{"id":81639,"date":"2017-06-08T11:16:48","date_gmt":"2017-06-08T15:16:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=81639"},"modified":"2017-06-06T19:42:28","modified_gmt":"2017-06-06T23:42:28","slug":"county-exec-declares-summer-of-siri-at-rosamond-gifford-zoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=81639","title":{"rendered":"County Exec declares \u2018Summer of Siri\u2019 at Rosamond Gifford Zoo"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney delivered a signed proclamation to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo declaring the summer of 2017 the \u201cSummer of Siri\u201d\u00a0in honor of Asian elephant Siri\u2019s 50th birthday this summer.<\/p>\n

The proclamation acknowledges Siri\u2019s role in the renovation and continuing improvements to\u00a0the zoo over the years and its ongoing involvement in Asian elephant conservation, and\u00a0encourages CNY residents to help the zoo celebrate her milestone birthday with visits and\u00a0support this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cSiri has been important to this community for so long that I think it\u2019s very fitting to celebrate\u00a0her 50th summer in a big way,\u201d Mahoney said. \u201cI hope everyone will come to the zoo this\u00a0summer to celebrate the Summer of Siri.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friends of the Zoo President Janet Agostini announced the launch of a zoo fund-raiser, Pennies\u00a0for Pachyderms, to benefit a cause close to Siri — Asian elephant conservation in the wild.<\/p>\n

Agostini said the zoo will be collecting pennies in an elephant \u201cpiggy bank\u201d in the lobby with the\u00a0goal of raising $2,000. If the zoo reaches that goal, Friends of the Zoo have agreed to match it,\u00a0Agostini said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe would love to be able to donate $4,000 to elephant conservation in Siri\u2019s\u00a0\u201cWe would love to be able to donate $4,000 to elephant conservation in Siri\u2019s\u00a0name for her 50th,\u201d Agostini said.<\/p>\n

Agostini made the first donation of pennies, depositing $100 from the Friends of the Zoo in Siri\u2019s bank.<\/p>\n

Zoo Director Ted Fox said the zoo will officially celebrate Siri\u2019s birthday on August 19 at its\u00a0annual Asian Elephant Extravaganza, with other elephant activities leading up to the event.\u00a0He said Siri\u2019s affinity for people and her many fans have resulted in great community support\u00a0for the zoo\u2019s Asian elephant program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Rosamond Gifford Zoo is one of only 233 zoos in the nation accredited by the Association\u00a0of Zoos and Aquariums and we are an important participant in the AZA\u2019s Species Survival Plan for Asian elephants,\u201d Fox said.\u00a0\u201cSiri has been a presence at the zoo for 45 years and the face of our Asian elephant program for\u00a0two generations. It\u2019s not overstating to say that we owe our success to her.\u201d<\/p>\n

The zoo now maintains a five-acre Asian Elephant Preserve with 50,000-gallon state-of-the-art\u00a0pool that mimics a natural watering hole environment for its herd of seven elephants, including\u00a0a three-generation family group.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Onondaga County Executive Joanie Mahoney delivered a signed proclamation to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo declaring the summer of 2017 the \u201cSummer of Siri\u201d\u00a0in honor of Asian elephant Siri\u2019s 50th birthday this summer. The proclamation acknowledges Siri\u2019s role in the renovation and continuing improvements to\u00a0the zoo over the years and its ongoing involvement in Asian elephant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":81640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81639","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-top-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81639"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81639\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/81640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81639"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81639"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}