Zoo's penguin chick gains patriotic name

CHIEFTAIN PHOTO/CHRIS FRYER Shannon McCullough (right) and her daughter Hannah, 15, both of Colorado Springs, pet Freedom the penguin while the bird is held by animal-care coordinator Melanie Pococke on Monday afternoon at the Pueblo Zoo. Shannon won the recent contest to name Freedom, the 50th penguin chick to be raised at the zoo.

Posted: Wednesday, August 11, 2010 12:00 am

Meet Freedom.
The 50th penguin chick hatched at the Pueblo Zoo now has a name, thanks to Shannon McCullough of Colorado Springs. She was the winner of the name-the-penguin contest held by the Pueblo Zoo and The Pueblo Chieftain.
McCullough and her daughter Hannah, 15, got the chance to meet the penguin chick up close on Monday and take a behind-the-scenes tour of the exhibit.
“I liked Freedom as the name because it represents our beautiful country,” McCullough said. “It’s the perfect name for a baby born of Patriot (the mother) and being No. 50, like our 50 states.”
A panel of zookeepers reviewed and selected the name for the penguin chick. from the more than 300 entries that came from Colorado, California, Utah, Oregon, Texas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Virginia and Georgia.
The McCulloughs received a one-year membership to the zoo and a piece of framed artwork by Patriot.
The penguins at the zoo are African black-footed penguins, which are endangered in the wild. The zoo participates in the Species Survival Plan for the animals, so the hatching of Freedom is important for the species survival.
Freedom is identified by a yellow marker on its left wing; the zoo won’t know for a few more weeks whether Freedom is male or female.

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