Dungeness River Audubon Center reopens after bug scare

Published 1:30 am Thursday, February 7, 2019

SEQUIM — The Dungeness River Audubon Center reopens today, following a deep freeze and a deep clean.

Powell Jones, the center’s executive director, said staff and volunteers have completed the process of warding off a drugstore beetle infestation by removing 700-plus mounted animals from the center and freezing them.

“Now we’re putting the center back together,” Jones said Tuesday.

The center at 2151 W. Hendrickson Road closed Jan. 24 while all the animal exhibits in the center were wrapped in plastic and/or placed in tubs and wrapped in plastic before being frozen in a truck for 48 hours over two separate cycles.

Sequim residents and center volunteers Darcy McNamara and Terri Tyler discovered beetles while drawing in the center.

Staffers contacted the Burke Museum in Seattle and Jones was told that the beetles could ruin the center’s collection and could be resistant to pesticides.

Jones said only two beetles were found during the entire process and if there were more they’d be dead from the freezing process.

“It’s been a learning experience,” he said. “I’m glad we went through the steps we went through. It’s a growing opportunity for the center. Overall, we got off pretty light.”

Mounted birds discovered with the beetles were sent initially to the Olympic Game Farm’s freezer before center staff brought in a freezer truck.

Jones said the center plans to purchase its own large freezer in the coming weeks to treat future taxidermy donations and to schedule more frequent cleanings of mounts.

Jones said he and Jenna Ziogas, education coordinator for the center, are rearranging some items to ease crowding and highlight specific bird mounts in the center while keeping others for teaching opportunities in schools and in the Railroad Bridge Park.

Jones said items will continue to be put back into place in the coming weeks.

Those with wildlife identification questions, general inquiries and/or to make a donation can contact the center at 360-681-4076 or rivercenter@olympus.net.

For more information on the Dungeness River Audubon Center, 2151 W. Hendrickson Road, visit dungenessrivercenter.org.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.