Kenai: The Trash Detective
Posted at 10:59 am October 31, 2005 by Maureen O. Duryee
Kenai is an arctic wolf. He is two years old and lives at the Hunte Amphitheater at the San Diego Zoo as one of our animal ambassadors.
One of our training goals for Kenai is to be comfortable with the public in as many settings as possible. These include walking through the Zoo when it is open so our visitors can experience an up-close-and-personal encounter with a wild, exotic animal. He also makes appearances in the animal shows, walks through special events or parties at the Zoo, and does live TV interviews.
Kenai enjoys all of his activities but favors the walks through the Zoo the most. One reason might be because he loves to look deep inside the bushes for trash. He covets every piece that he finds, sniffing, biting, sometimes scent marking, but usually just exposing the debris to us so that we can put the trash where it belongs, in the trash can. Among some of the treasures that he has found include a roll of duct tape, a baseball hat, sunglasses, plastic soda or water bottles, plastic cups, and even plastic bags. This natural curiosity of Kenai's comes from the wolf's style of foraging for food. They are opportunistic when searching for their meals and are willing to experiment with items they encounter. As trainers, we never cease to be amazed at what he has exposed for us to clean up. We appreciate his environmental approach and should consider putting him on the payroll!
Maureen O. Duryee is an animal trainer at the San Diego Zoo's Hunte Amphitheater.
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October 31st, 2005 at 11:13 am
Maureen…How does Kenai, being an arctic wolf, handle hot and sunny CA? Maybe we can see a picture of him? I've seen them on nature shows but they were adults. Let me know if he does get on the payroll…I'll make him a shirt. Thanks!!
October 31st, 2005 at 5:25 pm
I am a lucky San Diegan who has seen Kenai several times at the Hunte Amphitheatre. He is gorgeous. His howl is amazing, too! It's also fun to see him with his golden retriever buddy (can't recall the name) who must have been a calming influence for Kenai especially when he was initially settling into his new environment some months back. Thanks for the report on Kenai. Too bad he's not on the payroll, but at least he gets free food & lodging–a pretty nice perk here in San Diego!
November 1st, 2005 at 8:35 am
Thank You!!!! so much for the picture. He is beautiful!! especially in that pose…with a piece of someone's garbage in his mouth. I guess he's just doing his job…and it looks like he enjoys it. Again, thanks, and keep up the good work and keep these blogs coming. Just curious…what does the name Kenai translate to?
November 1st, 2005 at 8:38 am
What a beautiful, beautiful animal. Thanks for sharing, Maureen!
Jeannie
November 1st, 2005 at 10:23 am
Beautiful animal. And what a sweetie to help pick up trash! Can I borrow him?
November 1st, 2005 at 2:20 pm
Oh my gosh… he is so beautiful. I'm going to have to make sure I visit the amphitheater next time I go to the zoo and visit him. What an adorable expression on his face - like he found a lost treasure or something. Priceless!!
November 1st, 2005 at 7:33 pm
Oh he's gorgeous! What a sweetie too!
You guys must love him to pieces… I never knew he had a golden retriever buddy. I can only imagine how adorable their interactions are. Thanks for introducing us to Kenai!!
November 1st, 2005 at 9:12 pm
Wonderful!–Beautiful!–Amazing!–Breathtaking!–Enchanting!!
November 11th, 2005 at 7:41 pm
What an adorable expression. You get the best pictures!
November 13th, 2005 at 11:03 pm
On my walk through the zoo on Friday I witnessed Kenai stop by the fence by the adjacent school yard, only to scoop up a tennis ball next to the fence. What a cool animal. So elegent yet playful.