Binder Park Zoo, San Diego Zoo offer 'distraction' for hospitalized children

San Diego Zoo Kids Channel films segment in Battle Creek; Binder Park Zoo animals pay patients a visit

Nick Buckley
Battle Creek Enquirer
Camden Shelly, 10, watches a lesser hedgehog tenrec at C.S. Mott Children's Hospital on Nov. 15, 2018.

ANN ARBOR - Ten-year-old Leland Dearmon of Bancroft was with his mother, Cara Dearmon, as they were showing a new nanny around C.S. Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor.

His mother said they've spent "many nights" at the hospital and were familiar with the facility. But on Nov. 15, they stumbled into a room to find something they had never seen there before: wildlife.

The animals — a blue-tonged skink, a spiky tenrec, a box turtle and a Flemish giant rabbit — had arrived via the Zoomobile from Binder Park Zoo in Battle Creek. They were there as part of a launch party for the San Diego Zoo Kids Channel.

"I just think kids can really relate to animals, there's that connection that animals can have with kids," Cara Bancroft said. "He loves going to the zoo, we go to the zoos a lot, he really seems to enjoy that, we see a lot of smiles out of him. He's non-verbal, so that's a big plus for us as a family to know he's enjoying it."

There were plenty of smiles to go around at the C.S. Mott launch party for the closed-circuit channel, which features more than 12 hours of family-friendly, animal-oriented programming that runs on a loop in 181 facilities in 36 states and eight countries. Launched in 2013, it is made possible by a collaboration of children's hospitals, Ronald McDonald House Charities, and zoos and aquariums.

"What kids all have in common is a love for animals," said Debra Erickson, Marketing Director for San Diego Zoo Global. "The reason the channel was ever created is because we've been taking animals to our children's hospital for over 50 years, but we realized that one hour of visit from animals once a month is not enough, especially for children that are hospitalized for longer periods of time. So by bringing the kids channel in and that distraction, what our research shows is that it really makes kids happy."

For the children who couldn't attend the watch party and see the Binder Park Zoo animal ambassadors in person, they will be able to watch some of the zoo's other animals from their hospital rooms or waiting rooms. A crew from the channel recently spent time in Battle Creek, filming segments on black bears, a patagonian mara, a red panda cub and an Aldabra giant tortoise who himself is undergoing medical care for an infected foot.

A crew from San Diego Zoo Kids Channel films a segment on Al the Aldabra giant tortoise as he receives care for an infected foot.

"This is such an amazing opportunity for us to participate in this partnership with the children's hospitals," said Hannah Smedley, Education Supervisor at Binder Park Zoo. "Our goal is to always be connecting people of the community with animals, and this takes it to another level. Nature and animals are an important part of childhood and growing up. These kids shouldn't be deprived of that just because they are sick."
