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Show features@statesman.usu.edu 797-1769 BYTONNIEDIXON staff wr/ter O W L S A N D S N A K E S A R E J U S T A FEW^TJpjdgjtf^lslSp&Bi^cewell. education coordinator, works '..^ day at Willow Park Zoo. Employees have to love theanSmSstn^StKe^reed and take care of. The zoo is current!/ ing on getting new elk and capuchin monkey exhibits. P^^^QDEf4 photos y ..,. a, s ,7 K k ' TV* When you care for about 400 animals a day, you can't help but have a passion for them. Superintendent of the Willow Park Zoo, Rod Wilhelm, said the animals are the reason he enjoys his job. "You love the animals and you love the staff," Wilhelm said. "We have many great people to work with. Diversity plays a major role, but that comes with the animals and the staff." Wilhelm has worked 28 years for the zoo. He said he started nine years after it opened in 1970, and he is currently responsible for collection and the overall operation of the Zoo. Most of Wilhelm's daily duties consist of animal care, construction, administration and maintenance of the park, he said. "I put water out in the morning, do some feeding, do some administrative stuff, do some more feeding, then we usually have a brief meeting to oversee the day and coordinate what is going on and assignments for the different tasks," Wilhelm said. "That is one of the good things about the job here - it never is the same." Karl Kallmeyer is the full-time zookeeper who deals with everything from feeding, finances and errands. He said he is responsible for depositing the money daily from the donation box, picking up day-old produce from Albertsons to feed animals, cleaning walkways and checking on animals. "Sometimes we have the afternoon 10 ourselves to work on our own projects," Kallmeyer said. A lot of work and construction is being put into the new elk exhibit that should be completed this winter, he said. Wilhelm said the zoo is also getting ready for another new exhibit this winter featuring capuchin monkeys. He also said he hopes to implant a black bear exhibit within the next few years. "The animal count varies a lot when it's the beginning of the breeding time; there is a lot more. We breed a lot of the birds," Wilhelm said. Some of the most exotic animals that can be seen at the zoo, he said, are the red-ruffed lemur, Bennet's Wallaby's and the water fowl. Fall is the time to accomplish many tasks before the weather starts to cool down. Winterizing the equipment and animals is to be done before snow comes. And although Wilhelm said the staff is not there yet, they will soon be thinking about it. For example, the tortoises have already been taken inside due to the weather changes. "We try to choose most of our animals based on their ability to survive in our climate. However, not all can," Wilhelm said. Taking care of animals isn't the only daily priority, he said. The staff spends a lot of time picking up limbs and leaves from the willow trees. "There's not a time of the year that willows don't lose something. Any time the wind blows, you just cringe and wonder what the next morning looks like," Wilhelm said. But he said the worst part of his day is not picking up after trees, but picking up after people. Wilhelm said he also gets discouraged when guests feed animals that should not be fed. Kallmeyer said dealing with people who hurt the animals [J See ZOO, page 6 "Return With Honor" gets lost on its way "Return with Honor" is a film with good intentions but completely derails just 10 minutes into the movie. This movie had quite a bit of potential. There are plenty of low budget movies that do just fine. This isn't one of them. The creators tried to make an inspirational feel-good movie, but ended up making a film that is so condescending and preachy that people should be offended when they leave the theater. The main character Rowe, played by Javen Tanner, is a Mormon missionary who has just returned from his two years of service. Rowe wears a perpetual frown on his face throughout the movie. For someone who claims that he's happy, he sure doesn't show it. On his way home from the airport, his cab is involved in a crash and he has a near-death experience. Now he has a new mission, to baptize his mom at all costs because he only has a certain amount of time left on earth. In the process of trying to Aaron Peck staff writer Reel Reviews Grade F "Return With Honor" force his mom into the waters of baptism, Rowe alienates his best friend, his fiancee, and sadly the audience in the theater. As Rowe crosses off the days he has left on a calendar, we as the audience can feel the time passing just as slowly. The pace to "Return with Honor" is sluggish and tedious. The characters are stereotypical and flat. Rowe and his girlfriend Ally, played by Joey Jalalian, have no chemistry whatsoever. Their time together on screen seems forced and almost as if the actors are looking off screen at their cue cards. Whenever there is a conversation between two characters that has a potential to go somewhere, to show us if any of these characters really feel, it's cut short and moved on to the next scene. The movie even falls into the deep, dark pit of tired old Mormon/missionary jokes. There are parts that are borderline touching, only to be interrupted with cringe inducing intentional humor. But, the unintentional humor is even worse. With lines like, "All the atoms in my body were moving like the speed of love," "Return with Honor" gamers accidental chuckles from the audience. Plain and simple, "Return with Honor" never lets its characters grow or its story to progress at a reasonable pace. When the end comes, you may find yourself wishing that Rowe had actually died in the car crash so you wouldn't have had to watch him wallow in self-loathing for the next two hours. -Aaron. Peck@aggiemaii usu. edu |
