inch Ball also is available in a three eighths Inch thick Model. Schultz said she guarantees the balls again puncture for one year and replaces any that Are chewed through in iwo years of sales Only balls used by Pil bulls have Boon re turned. The pit bulls have a was of gelling their jaw on the Ball that is really Tough on in Schultz said. Once they gel a hold on it they use a can opener motion that us destroys in fun it fun but when it gets hoi in att into awing iral Umatt Oil Bear would rather i Nugget up to let run play eat totall Appolo the stars and stripes Page 15
