Reply To: Ambassador Program Schedules?

[Shannon LaMonica]

Thank you for starting this, Anna! We’ve been wanting to gather this information as well although I’m at a zoo instead of a Nature Center. We are an Ambassador Animal area and are down to minimal staffing and a small group of animals while still recovering from the pandemic cuts. We have 4 full-time staff (maximum of 3 each day but often with only 2 staff daily) with 9 birds, 3 mammals, and several reptiles, and do all husbandry and programming. Last summer we just did two ~12 minute shows daily which included our porcupine, 3 free-flight birds, and several birds on the glove or a snake after the formal show ends. Our building isn’t near our stage so we have to drive there and have holding back stage for most of the animals. This is much less than we used to do pre-pandemic so our management is looking for info on staffing at other places as we collection plan to build back our programming and animals.

In the non-summer months, we do two 15-30 minute static displays/programs at either an outdoor indoor area depending on the season and weather.

Thanks in advance for sharing!

Shannon LaMonica
Ambassador Animal Staff
Oregon Zoo
shannon.lamonica@oregonzoo.org