On Saturday, July 8, 2023, Lending Hearts took our families to the Erie Zoo in Erie, PA. Beautiful weather led to a perfect day! Capacity for the rhino house is limited to an hour total with groups of 15 each, so we split our group into half.
What a unique experience! Billy and Bumper are two male, white rhinos. They are also half brothers. Our group got to learn about their way of life in the zoo and those in the wild. Rhinos are not preyed upon by any animal but only hunted by humans for their tusks. Although their tusks are made of keratin (like our hair and nails), many cultures believe their tusks can be used to cure diseases. A single tusk can yield $70,000.
Everyone got to pet the rhinos...more like scratch because their skin is 3 inches thick!
In addition to the rhinos, our zoo docent, Lynnette, shared a tremendous amount of information about the many other animals at the zoo.
This event was wonderfully received, and we look forward to doing it again for the many families who were unable to join us.
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