Baby alpaca arrives just in time for this wild and wooly event

Annual Sheep Shearing event: Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6

View the baby alpaca footage at: http://youtu.be/6jDWMZo9quklk


Flushing, N.Y., May 2, 2012 – The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo is hosting its annual Sheep Shearing event on Saturday and Sunday, May 5 and 6 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The weekend will feature live wool-processing demos, arts-and-crafts, and the zoo’s flock of sheep.

The highlight of the event will be seeing the sheep-shearing process in action. Visitors can watch as the sheep are helped out of their winter coats by expert shearer Peter Sepe. Everyone will learn wool-processing techniques like spinning, cleaning, and dyeing.

This year’s event will include a surprise: A baby alpaca born recently at the zoo will be on exhibit. The male alpaca lives on the zoo’s farm and has been delighting visitors since his birth a few weeks ago.

Sheep Shearing at WCS’s Queens Zoo is included with the price of admission.

Activities at this year’s Sheep Shearing include:
  • You Can do What with Wool?
    An expert wool processor will enlighten visitors by showing various spinning and dyeing techniques.

  • Fantastic Farm Facts
    Education stations will highlight facts about the zoo’s many domestic animals, including pigs, goats, llamas and sheep.

  • Crafts for Kids
    Children can make their own sheep-themed crafts.

The Queens Zoo isn’t the only WCS facility with babies this spring and everyone is invited to vote online for their favorite new arrival. Among the new additions are a baringo giraffe calf at the Bronx Zoo, a babydoll lamb at the Central Park Zoo, a golden lion tamarin at the Prospect Park Zoo, and pot-bellied seahorse fry at the New York Aquarium. New choices will be added to the poll throughout the spring and a finalist will be chosen in June when the winners of each round go head-to-head in a best-of-four competition. Visit www.queenszoo.com to participate.

Contact:
Barbara Russo – 718-265-3428; 917-494-5493; brusso@wcs.org
Max Pulsinelli – 718-220-5182; mpulsinelli@wcs.org

The Wildlife Conservation Society’s Queens Zoo – Open every day of the year. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors 65 and older, $5 for kids 3-12, free for children under 3. Zoo hours are 10am to 5pm weekdays, and 10am – 5:30pm weekends, April through October, and 10am – 4:30pm daily, November through April. The Queens Zoo is located at 53-51 111th Street in Flushing Meadow’s Corona Park in Queens. For further information, call 718-271-1500 or visit www.queenszoo.com.

The Wildlife Conservation Society saves wildlife and wild places worldwide. We do so through science, global conservation, education and the management of the world's largest system of urban wildlife parks, led by the flagship Bronx Zoo. Together these activities change attitudes towards nature and help people imagine wildlife and humans living in harmony. WCS is committed to this mission because it is essential to the integrity of life on Earth.