By Bernie McAleer, Staff Reporter
In the days since 33 rare birds escaped from the Bronx Zoo after the aviary collapsed, zoo officials are hoping to recapture them and raise money to build them a secure, new home.
The mishap occurred on Saturday when the metal poles, cables and heavy-gauge netting "popped like a zipper" under a foot of soggy snow, said Christine Sheppard, curator of ornithology at the zoo.
Twelve Inca terns, 12 Andean gulls, eight gray gulls and one band-tail gull escaped after the collapse, according to reports.
The full extent of the damage has not been determined, but zoo officials say they will need $750,000 for reconstruction -- almost double what they expect insurance to cover.
Still, they are certain the 94-year-old aviary will be rebuilt. "It sends a good message, with birds flying overhead," Sheppard said.
What's not certain is whether the zoo can recover the birds. So far, zoo personnel have logged thousands of calls from as far away as New Hampshire. One child faxed in a sighting in Central Park, which pictured a duck.
The keepers have set out food to attract any birds that make it back. In the tern shelter, one of the windows has been left open a crack in the hope that bird calls from the remaining terns would attract the errant birds.
But no one at the zoo is counting on it.
The birds are rare and cannot be easily replaced. Breeding at the zoo is especially difficult now, because 16 of the escaped birds were breeders.
"You erase several years of breeding," said Kurt Hudgeon, senior keeper at the Ostrich House, who noted that smaller zoos use the Bronx Zoo as a breeding source. "That's the hardest thing. In the bigger picture, it puts you years behind."
"I'd like to have my birds back," said Sheppard.
If you would like to contribute to the aviary rebuilding, please call (1-800) 216-1545.