Party with the animals during Riverbanks’ Brew at the Zoo fundraiser
Love beer? Love animals? Put the two together on Friday, Aug. 3, at Riverbanks Zoo’s Brew at the Zoo, an annual adults-only party that sells out every year well in advance.
Here’s the game plan: Once you’ve chosen your beer from the 200 or so available for tasting, you can hit the paths that wind through the zoo, which will stay open for the event.
But don’t stray too far — enrichment experiences with elephants, grizzly bears, lions, meerkats and sea lions will take place throughout the evening. You can also listen to live music from Whiskey Tango Review and Todd Mathis & His Only Friends Left.
Getting to taste a couple of new beers is just one reason to attend Brew at the Zoo. The other is that you’ll be supporting ongoing conservation and education efforts at the zoo.
Not sure exactly what that means?
For one, it means you’ll be providing an assist to the 22,000 magnificent and fascinating animals who call Riverbanks Zoo home. And what a home it is.
Beyond providing food (which costs about $500,000 per year), medical care and shelter, zookeepers spend hours figuring out ways to for the animals to have fun. Parrots and monkeys, for instance, are encouraged to work for their dinners by using puzzle feeders that reward curiosity with food. Tigers and hornbills get to practice their tactical skills on prey constructed from papier-mâché.
The zoo helps animals in the wild, too. As part of a partnership with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources, struggling sea turtle hatchlings are cared for at the zoo during their early years when the animals are most vulnerable to predators.
Since 1989, Riverbanks has raised and released more than 100 loggerheads. A recent success story is Scute, a 3-year-old green sea turtle who was released last September. He had been under the Zoo’s care since he was just a day old. Riverbanks’ aquarists are now caring for a new green sea turtle that arrived at the Zoo from a nest in Myrtle Beach in early October.
The on-site BB&T Clinic for Raptors and Endangered Species has provisions for managing critically ill raptors, or birds of prey, including hospitalization, radiography, surgery, laboratory support, a pharmacy and outside holding areas. The 150 owls, eagles, hawks and other raptors that the clinic sees each year are treated on a case-by-case basis and are often presented as a result of gunshot wounds or vehicular collisions.
Once stable and eating well, patients take the next step towards eventual release through discharge to the care of a licensed raptor rehabilitator. The birds are then evaluated for their ability to survive in the wild and subsequently prepared for release.
The zoo gets geeky, as well, maintaining a full pedigree, or studbook, that traces the entire history of each animal, including where it was born, all the places it has lived and a full genetic and demographic analysis.
The data can be used to make breeding decisions so that genetic variation can be retained and close inbreeding avoided.
If you go
Brew at the Zoo
WHEN: 7-9:30 p.m. Friday, Aug. 3.
WHERE: Riverbanks Zoo, 500 Wildlife Parkway.
TICKETS: $50 ($40, members) at www.riverbanks.org. VIP Experience tickets are $90 for Riverbanks members and $100 for the general public. The VIP experience begins at 6 p.m. and includes exclusive beer tastings, complimentary food pairings, access to an indoor-outdoor VIP lounge and a special animal encounter.
WORTH NOTING: Checker Yellow Cab will be standing by for all participants from 7-10 p.m., and Riverbanks will pay the first $15 of fare destined for private residences or hotels within Richland and Lexington counties.
INFO: www.riverbanks.org.