Today we are remembering Leslie the king vulture, who passed away unexpectedly this morning. Leslie was a spunky, sassy, curious bird, who was always quick to investigate new items in her habitat.
“My favorite thing she always did was leave the leftovers of her diet at the keeper door in a nice neat pile for us to clean up,” said Katie Mulqueen, the lead zoo keeper of Leslie’s care team.
Leslie was in her 60’s and was the fourth oldest member of her species at any AZA zoo. The median life expectancy for king vultures is 32.8.
“This is a testament to how much the keepers cared for her. I am so proud of our team and how hard we all worked to give Leslie not only amazing life care but amazing end of life care. She will be deeply missed,” Mulqueen said.
Even in her old age, Leslie was a healthy vulture. Over the last few months, she had started to show signs of her age with changes to her mobility. The animal care team was able to revamp Leslie’s habitat to make it more accessible and comfortable for her.
Leslie had lived at Reid Park Zoo since 2004. She and her long-term partner Phil, who passed away in 2023, had one chick who has grown up and moved to another zoo to participate in the king vulture Species Survival Plan.
