Rescued groundhog Maple is becoming an ambassador for Fresno Chaffee Zoo

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – Maple the groundhog, a new addition at Fresno Chaffee Zoo following a raid on her former home in Oregon, is now joining the zoo’s ambassador program, helping teach the community about animals, their habitats and conservation efforts to protect them.

“We take them sometimes off-site to schools, or events,” said Animal Outreach and Wellbeing Curator Ronnie Kerestus. “But we mainly do a lot of on-site encounters.”

Other members of the zoo’s ambassador program have included Empanada the porcupine, Wallace the tortoise and PJ the armadillo. The newest member, Maple, was acquired following a four-day operation at a roadside zoo in Oregon.

During that operation, Oregon State Police say over 300 animals were rescued and relocated to accredited or permitted animal sanctuaries. One of those sanctuaries just happened to be the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) accredited Fresno Chaffee Zoo.

“That’s why we have the Fresno Chaffee Zoo,” Kerestus said. “We want to connect the people to the conservation.”

Since Maple arrived at the zoo, Kerestus says she has shown a great aptitude for being an ambassador.

“She spent some time in our hospital going through a quarantine period, which we do with all animals, to make sure that they’re safe and healthy,” Kerestus said. “Then she came over to us at the ambassador program. We tested out how she was doing in that ambassador setting, and she did surprisingly well.”

Kerestus says Maple is already voluntarily participating in her target training, making her a potential star in the making for the zoo’s ambassador program.

“We thought we were going to have to build her up a little bit more,” Kerestus said. “But she’s made a quick turnaround and really connected with her specialist.”

Staff say not all animals are suited to be ambassadors, and no animals will ever be forced to be a part of the program. In fact, Kerestus says PJ the armadillo has been forced into retirement.

“We’re still going to let her live her full extent of her entire life, which is much longer here at the Fresno Chaffee Zoo than it would be in the wild,” Kerestus said. “She was starting to tell us, no – at that point, we started to retire her.”

PJ now just hangs out in the animal ambassador complex, though staff say she’s still comfortable enough to see people who do behind-the-scenes tours. Kerestus says the most important part of the ambassador program, besides teaching people about and encouraging animal conservation, is that the animals have a choice.

“We present their crate, and if they go into it, they know they’re likely going to go somewhere else; if they don’t go in that crate, we don’t take them anywhere.”

While some animals choose to step away from the ambassador program for good, staff say Maple seems ready for the spotlight.

“You should be able to see her quite soon as she’s progressing very, very well,” said Kerestus.