National Geographic Channel Day at The Bronx Zoo

On Saturday, January 10, 2004, one of the coldest days of the year, Empire Entertainment again teamed up with National Geographic Channel and the Wildlife Conservation Society to present enrichment toys made from the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree to enrich the lives of zoo animals in a national press event for National Geographic Channel.This year the event was held at the Bronx Zoo, and despite the bitter cold, the press and public came out to watch as Dr. Mike Heithaus, host of National Geographic Channel's new show Crittercam, and Dr. Pat Thomas, curator of mammals at the Bronx Zoo, explained how the toys were prepared for the Siberian Tigers. Zoo-keepers baited a four inch disk cut from the trunk of the Christmas Tree with meat, deer hide and a spritz of Obsession (a scent tigers cannot resist). To the delight of the crowd, the Zoo's two female Siberian Tigers were drawn to their enrichment toy right away, and began stripping it of all the goodies the keepers had provided to the delight of the gathered audience.

Presentations continued throughout the day. The Bronx Zoo's Grizzly bears got the top twenty feet of the tree baited with bright red apples and drizzled with honey and molasses. The Asian Small Clawed Otters came out of the hollow logs where they were napping to play in the water with tree limbs filled with treats. One of the Zoo's newer residents, Biscuit, a Snow Leopard born in June of 2003, was a little leery of his enrichment toy, a disk just like the tigers'. But Dr. Mike and Dr. Thomas got the crowd to wait quietly while they whispered facts and anecdotes about Snow Leopards in the wild, and after a few minutes, Biscuit and his mother did come out to take a look.The Zoo's Polar Bears were presented with the final enrichment toy, a disk and branches baited with fish and meat, which they dug right into. Then the press and public were invited to the Zoo's cafeteria for cookies, hot cocoa and coffee, all compliments of National Geographic Channel.Empire worked with The National Geographic Channel, their PR firm, the Wildlife Conservation Societyt (operators of the Bronx and Central Park Zoos in New York City) and a variety of vendors and partners to deliver a smooth event. Empire provided event design and overall logistical management, supervised the mill process to get the world's most famous tree cut into toys that were safe for the animals, delivered staging, sound, lighting, video projection and placement of signage and branding as well as providing all staff to manage the day long event and the distribution of National Geographic Channel gift bags.

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