T.O. boy dances to condor fame

'CONDOR BOY'—Teague Shepard is perched on the shoulders of his dad, Kevin Shepard, during a day of filming television and Web commercials for the Santa Barbara Zoo's new California Condor exhibit. Teague was selected to appear in the commercials after he "would not stop dancing" during a trick-or-treat videotaping at the zoo last October, according to Dean Noble, the zoo's director of marketing. The zoo is now home to four California condors, which are living in a complex with other endangered species. A Thousand Oaks preschooler was transformed into Condor Boy to promote Santa Barbara Zoo's newest arrivals—four California condors.

Teague Shepard, 3, will be featured in upcoming television and Web commercials to introduce the condors, now living in a $7.5million complex at the zoo with other endangered animal species.

Teague was picked from a flock of kids who participated in the "Boo at the Zoo" Halloween event last October. Teague, his parents and four brothers and sisters came to the zoo dressed as "Alice in Wonderland" characters, said his mother, Jenna Shepard.

Dean Noble, director of marketing for the Santa Barbara Zoo, said Teague was dressed as Tweedle Dee with a Tweedle Dum-type doll attached to his back, when he came to trickortreat at the zoo and participate in a videotaped dance segment.

"When we turned on the camera, he would not stop dancing," Noble said of the boy. He was such a hit that day that months later zoo officials called to recruit Teague as Condor Boy for the condor exhibit that opened in April. The TV and Web commercials were filmed on May 1 and will be aired this summer, Shepard said.

Shepard admitted her son was quite the ham. "He had the production staff doubled over in laughter and got the job."

Condors, Noble said, have 9½-to-10-foot wing spans, a fact that was capitalized upon in the segments, Noble said.

"We decided to produce a commercial in which a group of kids dress up a sibling and take him around to Santa Barbara landmarks to see what 10 feet really looks like," Noble said.

Teague and his family discovered that condors are bigger than a beach volleyball net, but not bigger than the Santa Barbara Mission. The youngster's costumed wing span was measured against a dolphin sculpture on the wharf, the bike path and other spots around town, Shepard said.

Teague is still squawking like a condor six weeks after filming ended. "Birds (were) flying and fighting," Teague said about the condors, adding that he liked their squawking most of all.

The Shepard children—Madison, 12, Court, 11, Audry, 9, and Kiernan, 6,— helped with the production by measuring their brother against the monuments in the city, but it was Condor Boy who turned the heads of residents and visitors.

"We weren't sure if a 3yearold could handle a day of running around Santa Barbara in a condor outfit, but he did a fabulous job," Noble said. "In a way, having the kids participate in a television commercial for California condors is a victory for conservation. In 1982 there were only 23 California condors left on the planet. And the very last free flying condor was captured only 50 miles from here. Now there are over 320, with 150 flying in the wild and four at the Santa Barbara Zoo."