Pals for Po-Key? New fence approved but no guarantee for another Lords Park bison

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Po-Key is the last remaining Lords Park Zoo bison in Elgin. Zoo proponents are hoping to find some companions for the 20-year-old American bison. | Michael Smart~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: March 9, 2012 8:06AM

ELGIN — Creating a unique partnership with a citizens group, the Elgin City Council recently agreed to pitch in more than $52,000 for the construction of a new fence and modifications to the bison pen at Lords Park.

The Friends of Lords Park Zoo will contribute $17,000 it raised for that cause, while volunteers will work on the project, with their labor valued at $8,000.

But whether the solitary bison living in that pen gets new companions — and from where — is not a matter set in concrete.

Lords Park Zoo advocate Laurie Faith Gibson-Aiello said the group has been talking with Brookfield Zoo staff, exploring the possibilities that Brookfield would donate a companion animal for Po-Key, a 20-year-old female who at one time lived in the Lords Park Pen with two other bison. Friends supporters toured Brookfield last summer to see the six bison there in a 1-acre spot that is part of Great Bear Wilderness, a 7.5-acre exhibit devoted to North American animals that opened in 2010.

Brookfield’s curator of mammals, Amy Roberts, said in an interview that while giving a bison to Lords Park is a possibility, no decision has been made regarding such a donation. Although far from a done deal, “We want to cooperate with (the Friends and the city),” Roberts said.

She said Brookfield Zoo has not made any recent bison transfers, in part because of the numbers of them in small zoos, ranches and on Native American lands. She also noted that Brookfield Zoo typically does animal exchanges, transfers and donations with facilities sanctioned by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, thus allowing some assurances that the animals will be properly looked after and provided for in a stable and sustainable matter.

With a set-up like Lords Park, Roberts said the process would involve looking at the zoo’s record keeping, reference checks, and visiting the Elgin pen before Brookfield would feel comfortable about any arrangement.

Bison care

Rock Valley Fence of Loves Park was awarded the contract for the new fencing. Work is to begin this spring and take about a month to complete. If a bison is donated, that timetable could impact when the animal arrives. Roberts said the zoo does not move animals during the heat of summer.

Gibson-Aiello said there would be a 30-day quarantine for the transfer before adding the animal to the Lords Park pen.

As for its food, Roberts said, a bison typically eats about a third of a bale of hay, alfalfa pellets, and a couple quarts of grain per day, so upkeep is relatively inexpensive.

“Your biggest expense is going to be salary for the keepers,” she said.

City management analyst Aaron Cosentino said Elgin spent about $41,500 in 2010 on zoo maintenance personnel. In 2011, the expenditure was about $38,000.

That paid for personnel to visit all the animals daily, feed them, mix their food with antibiotics, generally inspect their health, maintain their living area and assist veterinarians, he said.

In addition to that, the city has budgeted $6,000 for food and $3,500 for medical care this year for the bison,

With food provided, a small group of bison doesn’t require a massive amount of acreage to live. Roberts said the animals do need training activities, including training with handlers similar to the more simple tricks one would teach dogs; scattering food about the pen to keep the animals active; and toys similar to those given horses to keep them occupied.

As a herd animal, “No bison likes to be alone,” Roberts said.

As such, she suggested any herd in captivity have at least three members — either three females or one male and two females. Going with three males would require having more room for the animals, she said.

From Fermilab?

Two other possibilities are getting bison from either Fermilab in Batavia or the Westchester-based Native American group Midwest SOARRING (Save Our Ancestors Remains & Resources Indigenous Network Group) Foundation, which oversees a small herd in rural Illinois.

Fermilab groundskeeper Cleo Garcia noted that bison can be ornery. Fermilab currently has 16 bison that roam and graze on about 70 acres around the facility.

“They’re wild animals, and you have to watch out. You can’t trust them like with cows,” Garcia said.

Midwest SOARRING President Joseph Standing Bear Schranz said his group would be willing to give one or two bison. Since part of the Elgin bison bloodline is in that herd, Standing Bear said care would be taken to make sure any animal related Po-Key not be sent to Lords Park.

Fermilab normally sells off some of the bison yearlings each fall through a closed bidding system in order to keep the herd at its current size. Recently, the animals have been selling for about $1,800 each and frequently are bought by ranchers.

Last summer, Cahoya, a 26-year-old female bison at Lords Park, passed away. Dakota, a 19-year-old male, died in late 2009. Currently, in addition to the lone lady bison, there are three elk and four deer in pens at the park.

In early 2009, the city decided to close the farm in the zoo at Lords Park as one of its many cost-cutting measures. For a time, there also was talk of removing all those hooved animals at the zoo.

The city’s moves led to a grass-roots effort to keep the zoo open. Since then, the Friends of Lords Park Zoo has been holding benefits and doing other work to keep the hope of a petting zoo and improvements to the facility alive. Fundraising has included the recent effort from the Spacetaste gallery downtown that brought in $900 for the cause.

Past the pen construction, Gibson-Aiello said, “We haven’t sat down formally with Elgin Public Museum (which is in the park and near the bison pen), but the future fundraising will most likely channel money through the museum.”

She said that would include funds for programming, bringing back the farm animals, simple improvements and alignment with the city’s sustainability master plan, tying it in with the Friends’ gardens and orchards at the zoo.

She added the group’s board would have to approve any of those ideas.

“It hasn’t been brought up formally, just side discussions in the city on best next steps to align with the Lords Park Task Force recommendations,” she said.