Terraces resident honored by John Ball Zoo

Herb Schaefer, 92, a resident of The Terraces at MapleCreek, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the John Ball Zoo January 26 as thanks for his 24 years as a volunteer there. Accompanied by his wife, Ruth, Herb received the award after some of his volunteer friends visited The Terraces with animals to show the residents.

Herb started helping at the zoo in 1982, soon after his retirement, and continued until 2006. He was in charge of bringing a great horned owl to various locations and talking about it. Once the owl got loose and disappeared at a mall as he was putting it back in its cage. Herb worried what he was going to tell the zoo when the owl flew back and landed on his hand. “I was so amazed – and relieved," Herb said. "A little boy saw the whole thing, and he came up and said, ‘Wow, that was really cool! When is your next show?’”

At their recent visit the volunteers brought an African gray parrot, a ferret and a bearded dragon lizard. The volunteers say they particularly like to bring the animals to locations where people associated with the zoo are living. They hope to return to MapleCreek in February to do a program at The Lodge, where a former zoo office worker lives.