Seneca Park Zoo recycles roadkill
- Deer must be dead for less than 10 hours and must be free of diseases before feeding.
- Deer feedings encourage natural feeding behaviors in carnivores.
- Some people see roadkill feeding as healthy and inexpensive, some find it nauseating.
- The zoo posts signs on carnivore enclosures explaining roadkill feedings to zoo attendees.
The lions at the Seneca Park Zoo usually bound out of their indoor holding area and pounce on the chicken breasts or cow legs zookeepers prepare for their daily feeding.
That meat comes from a routine food shipment, but every so often, zoo carnivores dig into a special meal — deer carcasses from Rochester roads.
Daredevil deer that bolt into oncoming Rochester traffic usually lie decomposing on roadsides for a few days before being picked up by local authorities. But after a Seneca Park Zoo employee hit a deer on the way to work several years ago, the idea of feeding roadkill to zoo carnivores evolved into an organized food program, said Assistant Zoo Director Gail Tabone.
The zoo won't accept deer that have been dead for more than 10 hours, Tabone said. Veterinarians at the zoo inspect each carcass for mange, maggots or tumors before approving it for feeding, she said.
No other types of roadkill are accepted for zoo feeding, because smaller animals like groundhogs or raccoons take more damage from a vehicle hit, Tabone said.
Because of the short time window, most accepted deer are brought in by zoo employees or their friends or families who witness deer-car collisions firsthand, Tabone said, and the zoo won't respond to calls from Rochester drivers who simply notice a dead deer on the side of the road.
"This way of feeding elicits natural animal behaviors, which isn't easy to do," said Tabone. Bloody deer body parts mimic the food type and hunting behaviors of wild carnivores, while prepared chicken breasts are healthy but unnatural substitutes, she said. The zoo's lions, tigers, wolves, hyenas, ocelots and snow leopards have received deer in the past.
Exact numbers of deer populations are difficult to pinpoint, and are usually monitored by hunting and collision records from individual municipalities, said Regional Wildlife Manager Michael Wasilco of the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation.
Rochester roads were littered with deer carcasses earlier this summer, when young deer were migrating to new territory and getting hit in the process.
Some calls to the zoo come from local police after deer-car collisions, or from bow hunters who want to dispose of their trophies, said zookeeper Mary Ellen Sheets. Sometimes these hunters bring the deer in themselves, but in Irondequoit, the Police Department gets calls from hunters who would rather have the police drive the carcass to the zoo, said Irondequoit Patrol Commander Richard Ryan.
"We don't have a problem with our bow hunters donating deer to the zoo, but we won't be assisting in that with town vehicles," Ryan said.
Deer carcasses are broken up into pieces and either fed out immediately or stored in a freezer for up to 30 days for later feedings, said Sheets.
Sheets and three other zookeepers handle the zoo's six resident lions — two males and four females. Breaking the deer into several parts keeps the lions from eating too much at a time, she said.
"They know the smell right away," Sheets said. "They start moving around in their holding area and can't wait to get out of there."
Once the lions find the deer parts zookeepers placed around the outdoor enclosure, they follow a certain innate feeding process, Sheets said.
"It's just like in the wild," she said. "(The male lion) will pounce on it, and the females wait until he's had his fill before feeding on what's left."
While most carnivores enjoy a deer dinner, some aren't so sure, Sheets said. "The tigers didn't go for it," she said. "They dragged it into their den and just left it there."
During fall mating season, the zoo can get two to three deer per week, Sheets said. Because the zoo orders bulk shipments of regular food, it's difficult to calculate how much money the organization is saving by getting free deer, Tabone said, but each deer could last for a few meals.
Deer could come from anywhere in Rochester, but many of them come from the Lake Ontario State Parkway or near Durand-Eastman Park in Irondequoit, Tabone said.
Irondequoit reported 36 deer-related vehicle accidents in 2013, said Police Chief Richard Tantalo.
The prospect of using dead animals to feed other animals seems like a good use of available meat to some Rochester citizens, but prompts a horrified gag reflex in others.
Tahisha Brown of Rochester was in the latter group. "I think that is disgusting, it's nasty, it's immoral," she said. "I think that they should just bury them or put them somewhere or cremate them."
This is the way carnivores were meant to feed, so there's nothing gross about it, said William Redding of Rochester. "They're wild animals originally, and they eat other wild animals. So it's the circle of life," he said.
Naturally killed prey may be healthier for zoo carnivores than processed meat that could contain chemical additives, said People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals representative Brittany Peet in a statement, but zoos must be sure to thoroughly check roadkill for diseases before feeding.
"Although we find it more humane to feed them roadkill … there is sometimes the risk that illnesses may be transmitted this way," Peet said.
Roadkill feeding programs apparently are not new and not unique to Seneca Park Zoo.
A "Carcass Feeding Statement" published in 2014 by the Nutritional Advisory Group of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums states that "feeding vertebrate animal carcasses to captive carnivores has been a management tool used by zoos in the United States for many years," and that "the Association of Zoos and Aquariums ... recognizes that this practice is a viable tool in good management protocols for many carnivore exhibits."
The AZA only condones roadkill feeding if zoo officials establish that the carcasses came from a safe source.
While there is a maximum time limit of 10 hours from a deer's ill-timed dash, the process is usually over within a few hours, Tabone said. This feeding method doesn't put a huge dent in zoo expenses, but it's always nice to get a free meal once in a while, she said.
Zookeepers put signs on carnivore enclosures during deer feedings to inform zoo attendees of the deer's origin, and most people are fascinated rather than disgusted by the feeding process, Tabone said.
"People think it's great to be feeding out natural food in a natural way," she said. "Watching (the carnivores) feed is already interesting, but this takes it to a whole other level."
STADDEO@DemocratnandChronicle.com