Baby Animals Bring People to the Zoo; Elephant Dung Is New Heating Source

PITTSBURGH (NewsRadio 1020 KDKA) -- People love babies, and they really love animal babies.

Right now, the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium is having a baby boom, and it's bringing in a record number of people. Folks are flocking to see the baby otter, baby elephants, baby gorilla and lots more cute and cuddly animals.

KDKA AM's Larry Richert and John Shumway talk to Henry Kacprzyk, the animal curator at the zoo, who says the zoo is breaking attendance records with its baby animals and new exhibits.

He offered an update on how the rescued sea otter pup is doing.

"That pup is doing amazingly well, and it's on exhibit even though it's in quarantine," said Kacprzyk. "We created a special nursery for this animal in Water's Edge. So, when you go through the polar bear tunnel, you'll come out and you'll see this pup being hand-raised in a sense that it has to be bottle fed every four hours and it's going through swimming lessons."

Kacprzyk also talks about a new way the zoo's Somerset County breeding facility is heating their buildings. Thanks to a trio of female elephants and one very busy bull elephant, the zoo is using a plethora of elephant dung to convert the waste into energy in their special bio-fuel boiler.

"Elephants eat a lot, and then they crap a lot," says Kacprzyk. "You have to do something with all that manure."

Click the link below to listen to the full interview: