Once upon a flight, a zoo hero named Robin faced a serious dilemma when the egg incubator she was using to transport flamingo eggs from the Atlanta Zoo to the Woodland Park Zoo malfunctioned on an Alaska Airlines flight. With assistance from flight attendants and passengers, the eggs were kept warm using improvised methods.
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TRANSCRIPTION:
Erica:
SPIRIT 105.3. Hi, I’m Erica.
Robin:
Hey, Erica. This is Robin. I’m with the Zoo.
Erica:
Hey, Robin. Welcome. Thank you so much for your call today. I have been so excited about talking with you.
Robin:
That’s so funny. I’m like, oh, it makes me nervous.
Erica:
Oh, you already sound amazing. I so appreciate you.
Robin:
Oh, thank you so much.
Erica:
And you’re not live,
Robin:
I’m glad to call
Erica:
so don’t worry.
Robin:
Yeah, that’s what somebody said. I’m like, okay, good.
Erica:
You’re a sweetheart.
Robin:
Thanks.
Erica:
So I have to ask you, what happened on that Alaska Airlines flight? Take us back, Robin, to that momentous day.
Robin:
Well, I was transporting six flamingo eggs that were about halfway through incubation from the Atlanta Zoo to the Seattle Zoo or Woodland Park Zoo. And I was walking to the gate and looked down at the incubator, which looks like a briefcase basically, and it had a digital readout on top, and it was blank. I was like, uh oh, it has stopped working. So I got to the gate and opened it really fast to check on the connections to the battery. Put those and shut the top, and it started working, but the temperature started ticking down instead of going up, like it’s supposed to. So I just then went into, okay, what can we do? So, I did talk to my manager and they started calling the boarding for the plane. Well, the only thing I can think of is either blankets and hot water, because just like a hot water bottle, just to keep the temperature.
So when I got on the plane, I just asked the flight attendant, I said, do you have any blankets? She said, Nope, no blankets on the plane. Which somebody reminded me probably because of Covid, they were taken off and not put back on. So, I said, okay, do you have baggies or anything that could contain hot water? I have eggs that need to stay warm. And she was like, What? So I was like, they’re flowing. Go eggs. I’m transport. Explain. I’m transporting from zoo to zoo, and my incubator has stopped working. I just need to keep them warm during the flight. So she’s like, I will think of something. And so she went back and she came back with gloves that were full of hot water and tied so that the water wouldn’t leak. So I put three or four of those around the incubator, and then the man sitting two seats over said, I have a sweatshirt. I said, that would be great. I was going to Atlanta. It was 95 degrees. I didn’t have a coat. So he was nice enough to lend me a sweatshirt. So I put the gloves with hot water on top of the case because it was very hot water, too hot to be actually in with the eggs, but I just needed to keep it warm. So put hot water in gloves, wrapped it in the sweatshirt, and literally prayed because there wasn’t anything else I could do. So the flight was early and I got to the zoo and my, well, sorry. I got to that airport here. My manager picked me up. We went right to the zoo and put them in incubators.
Erica:
I mean, Robin, first of all, how cool is it to travel on a plane with flamingo eggs? You must be a very trustworthy person.
Robin:
Well, it’s the first time I’ve done it, so it was literally one of the most stressful things I’ve ever done, because we don’t do it a lot. But our birds are aging and they had stopped breeding. We haven’t had flamingos chicks, I think since 2016. So we’re trying to get some new genes into our flock, some younger birds in our flock. And so, like I said, not something we do super often, but I wanted to try it. cause I’d never done it before. So Wow. Really stressful, but it was successful.
Erica:
And what was it like seeing the people around you want to help? Because let’s face it, we live in a really kind of mean world right now. What was it like to see people coming together to help the flamingo eggs and to help you on that plane?
Robin:
It was very nice. The man two seats over. I mean, obviously he couldn’t help but listen to what I’m asking for hot water, and why I’m asking for hot water. And I did notice other people start looking at us. I was like, but no, the flight attendant was super helpful. And midway through the flight, I pushed the light button to call them again, and another flight attendant actually came, and I’m having to explain all over again. And basically midway through, Amber came through and said, she’s like, I’ve got it. I know what to do. I’ll get it. So, she was very, very helpful and willing to figure out whatever I needed to help. And yeah, the man who offered his sweatshirt, that was great.
Erica:
It’s beautiful. So, the eggs made it to Woodland Park Zoo, safe and sound, and they hatched. Tell us how these flamingos are doing now.
Robin:
They’re doing great. We candle them, which means we put them up to a super strong light to see. So the day after I got back, and every single one of them was moving, you can see them moving inside the egg, the embryo. And so two of them hatched about within the week, and then the other four kind of staggered a little bit. I think our last one hatched about September 12th because we got back on August 25. So, it was great to see super relief that everybody was alive and moving in the eggs. Everybody hatched out really well, and they’re just great. They are pretty close to the size of an adult now. They are still gray. Their feathers are still grayish. They’re getting some pink. So, they’re doing really, really well.
Erica:
And one of them is named Sunny after who
Robin:
That is, the flight attendant. It’s her granddaughter. So, she brought her granddaughter and her, I think it was her daughter and son-in-law, don’t quote me on that. She brought her family with her granddaughter, and so they got to meet Sunny. And so she asked us, because right now they have permanent, sorry, temporary bands to identify each one. So they will get permanent bands that will identify each bird. And so, when Sunny gets a permanent band, we know what band he has. Then we’re going to let her know so that whenever she comes to the zoo to visit, she’ll be able to look in the flock and actually pick him out from the flock.
Erica:
This is so wonderful, Robin. I feel like the Pixar movie people are going to be calling you. They need to make a movie about these flamingos.
Robin:
I know that moved. It’s a little weird. I have to be honest. This is not my, I’m not one to be in the spotlight, so it’s a little odd.
Erica:
I think it’s wonderful that you stepped up out of your comfort zone for these little flamingos. Thank you so much, Robin, from Woodland Park Zoo. It has been such a pleasure getting to know you, and thanks for saving the lives of these sweet flamingos.
Robin:
Always a pleasure. Animals mean a lot to me, so I was very, very happy that everything was successful.
Erica:
Me too. Really appreciate it. Take care.
Robin:
Thank you Erica. Bye.
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