FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) – They were both involved in vehicle collisions and weren’t able to be released back into the wild. But, two birds in Fort Wayne Zoo not only found a new home at the zoo, they’re speading the message of conservation in our own backyards.
Turkey vulture Vincent and Red-tailed hawk Matilda are roommates in the Central Zoo area.
“These two work really well together because they occupy different spaces in this habitat. Matilda is fully flighted, whereas Vincent, he can get up onto perches and things like that, but he’s not necessarily really ready to fly, but Matilda does choose to spend time with him too. We’ve been seeing them closer and closer to each other. They like to eat their rats together,” Animal Care Specialist Emma Boczulak, said.
Vincent’s been at the zoo since 2004 and Matilda since 2019.
“I feel super passionately about these two, because people tend to walk by them and say, ‘Oh, I’ve seen those before, I don’t need to look at them, they’re not exotic.’ But that’s exactly why it’s important to take a pause, think about why they’re here, and think about the birds you have in your own backyard, because they are in danger. So, even though we don’t think about them as maybe being super extinct or super endangered, there are still challenges facing all of the native animals on our habitat, and these two, we have them directly because of humans in vehicle collisions. I think they just serve as really good reminder to be mindful of the wildlife around you and think about how we have ecological value here in our own backyard in Fort Wayne,” Boczulak said…