National Aviary welcomes 10 new animal ambassadors
The National Aviary is welcoming 10 animal ambassadors into its family.
The animals are moving to the aviary from the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, which recently concluded it's animal ambassador program after a 10-year run. The aviary says they're a natural fit to care for many of the ambassadors.
'We are beyond thrilled for this recent partnership with the Carnegie Museum and are honored to give 10 of their beloved Animal Ambassadors a home with our flock!' said Cathy Schlott. 'We are committed to providing them with the utmost care and are excited for the additional educational opportunities they will allow us to offer to guests.'
Seven species are joining the aviary, including striped skunks, four-toed hedgehogs, a central Asian tortoise and an African pied crow.
National Aviary officials say guests should stay tuned to their social media for individual introductions to the animal ambassadors.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
Meet the Man Who Created the Juneteenth Flag
This story was part of a special Juneteenth project originally published in 2022 with Vox that explored the ongoing struggle for freedom for Black Americans. As the Juneteenth holiday approaches, you'll start to see various symbols of Blackness across the country. Front lawns, apartment balconies, and clothing with the pan-African flag, 'Black Power' fist, and other celebratory symbols will be everywhere. But did you know there's a specific flag for Juneteenth? In fact, it has a backstory that goes back to the late 1990s. Capital B spoke with Ben Haith, the flag's creator, and others to learn more about its history and impact. Haith, a community organizer and activist known better as 'Boston Ben,' created the flag in 1997. In an interview with Capital B Atlanta, Haith said once he learned about Juneteenth, he felt passionately it needed representation. 'I was just doing what God told me,' Haith said. 'I have somewhat of a marketing background, and I thought Juneteenth, what it represented, needed to have a symbol.' Haith wasn't impressed with the initial concept, but every Juneteenth holiday he would raise the flag near his son's middle school in Roxbury, a majority Black community in Boston. After getting his inspiration for the flag, he knew which colors and symbols he wanted in the flag — he just needed to finalize it. That's when he met illustrator Lisa Jeanne-Graf, who responded to an ad in a local newspaper and finalized the flag in 2000. Juneteenth is often associated with red, green, and black: the colors of the pan-African flag. However, those aren't the colors of the Juneteenth flag. The banner shares the colors of the American flag: red, white, and blue. In the past, Haith has said it was a purposeful choice — a reminder that Black Americans descended from slaves are exactly that: American. 'For so long, our ancestors weren't considered citizens of this country,' Haith said. 'But realistically, and technically, they were citizens. They just were deprived of being recognized as citizens. So I thought it was important that the colors portray red, white, and blue, which we see in the American flag.' Steven Williams, the president of the National Juneteenth Observance Foundation, agreed with the sentiment. 'We're Americans of African descent,' Williams said. '[The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation's] mission statement is to bring all Americans together to join our common bond of freedom.' There's been some debate about whether the Juneteenth flag is the most appropriate symbol for the holiday. Haith said he understood why people could have some hesitancy around commemorating the freedom of slaves by using a red, white, and blue flag, which some see as a tribute to the oppressors of Black Americans. 'Some of us were raised to recognize the American flag, we salute the American flag, we pledged allegiance to the American flag,' Haith said when asked of the skepticism around the flag he created. 'We had relatives who went to war to fight for this country. We put a lot into this country, even when our ancestors were enslaved. They worked to help make this country an economic power in the world.' The star in the middle of the flag has a dual meaning. On June 19, 1865, Black slaves in Galveston, Texas, were informed of the Emancipation Proclamation, President Abraham Lincoln's declaration of the freedom of enslaved people. The star on the Juneteenth flag is meant to represent Texas as the Lone Star state, but also the freedom of enslaved citizens. Williams also spoke of the use of stars in helping slaves escape to freedom. 'When people were escaping down the Underground Railroad … they used stars to navigate where they were at, when they were going up and down,' he said. With its dual meaning, it's meant to represent the role that Texas plays in the history of Juneteenth, but also as another reminder that Black people are free. The outline was inspired by a nova, which is an explosion in space that creates the appearance of a new star. In this instance, it represents both slaves being free and a new beginning for Black Americans, Haith said. The bottom half of the flag is red and shaped in an arch, which has similar meaning to the white outline around the star. The curve is meant to represent a 'new horizon.' Williams hopes the design reminds people to keep in mind that new beginnings take effort. 'I tell young people, 'You are free,'' he said. 'You might have obstacles, you might have hurdles, but you are free. … And you need to exercise that freedom, which is liberty.' Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, nearly 200 years after slaves in Texas were informed of their freedom. The change, signed into law by President Joe Biden in 2021, came at the behest of demands for racial progress following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Cities across the country were forced to reckon with calls to remove and rename monuments and institutions honoring Confederate leaders of the past. In Richmond, Virginia, a capital of the former Confederacy, monuments of Confederate generals that were centuries old were dismantled after protester demands across the country. In metro Atlanta, there is an ongoing debate around the removal of Confederate leaders etched on the side of Stone Mountain. It is said to be the largest monument to the Confederacy in the world. In America, the Southern Poverty Law Center estimates that at least 160 Confederate symbols were dismantled in 2020. Individual states started to recognize Juneteenth as an official holiday prior to Biden's declaration. The first was Texas in 1980, and more states followed suit in 2020. Theo Foster, a professor of African American History at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, noted that symbols celebrating Black pride are important, but they're not enough. 'We tend to just hold on to symbols and let the material go,' he said. 'That's where I'm hypercritical of progress narratives, and flags, and 1619 projects, because we don't get to that point of where the rubber meets the road where the symbols meet the experience of Black boy joy or Black girl magic.' Williams recognizes the flag as a larger part of his organization's decades-long campaign to make Juneteenth a national holiday. The National Juneteenth Observance Foundation has been on the front lines of the fight to have Juneteenth nationally recognized since its founding in 1997. Haith himself is a member. Foster says he sees the Juneteenth flag as an attempt to honor Black Americans' enslaved ancestors. 'Racism exists, anti-Blackness exists. How do we respond to that problem?' he said. 'I think the Juneteenth flag is an attempt to respond to that harm that is ongoing. I think people are right to be critical of it, but also to be in conversation of what's useful about it.' Haith said he's been overwhelmed by the fact that Juneteenth is now a federal holiday, and feels honored when people use the flag. 'I believe we represent our ancestors,' Haith said. 'When we celebrate, we're celebrating for them, and we're celebrating for the future of our people. The flag represents the people of the past, it represents us, and it will represent the people in the future.' The post Meet the Man Who Created the Juneteenth Flag appeared first on Capital B News.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Juneteenth: What you need to know about how the holiday is celebrated in the Daytona area
For some, it's a well-needed day off. But Juneteenth, celebrated this Thursday, June 19, in communities across the nation, holds a sacred place in African-American history. Juneteenth, established by President Joe Biden in 2021, is the most recently added federal holiday. Sometimes referred to as 'Black Independence Day" or "Freedom Day," Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 that news of the Emancipation Proclamation made it to enslaved people in the South — nearly three years after it was actually signed. Here's what you need to know about Juneteenth 2025: what it is, why it's celebrated, and what's going on in the Daytona Beach area. Non-essential federal, state, and city government offices are closed. Public and private schools may also be closed. Banks, the stock market, and the U.S. Postal Service are closed. Although many private-sector employers give employees the day off, workers in retail, grocery stores, and restaurants are not as lucky as many of those outlets are open for business. It is always on June 19, but Juneteenth (short for "June Nineteenth") but may fall on different days each year. The holiday marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people in Texas and the nation be freed, on June 19, 1865, says. The next year, the now-free people started celebrating Juneteenth in Texas. Its observance has continued around the nation and the world ever since. Events include concerts, parades, readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, and other celebrations of Black culture and history. The annual Hometown Heroes Awards Banquet coincides this year with Daytona Beach's Juneteenth celebrations. Slated to take place at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Mori Hosseini Student Center on the campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the soul food buffet banquet recognizes Daytona Beach-area residents who strive to make a difference in the community. For more information, visit Another Juneteenth celebration will be held on Saturday at Master's Domain Church of God in Christ, located at 511 Fremont Ave. in Daytona Beach. The event is being billed as a citywide celebration and begins at 4 p.m. Several local churches, organizations, youth groups, and community leaders will be included in the event. There will be free food, vendors, and special performances from area groups. The event will also honor several people who have dedicated their lives to community service. The Miss Juneteenth Volusia County Pageant takes place Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Babe James Community Center, 201 N Myrtle Ave., New Smyrna Beach. Pre-registration is required, but the event is free and open to the public. Eileen Zaffiro-Kean contributed to this story. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Juneteenth in Daytona: Here's what to know about the federal holiday
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
Juneteenth: What you need to know about how the holiday is celebrated in the Daytona area
For some, it's a well-needed day off. But Juneteenth, celebrated this Thursday, June 19, in communities across the nation, holds a sacred place in African-American history. Juneteenth, established by President Joe Biden in 2021, is the most recently added federal holiday. Sometimes referred to as 'Black Independence Day" or "Freedom Day," Juneteenth marks the day in 1865 that news of the Emancipation Proclamation made it to enslaved people in the South — nearly three years after it was actually signed. Here's what you need to know about Juneteenth 2025: what it is, why it's celebrated, and what's going on in the Daytona Beach area. Non-essential federal, state, and city government offices are closed. Public and private schools may also be closed. Banks, the stock market, and the U.S. Postal Service are closed. Although many private-sector employers give employees the day off, workers in retail, grocery stores, and restaurants are not as lucky as many of those outlets are open for business. It is always on June 19, but Juneteenth (short for "June Nineteenth") but may fall on different days each year. The holiday marks the day when federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take control of the state and ensure that all enslaved people in Texas and the nation be freed, on June 19, 1865, says. The next year, the now-free people started celebrating Juneteenth in Texas. Its observance has continued around the nation and the world ever since. Events include concerts, parades, readings of the Emancipation Proclamation, and other celebrations of Black culture and history. The annual Hometown Heroes Awards Banquet coincides this year with Daytona Beach's Juneteenth celebrations. Slated to take place at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Mori Hosseini Student Center on the campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, the soul food buffet banquet recognizes Daytona Beach-area residents who strive to make a difference in the community. For more information, visit Another Juneteenth celebration will be held on Saturday at Master's Domain Church of God in Christ, located at 511 Fremont Ave. in Daytona Beach. The event is being billed as a citywide celebration and begins at 4 p.m. Several local churches, organizations, youth groups, and community leaders will be included in the event. There will be free food, vendors, and special performances from area groups. The event will also honor several people who have dedicated their lives to community service. The Miss Juneteenth Volusia County Pageant takes place Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Babe James Community Center, 201 N Myrtle Ave., New Smyrna Beach. Pre-registration is required, but the event is free and open to the public. Eileen Zaffiro-Kean contributed to this story. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Juneteenth in Daytona: Here's what to know about the federal holiday
