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Busch Gardens’ Scottish blackface sheep are helping maintain the park’s landscape through grazing. (Photo courtesy Busch Gardens Williamsburg)
Some of Busch Gardens Williamsburg’s animals may inspire other SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment theme parks to put their sheep on landscaping duty.
Busch Gardens is focusing the grazing efforts of its 17 Scottish Blackface sheep on targeted areas to help beautify the park and cut down on human labor.
The pilot program at Busch Gardens is the first of its kind among the theme parks of Seaworld Parks and Entertainment, which has one of the world’s largest animal collections across its 11 parks.
Using sheep to maintain the landscape has eliminated the need for about 100 gallons of fuel per year, 288 labor hours per year and has reduced the need for powered lawn equipment. The sheep, which eat 2.5 to 3 pounds of grass each per day, also produce manure for landscaping.
The sheep were trained earlier this summer and now, a chicken and turkey crew is being assembled as a cleanup crew. The crew will comprise two turkeys and four chickens that will follow the grazing sheep, spreading manure while eating ticks and parasites.
“The chickens and turkeys are still young, so they’re in the barn getting used to the sheep, hearing the music in the park and undergoing training sessions,” said Stephanie Peters, an animal care specialist at the park, in a release. “They’re being trained to recall to the trainer with a cowbell and also to enter an animal carrier when called. Eventually we will deploy them under the roller coaster and let them do their thing.”
The sheep currently spend about five hours a day grazing along the banks of the Rhine River and below Verbolten, which was examined before setting loose the sheep.
“Before launching the program, we extensively studied the toxicology of the plants in the park,” said Jay Tacey, zoological operations manager, in a news release. “We scoured the area and removed any plants that might not be good for sheep,” said Tacey. “We haven’t had to remove much. The sheep graze on what they’re supposed to.”
Getting the sheep used to the roller coaster took two days of training.
“We took them out for an hour or two in the morning before the park opened when Verbolten was not running. After several positive tests, we brought the sheep out while the coaster was operating. When one of the coasters came around, we would give the sheep food and other forms of positive reinforcement as the coaster train passed over them,” said Peters in the release. “If the sheep ignored the ride or moved close to a trainer instead of running away, we positively reinforced this behavior.”
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on September 1, 2013. Filed under Latest News.
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