Day off? Ha!

My plan for today was to drive 1.5 hours down to the beach here. I just want to check it out, and I miss the beach! I packed up my swimsuit, rash guard, towel, sunscreen, snacks, water, and a book. Before heading to the beach I was going to stop by the park and see Keeno before he underwent a procedure. (making sure he doesn't have kidney stones) He's old, so there's always a possibility he wouldn't come out of the anesthesia, so I wanted to see him at least once more. Well, my short visit turned into half a day!

I went into the park before 9 so I'd have enough time to see Keeno before they started. Nobody was at the lion hut yet, or in the office, so I waited a little bit and finally saw Sarah & Valerie (Carnivore keepers). Sarah said I could ride with them to go pick up the truck that we needed to transport Keeno in. So we drove up to Brown Bear hut (the others were cleaning it) to get it. On the way there was one Bison standing right in the middle of the road! It did that thing where it wasn't sure which way to go around us, so we both tried right, then left, then it finally decided on right and went. lol. :) After we switched vehicles, and on the drive down to Lion hut, I saw the Hippo! He's hard to catch glimpses of in the water, but I saw him! He was upside-down with his feet and stomach above the water surface. hahaha!

Once at Lion hut, we let the young couple out (Tau & Sarabi). We also moved Natasha out into her own pen, but left Keeno in his room. The others cleaned up the room that Keeno would be recovering in, and a room beside that for Natasha to be close to him. The vet van arrived at that point. There were about 5 vet interns from the nearby college to help.

All of us waited outside the hut area while the main vet and Sarah went in to dart Keeno. We could hear him roar a lot when he got darted. It was sad. About 20 minutes later he still wasn't totally out, so they did another dart. Keeno really only roared the one time after the first dart. (Tau & Sarabi heard this and were pacing back and forth, wondering what was going on)

Keeno came through his procedure well, and will be fine. It was quite an experience to observe him being cared for and treated. I won't say more here, "patient confidentiality" and all that.....

Angela & Matt had spread a bunch of hay in the hut for Keeno to lay comfortably on when he was returned to his area. The vet administered the wake up drugs, then he and Sarah moved quickly out of the room and locked it up. We all stood watching through the fence. He took 5 or 10 minutes, but then we saw his eye open slowly and look around. Then he started licking his lips over and over. After a few minutes he started gagging or coughing, which they said was normal cuz he'd had a breathing tube in. He wasn't fully awake, but was trying to stand up and in doing so his tail was spinning round and round, spreading the hay everywhere. He gave up on that endeavor and just laid there and licked his lips and coughed a little more. He was still lying down when I left, but more aware. I told him I would see him tomorrow.

So much for the day off I had planned for myself! Since the beach is a 3 to 4 hour round trip away, it will have to be another day. I was glad to give up my beach time for the amazing experience of being there with Keeno for his procedure. And he will recover well! :)

bye for now..

Walking like a lion! And my box arrived!

Day 16.

This morning we woke up the lions. They go first since they are at the beginning of the drive-thru portion of the park. We don't want any guests missing seeing the lions! We always wake them and check that they are okay, then go into their empty pens to look for trash and spread enrichment. Today's enrichment: chicken strips! haha! The grass is long in one of the pens, so while I was walking through I felt like I could be a stalking lion! ROAR! I also thought it was cool to walk in the same path they created through the long grass. :) While they waited on us to finish their pen checks, they got impatient and started carroling! It was so cool, as always. We let each couple into their separate pens- Tau was hesitating walking through the door, so Sarabi came back through it and bit and pulled him by the mane! He didn't like that and roared at her, but she is the boss!

After lions we go to let the Brown Bears out. Today I helped clean the empty pens and spread enrichment (produce, nuts, odd donated food items like cheesy rice). Erin was left to clean the hut by herself while I went to clean the lion hut by MYself. I got about 1/2 done before I had to meet Angela for a Lion 101 encounter. It was only 2 people and they didn't take a lot of pics or ask a lot of questions. They seemed a little uninterested. Maybe they just don't like talking so much..?

Next we picked up some GIANT fruitsicles from QB. These are the ones we made in buckets yesterday. :) We took the Brown Bears' theirs and tossed them over the fences for them. I tossed Victors to him, and then Claire's to her. Claire & Russel were sitting on a hill, so when Erin & I tried to toss their GIANT fruitsicles, they both came rolling back down the hill to us! I actually did this three times! I let Angela throw it for me so that Claire could have it. LOL! Claire had been so cute sitting and waiting patiently while I attempted and failed to throw it to her. What a cutie!

It was LUNCHTIME after that, and there was a special potluck put on by all the docents! Angela & I piled up different foods on two plates each and stuffed ourselves! It was so good! I also had a piece of angel food cake with chocolate icing- ooooh so good!

After such a satisfying meal I went back to finish cleaning the lion hut. I must say I am very good at cleaning the huts. Very proud of myself. Then it was time to prepare the bear and lion dinners. Erin had already done most of the work, but Angela & I helped finish and then took the Black Bears' dinner out to them. We started by throwing the "adults" (Ricky, Little Boy, Little Girl) food over the fences to them. I had Ricky's. When I went to toss the meat over it caught on the barbed wire!! I knocked it off with a broom stick, but then it fell right on a "hot" wire! UGH! Ricky knows not to go near those, so he just stared at it longingly. The yard they are in is able to be divided off, so we did that and I went into the half that the meat was stuck in and kicked it off the hot wire with my rubber boot! Ricky enjoyed the meat when I finally got it to him. :) Angela & I took the others' (Donna, Takoda, Chochmo) food down to them in the backyards. While they waited for us to throw their meals over, Takoda & Chochmo were climbing the fences as if in a competition. Chochmo jumped up and climbed, Takoda looked at him and did the same. Sillies.

It was closing time then, so we went back to put the lions to bed and give them their dinners. Angela let me open and close the proper guillotine doors to get each lion into their separate rooms. Most of those are SO HARD to pull down! My hands were a little sore from it, so Angela had to help me with a couple. She's used to doing them. :)

Last, but not least, we went to put the Brown Bears to bed and give them dinner. Erin had already set all their dinners up in their rooms and also had let the girls in already, so they were almost done and I watched Russel biting the remains of fruit off of an opened melon. I got the job of opening the guillotine door for the boys to come in. The Bear hut ones aren't hard since you just crank a handle. The boys were very good and came in pretty quickly. Once they're finally inside they LOVE looking at what goodies they have to eat and what toys we brought in for them that day. One toy was a cinder block with the meat tucked in the open square hole- two of the boys stuck their noses in to try and get the meat out, but had to finally roll it over to achieve success. :)

That was all for today. Erin had shut all the park gates for us already. I had to use the restroom though, so I was actually the last person out of the park! That being so, my duty was to close the road gate that leads up to the park. Kinda cool.

Okay, bye for now!

~~~~~~~~~
P.S. (by Susan)
Ashley received a box from home today. It contained many things, but the most important item was her new EVO cell phone. Nick had set it to switch her number over to that device as soon as he knew the box had arrived. Before she finished work for the day, her old phone that was on her was shut off! We had no way to tell her.

She went to the library after work to try to reach Nick, and had a hard time staying connected with their WiFi, so she gave up there. She drove to McDonald's to use their signal. And sat for too long with her car off and lights on, so her car battery died. An employee jumped it for her. :)

She finally discovered the code to unlock the new phone (thanks to Ryan Osinski!), and got back to her dorm. What a long exhausting day! She now has 2 days off, which she surely needs!

Bison Roadblock and Escaping Giraffe! Day 15

Day 15.

The start of my third week at Wildlife Safari. It was my job last night to pick up the donated produce from the grocery store. This morning I brought it down to the truck, and we all (Sarah, Angela, Matt, me) headed over to wake up the lions! Keeno is always already standing up and waiting for us. The others are usually still lying down, yawning, and stretching. :) We just go in to say good morning and make sure they all look okay, before going into their pens to check fence lines and spread enrichment. My part was to dump the water tubs out, scrub, and refill them with fresh water. When I finished, Sarah had Matt & I come into one of the front pens to see something- an area of fence had come loose from the post! A lion could squeeze out if it wanted! YIKES!! They called maintenance to come fix it, but didn't put lions in there today just in case. I left, while the fence was being fixed and lions put out, to go pick up the Brown Bears' breakfast from QB and wait at the Brown Bear hut for everyone else. It was a bit of waiting since the fence needed mending and the lions may have taken their time to go out into their pens! I relaxed a bit in the car before they showed up. :)

The other three finally came and took the breakfasts into the exhibit area, and I went into the hut to release the bears... "Claire, Russel, move off!"; "Victor, Mak, Oso, move off!" Today the girls got to go onto the inner yard and the boys on the outer yard, to mix things up a bit. :) They seemed excited.

I was left again to clean the hut on my own. I think I did a spectacular job! ^_^ I also noticed the Bison herd blocking the road and causing a traffic jam! haha!! At least half the herd was blocking the whole road! There were about 5 cars waiting for them, the lead car slowly driving and hoping to part them and make it through. They did succeed after a few minutes.

I also listened to the crows cawing, which I enjoy every day because they remind me of Ian's silly roller coaster scream. The quick one when we go down a small hill- "AHH!" hehe.

While I was spraying down the hut to rinse the cleaning solution off, some sparrows flew in to say hello. They always come in at that time. They must enjoy the wet floor. :)

Then it was time for lunch! While I was walking to the picnic tables a black bird came and flew into my head! Just flapped and then landed nearby and looked at me. It had a pretty yellow eye.

Once I finished lunch I had to drive to lion tower to take over the afternoon shift for the rest of the day. I took the standard car so I could practice. I don't actually think being able to drive in first gear at the park will make me any sort of expert in actually driving a standard on the real roads! oh well. hah.

While in the tower there was a Code Red Cross announced on the radio! Someone had hurt themselves in the walk-thru area. Not sure of any details, but about 10 minutes later it was "all clear". Then another announcement on the radio: Code 3! That means a non-dangerous animal is out of its area. There are different lands in the park: Africa, Americas, Asia. Between the lands are gates with cattle guards so the animals can't cross over into the wrong land. WELL, there is a giraffe who has figured out how to walk on the cattle guards! :O His name is Hidari (not sure on spelling: hih-dar-ee) and he has his own "Hidari watch" volunteers who keep an eye on him! LOL! So it was him that caused a Code 3 to be called. The man who called it laughed a little when he made the announcement. hehe. It didn't take them long to get him back into "Africa" and do the "all clear".

The tower was slow today. Just a trickle of vehicles the whole time. Keeno & Natasha slept all day, only moving when their shade had moved with the sun. I couldn't see Tau & Sarabi from my viewpoint. They were put in one of the upper pens due to the broken fence line I mentioned before, and there was a large tree blocking my view of it. We are wanting to keep track of any breeding behaviors because Sarabi's birth control will be wearing off now (she's almost 3, good breeding age) and the park is hoping to have cubs in the next year. Tau & Sarabi were approved to be bred together for the "Species Survival Plan" by the AZA. Well, I couldn't see them today, but hopefully they did something!

I spent the rest of my time in lion tower reading my book and making videos (requested by Mumu).

Once the last car came through my area, I called Bear tower to let them know and then I met up with Angela to go put Sanurra away again. We grabbed the "cheetah truck", went into her enclosure, told her "crate" to get her in, carried the crate out of the pen and lifted it onto the truck, drove to her pen in the cheetah area, and let her in! I also got to throw over her dinner. It was a pretty good throw that went about 10ft! (I was on a hill. heh) So she ran a little bit to get it- she must have been quite hungry! :)

Angela took me up to the cheetah lodge to watch for the last car to finish driving through the park (cheetahs/tigers is the last area to go through). Before she left me though, we walked over to the tiger pen and said hello to Leah & Saigon, brother and sister. Saigon was swimming in his pond and playing with some toys in there. SO CUTE! Angela left me then and I sat in the cheetah lodge for a little while. But then Angela came back with Matt and we all three went to put the tigers to bed and feed them. I just watched and took pics while Matt put the meat on their beds and Angela let them each into their own rooms. They came in fast! Dinner must be so welcome at the end of the busy day of sleeping and playing in a pond! :) When they were in their hut we walked into their empty pen and turned the water trickle off in the pond. It was pretty cool to go into their pen! I like walking where the animals go. ^_^

They left and I went back into the lodge and watched the last car come through and waved at them when they looked my way. Nice family. :) Sarah was close behind the last car so she could pick me up and close the last few gates.

And that was it! Nice relaxing day spent in towers & lodges!

bye for now! (TTFN, Alex!)

14 days! I've been in Oregon for TWO WEEKS!

Day 14.

This morning, on our way to wake up the lions, we stopped off at the cheetah area to experience a lure chase! The cheetah main gates are closed and they are let out of their pens and led over to the lure. I saw one cheetah jog across the hill to the lure, but once he got there he just watched it dismissively. So we didn't get to see an actual run. poo. Just as well because my camera wouldn't work all day!! :(

After a stop at maintenance, we headed over to the lion hut to wake them up. I helped clean out a drain full of hair while the others checked the fence lines and spread enrichment (elephant poo!). Then Matt & I were left to clean the hut where I did the scrubbing. :)

Next was the Brown Bear enrichments! We stopped at QB to grab it (melons for the girls, and random frozen items for the boys including an egg mcmuffin! haha!) After we threw the enrichment out to them I had to go to Bear Tower to relieve the volunteer so she could eat lunch. I do enjoy staying in the towers. :) Peaceful and quiet, occasionally waving at the passersby.

Finally, it was time for LUNCH! I was so hungry! My leftover macaroni & green beans was deLISH!

We had a Lion 101 encounter after lunch, and my job was to pick up the people and drive them out to the exhibit! I've never done this before, but luckily I got to drive the automatic white van which was a very smooth ride. :) The group I took was very nice- three families who all interacted with one another as well. Very nice people. We met up with Angela & Erin at the exhibit. I just watched this time so I can listen to the presentation and start doing them myself soon! eek! I also took pictures for people as they stood facing away from the lions and then the lions were told to stand up, so they are in the pic behind the people.

We went to QB to make meals for the lions and to create some fruitsicles! We only had many, many peaches, so we pitted those and squished them up into bowls which are then filled with water and frozen. The Bears LOVE these! ^_^ Today we were making very large ones in buckets so the bears will get a LOVELY treat tomorrow! Since so many peaches had to be pitted and squished for this, we had to pause in our efforts to go do a couple more encounters...

We met a group up at the Brown Bear exhibit to do "Big Bear". Matt did most of the presentation while Erin did the training and I just watched again. The boys are so cute doing this. The people really enjoy throwing pears to the bears too. :) Then we were off to pick up a group for another Lion 101 encounter. It was only three people, and I rode in the back of the "giraffe truck" with them. Erin did the presentation this time, while Matt distracted the other lion. I just watched and said hello to the lions when they came next to me.

After that nice experience we had to go back and work on the fruitsicles again. Erin & I did this, until Sarah (main lady) and Angela (keeper in training) came and picked me up to watch them do a Lion Feed! This is where the guests are taken to the lion hut and are able to walk inside it, help toss the meat chunks into the rooms, and watch us bring them in. Usually after Keeno is done eating he will start a caroling (roaring) episode, and so we waited! They actually did two of them! ^_^ The people loved it! It's amazing to be in the middle of the lions when they do this, and it echoes off of the walls too! haha.

Our day would have ended here, but the cheetah department needed help! Angela & I went to put Sanurra in. We go into her day pen (in the front walk-thru section of the park), get her to go into a large crate, lift the crate onto a truck, drive her back to the cheetahs' area, and let her into her pen- which is next to Ellie's pen (the dog who lives with her). At this point I could have gone home, but I wanted to help with tigers again so that I could gain more experience with them too! I picked up the meal for each one and set it on their individual beds, then Erin operated the guillotine doors to let one tiger in at a time. They are so beautiful! Siberian Tigers. Ours are smaller than usual. Not sure why. And that was it!

Huh.. I just realized I didn't do any Brown Bear hut activities today! But Sarah wanted me to practice more with things I hadn't experienced much- which includes the lion protocols! :)

Okay, bye for now... (TTFN, Alex!)

Day 13 - Lots of driving and some "Big Bear"

Day 13.


The morning started by waking up the lions! We walked in, and Keeno was already up again! Tau was still totally out, and the girls had just lifted their heads. Before letting them outside, we went to check the fence lines of the yards and spread enrichment (rhea eggs!). Once everything checked out, we released them into their separate couple pens. Keeno & Natasha. Tau & Sarabi.
Matt (intern) & I were left there to clean the lion hut, which we did quite fast!

Then we met Angela & Erin (intern) at the Brown Bear hut (where they had awakened the Brown Bears) and we shuffled ourselves around- Matt & Erin staying, and Angela taking me to fill our truck with gas and then head to Black Bears to spread out enrichment (honey & ketchup! but not mixed!)

We realized the truck tire had a leak, so we had to drop it off to maintenance and grab our other truck. Angela had me drive it so that I could practice driving a standard. This is an old donated truck, so it is VERY HARD to reach the pedals and drive- and the driver door doesn't close so it has a slide lock in place! I stalled out a few times in front of guests.. it was quite embarrassing. But Angela said I was doing fine since that truck is actually hard to drive for anyone. :) I drove it to QB (food place) and we washed the "dishes" before heading to LUNCH!

There was no Lion 101 encounter right after lunch, or at 3:30, so we had more time to do our normal chores. Our blue truck was fixed then, so we picked it back up from maintenance, I drove the yellow one back and parked it in the lot. We headed back to QB to pick up diets and midday snacks for the bears (Erin & Matt had been preparing them). Elephants were doing their car wash, which is right outside the exit of QB, so we dropped off some onions for them since the bears don't like onions. :)

We went to the Black Bear exhibit again to throw their food out for them and to drain one of the pools so it could be cleaned and refilled. We've also started throwing floating produce into the pools (apples, pears, corn) so that the bears can "bob" for them. I actually witnessed one of them doing it today- it was so cute and hilarious! ^_^ I couldn't snap a picture in time though, unfortunately.

Angela & I then went to do two encounters in a row with the same group of people- Big Bear and Lion 101. We drove the truck with the gated bed with benches in the middle. Big Bear was first. Angela did the presentation and training and I am paying very good attention so that I can start doing presentations too. I will actually be able to do the training of Big Bears at some point. :) It involves saying "Big Bear!", and clicking a clicker and throwing a donut piece to whatever bear did it. Oso (the smallest Grizzly) kept standing up and clapping his paws together in anticipation for a donut- it was SO ADORABLE! Victor also stood and waved a paw at Angela to let her know he was ready for his donut piece too! CUTIES!! After the training portion, the people are allowed to throw out produce to the bears. We called Russel & Claire over from their napping, and their yard is on the other side of the road, so all bears could get produce tossed to them. I handed out gloves (if they didn't want to touch the fruit) and let them take fruit from my bucket to toss out. I made sure they saved some for when the girls finally lumbered over within throwing distance. All of the bears enjoyed some pears and apples. :)

Next we took the group to do the lion encounter in front of the pens. I distracted one lion while Angela trained the other. After doing that with Tau & Sarabi we went over to the other pen to see if Keeno would come down for some training. Angela said we don't like to force them to come since training should be looked at as fun, so they need to WANT to do it. Keeno was content lying in the shade of his shelter next to his mate, Natasha (who was sleeping). Keeno laid there majestically with his head up, squinting in the cool breeze.

The park was closing then, so we drove back to the Black Bears to put them in their proper yards for the night, then to the Brown Bear hut to put in all of the Brown Bears. I got to open the guillotine doors for them. :) Practice, since Erin got a job and is leaving next week- so I need to start really pulling my own weight!

From there, Matt & I took the yellow truck (he drove so HE could practice driving a standard too!), and we made sure no guests were left on the main road and closed all of the gates! At the last gate is where the rheas and emus hang out and Matt stopped quite a distance away from the gate! So I had to walk pretty close to them to get to it and close it. Two of the emus kind of ran at me, but I was carrying a broom stick and shooed them away! Angela said they wouldn't have done anything but snap from a distance. Still scary!
That was all for today!


TTFN, Alex!


bye for now...

Day 12.

This morning we started by waking up the lions. Keeno was already up and anxious to go out, but the other three were still lying down and I got pictures of them yawning. Keeno thought we were moving too slowly, so he started the others on caroling (roaring back and forth). It was pretty cool- always awesome to be in the middle of it! You can feel the vibrations! Before we let them out we had to check the yards' fence lines and put out enrichment. Today's lion enrichment- perfume! I sprayed in Tau & Sarabi's pen.

After lions were put out, we headed to Brown Bears. On our way through "Africa," Desi the Ostrich chased our vehicle! haha! He always gives up at a certain point in the road though. We threw the Brown Bears' breakfasts into their appropriate yards, then Erin (intern) & I went into the hut to let them all out. Russel was so excited to get out that she went through backwards as we were still raising the guillotine door! I guess her shoulders were too big, so she thought she'd squeeze through butt first. :)

Erin & I cleaned the bear huts thoroughly, and met up with the zebra bus full of kids to do a Grizzly encounter. The kids had made honey & nut pine cones for the bears. They threw these one at a time to the boys and to the girls. The bears loved them! When the kids left, Erin & I had to rinse the hut before heading to another encounter- Lion 101! I got to distract a lion while Angela trained the other. :) I love doing this because when we feed the meat chunks to them, our hands are only about 3 inches from them! amazing!

It was time for the Brown Bears to get their midday snack, so we picked up some rhea eggs from the fridge, and fruit-sicles from QB. We gave the boys (Mak, Victor, Oso) each a fruit-sicle, and then we threw a rhea egg to both girls (Russel, Claire). Since they had been arguing every now and then for the past week, we made sure to throw their eggs at a distance from each other. I threw Claire's to her- I got so close I almost hit her! eek! She scrambled over to it so fast- she was so excited! It was the cutest! I love her! ^_^

Lunchtime!

After lunch we did another Lion 101 encounter. I again got to distract a lion while Angela trained the other. To help conserve meat chunks I jogged back and forth along the fence line a little and Tau jogged with me! It was so cool- running alongside a lion about 2 feet apart with just a fence between us. :)

We had to make meals after that, so we dropped Erin off at QB to do that while we went to the Black Bear exhibit to fix up some spools for them. We met back up with Erin after to finish the meal preparations, but she had almost finished! I DID have to cut some meat though, so that we gave everyone the proper proportions. ew!

Angela & I dropped Erin off again, this time to do a Big Bear encounter where she says "Big Bear!" to the boys, and they stand up for their treats. While she did this, Angela & I went to Black Bears again to put their spools in their yards and feed them. We first stopped at the fence line on the hill and threw over Little Boy's & Ricky's meals. Then we drove into the exhibit to throw Little Girl's, Donna's, Chochmo's, & Takoda's dinners all over their own fences.

Next it was my turn to be dropped off alone! I went into the Brown Bear hut to put their dinners into their rooms, then waited while Angela & Erin did another Lion encounter. (I watched one of "Disney's Brother Bear" music videos, "I'm on My Way" while I waited!)

When they picked me back up, we headed to QB to do "dishes" and prepare the lions' dinners. Then we drove to the lion hut to feed them and put them to bed. :)

We headed back up to Brown Bears after that, and put the girls to bed. Before we put the boys in, we had to go help someone from the cheetah department put up one of their cheetahs. She is in "The Village" walk through area during the day, and goes back into the cheetah yard area at night, by crate. When she was all set and fed her dinner, we went back to the Brown Bears where Angela & Erin put them in, while I got to drive the main road to check for guests and to lock gates.

Once that was done I met up with the cheetah department guy again and we put the tigers to bed with their dinners! The second time I got to help do tigers!

That was it!

bye for now..

Days 9, 10, 11 - Some time off, and more BEARS!

So, I had the last two days off, and just relaxed, ran errands, went to dinner at the Lawrence's (volunteers I met in Bear Tower), and watched a movie with the other interns.

Day 11.

I worked with Angela (keeper in training) all day. We started by cleaning the Brown Bear yards. Both of us went into both yards- Angela cleaned and I spread enrichment (donuts, walnuts, fruit). Once the yards were ready we went to the hut to wake up the bears and let them out. Angela had me operate the guillotine doors to let them out. I say "Letting boys out" and once she acknowledges, I open the door and call out "Victor, Mak, Oso.. move off!" Mak raced out right away, Oso followed, but then he noticed Victor was still inside, so he went back in, then out again.. Finally Victor went out and all three crossed through the tunnel to their inner yard. Next we opened the door between the girls' rooms to see if they'd be nice to each other today. They did fine, so we let them out too- "Russel, Claire.. move off!"

After that we cleaned the hut (very smelly because last nights food was stuffed into boxes for the bears' entertainment.. and now the boxes were torn about and peed on! ew!)

We had an 11am Lion 101 Encounter to do, but first we had to go to maintenance to pick up the power washer and drop that off to Valerie & Sarah (the MAIN Carnivore lady) at the Lion hut, throw some almonds out for the Black Bears, and pick up a clicker borrowed from "the Cheetahs".

Once we rushed to finish all of that, we went to the front gate to pick up our encounter guests in the "giraffe truck". This is a tan truck with benches on the flatbed and a gate all around the people. Angela did the training and presentation, and I distracted the other lion with meat. First she trained Tau while I distracted Sarabi. Sarabi would make grumbly noises at me in anticipation of the treats. Lions can't purr, so they grumble instead! :) Then we switched lions and I distracted Tau, who is such a good boy! He lays down whenever I kneel and takes the meat from my stick so gently. :) Cutie-pies! Angela tried to get Keeno to come down from the back of his pen to do a little training, but he didn't want to. She also didn't even try with Natasha (Keeno's mate) because she is not food-motivated. (She's also 19! which is very old. Captive lions can live into their mid-twenties.)

Lunch time! I had to buy a meal because I forgot to grab my leftovers from Applebees! boohoo! But the veggie-burger was good!

After lunch we went to make all the Brown and Black bear diets. We measure out dogfood & walnuts, count specific amount of produce, and weigh a specific amount of meat for each bear. Before we finished I was asked to relieve Lion Tower for their lunch break. That was pretty relaxing. The lions just slept or strolled the whole time I was there. :)

Angela picked me up from there and we went back to QB to wash "dishes" (buckets) and make some bloodsicles and fruitsicles. This process is putting some balls of meat or squished fruits into bowls, then fill with water and freeze.

When we finished we were called to the Brown Bear hut by Valerie & Sarah- the girls (Russel & Claire) were arguing again, so they wanted more "enrichment" brought up to try and calm the girls down. I guess it worked. Sarah also gave us more dishes, so we went back to QB to wash those... blah. We put all of the bear diets that we'd made into our little car and headed to Black Bears to throw their food over the fences. Little Girl was out! She decided to take a long hibernation, so only recently started popping out now and then, and today she was actually OUT. :) Angela tosed out food for her and Little Boy & Ricky (all of those bears are in the front yard), while I tossed food over for Takoda, Chochmo, and Donna (all in the back yards). It is so cute how much smaller these bears are than the Brown Bears! :) We have to give Chochmo some fish oil capsules- Angela squishes them into an avocado- and his paws are so cute as he opens it up. :)

The end of the day had come, so now we drove the main road to close all the gates, stopping at the Brown Bear hut along the way to put them in for dinner and bed. I opened the guillotine doors again and the boys must have been so hungry because they squeezed through like seals before I even had the door all the way up! When I let the girls in, Claire seemed worried that Russel would be aggressive again, so she hesitated. We finally got her to come in, and she took one of the boxes that their food was put in and dragged it to the second room- just in case Russel would be mean! They did okay though, and hopefully will snuggle again tonight. :)

We finished closing the gates, and that was it!

I am enjoying every day, and don't mind being so busy since I am lonely when I'm NOT busy! ~sniffle~ Plus I am working with wildlife, just like I want! ^_^

bye for now...

Day 8 - Lion Tower

Day 8.

Today we started by waking up the LIONS! This was my first time getting to do this. :) Matt (intern) & I walked through the pens to check the fence-lines and spread enrichment. Today's enrichment: elephant poo! Matt liked to scatter it around, but Valerie told me I could just dump a couple big piles for the lions to roll in. Makes sense since elephants would just poo in one spot, not scattered! (Rockie!!) Valerie refilled their water tubs and then released them into their separate couple pens. Tau & Sarabi on the left, Keeno & Natasha on the right.

Next we went to QB (food place) to pick up enrichment for the Brown Bears: big salmon for the girls, a large ribcage for the boys! When we got to the Brown Bear exhibit Matt & I carried the ribcage into the boys' inner yard and lifted it up to hang it from a tree. This way it would be a challenge for the boys to get it down. Valerie threw the salmon into the girls' outer yard.

We went into the hut and woke up the bears. Valerie did some training with Russel while I was able to give some berries to Claire (for distraction). :) Then Matt & I went upstairs to open the doors for the boys to go out and cross over to their inner yard. Mak went straight over and found the ribcage and started trying to get it down. I took some pics of this. :) Victor & Oso took their time getting over there, and ate some of the produce on the other side of the pond before they spotted Mak with the ribcage! Sillies.

We let the girls out into their own yard after that, then Matt & I cleaned up the hut.

Once we finished with the Brown Bear hut, Matt dropped me off at the entrance to lead a guest to a Lion 101 encounter. Only one guy signed up for that time slot. He had a large lensed camera and said he comes to the safari a lot, and also used to come when all of the carnivores were free roaming as well. (A car would drive in, then the gate shut behind them while a lion or whatever could walk right next to their cars! This was stopped because of people's stupid decisions to get out of their cars to take pictures up close!) Valerie did the presentation and the training, and let him take some nice pictures. When she finished, I walked the man back to the front and said goodbye.

I had to go right back to the lion huts to help Matt clean their rooms. We started the process, but got a call from Bear Tower that the lady needed a break, so Valerie had me drive out to relieve her. This helped me learn the roads and service roads a little more. I sat in Bear Tower for about half an hour while the lady had gone to prepare her lunch. The girls (Russel & Clair) slept the whole time, and the boys (Victor, Mak, Oso) ate or swam. Two of them were wrestling in the pond, and one of them had trotted off with a couple of ribs and ate under a shelter.

Once the lady returned I went back to lion huts to help Matt finish cleaning. I only had to rinse out the rooms and fill water bowls- he'd done all the hard work. It was supposed to be lunch break after that, but Lion Tower needed someone to take over for the afternoon shift, so Valerie sent me up there with my lunch. The towers are peaceful, I think. :) Watching animals, keeping an eye on people, reading a book, taking pics, etc. I was there for about 4 hours. The front gate didn't call about the last car of the day, so I waited there until 5:30 to make sure no one was left. Then Valerie called me to say I could close the tower and meet them at the lion hut. They had already finished feeding and putting the lions in bed, so I just picked up Matt and drove to Brown Bears and we let them in for the night. Russel & Claire had to be in separate rooms again because Russel displayed some aggression in the afternoon again. We put toys, food, and enrichment (peanut butter & powdered sugar) in each room for them, and for the boys, and said goodnight. Then it was time to close up, so Matt & I drove (I did the driving so I could learn the roads more) through the main road to make sure no cars were left and to shut all of the gates. And that was it!

I finally have the next 2 days off! I will have to find things to do to occupy myself in this small town...

bye for now...

Day 7 - Bears have cute lips.

Day 7.

First we went to wake the Brown Bears up, as I've been doing every morning. I went around the girls' outer yard to clean and spread jelly around randomly for enrichment, while Angela & Matt did the boys' inner yard. Then we went inside the hut to wake everyone up. The boys were all cuddled together- so cute! The girls were in their separate rooms since Russel was being aggressive to Claire yesterday. We left them in their rooms for Valerie (main Carnivore girl) to see how they would do together today. So then we let all the boys out and went to do the Black Bears. At the Black Bears exhibit, we cleaned their yards and spread salsa & perfume for enrichment. I did the salsa. We put them out into those yards we had finished doing.

After the bears, I went with Valerie to make "diets" for all the bears. I measured out dog food & walnuts, counted produce (apples & pears today), and weighed meat for each of them. We put those in separate buckets and drive those to the bears at specific times during the day. Valerie had me measure the meat! EW! I put it on a scale to make sure we had correct portions for each bear. After we set all of the diets up we went to have lunch. I read Mu's book and other workers came and sat with me too, but they didn't mind that I read a little still. :)

Once we finished lunch, Angela (keeper in training), Matt (intern), & I went to do a Lion 101 encounter. We walked the group of people back to the lion hut area and Angela did the presentation and training with just Tau. I took pics for the people, with Tau standing against the fence behind them. Then Angela had me walk the people back out to the front of the park.

We had a small lull after that to take a breather, and then went to QB (food area) to pick up the Black Bear diets that Valerie & I had prepared earlier. Angela, Matt, & I went back to the Black Bears to throw their dinner over the fences, and spread some "enrichment" in the front yards for the other bears. (there are 6 total: young ones- Takoda, Chochmo, Donna; older ones- Little Girl, Little Boy, Ricky. And Little Girl is still kind of hibernating.) I put out teriyaki sauce and pickle juice!

We drove back to QB where we took extra cars back to the offices- I got to drive the automatic! It was pretty fun. :)

Once we got back it was time for ANOTHER Lion 101 encounter! It was Angela, Matt, & I again- Angela did the presentation and training and Matt did the distraction of the other lion (they were both in the pen this time and are food aggressive, so one has to be distracted while the other trains.) Once that was over we walked all the people to the front together (one ladies young boy was not minding well and kept running around all over! She called him back and he would come, but then he just went off running again. sheesh...........)

After that we went to wash dishes, but there were the 3 of us and now Erin (intern), so I only had to stack the dishes after the other 3 had washed them. hehe. Then Angela & I put together the lion diets. She picked meat out of the cooler that seemed the right size for each specific lion, and then I weighed them to make sure. One piece was too big, so I had to cut some off! She said to pick whatever knife and I took the biggest one! I actually thought she had told me to pick that one, but she laughed about it. :)

While we were there someone radioed that one of us interns needed to cover the last 1.5 hours of Bear Tower. I thought in my head that I wouldn't mind doing that, but I also wouldn't mind helping with the other stuff either. On our way there we stopped at Black Bears again and I blew some bubbles to Donna for "enrichment". She liked them, but most of them blew towards me on my side of the fence. A few bubbles floated her way and she chased and bit them. :) Cutie.

We took the lion diets we had made, and went to feed the lions and put them to bed. I got the job of stuffing Keeno's oil pills into chunks of meat. It was hard to create a hole big enough with the knife I had. Took me a while, and during that the others had brought in the lions and pushed their meals through the chutes. We checked all the locks, etc. then left to go pick up Matt from the Bear Tower and put the Brown Bears to bed.

Earlier in the day someone had radioed that Russel had Claire (Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears) pinned in a corner and was being very aggressive towards her, so Valerie had come and put them in their separate rooms. So they were already in when we arrived at the end of the day.

SO Matt came down from the tower and we drove to the bear huts right there. Angela had me open the guillotine and call them in, "Victor, Mak, Oso- move UP!" Mak ran right in and started eating, but Victor & Oso took their sweet time. :) Sillies. Angela got some berries to entice them, but didn't end up needing to use them. After we set everything upstairs (the guillotine control area), we went down to say goodnight. I was able to give the berries out, but only Victor was interested. They have such cute lips! hehe!

After that we drove the drive-thru to make sure no guests were left and locked up all the gates. I rode in the back of the truck for this since it's so fun back there with the animals near. :)

And that is all for today!

bye for now...

Day 6 - A ssssnake!

Day 6.

So this morning we woke up the brown bears again. We threw food over the fences, then let out the boys, who crossed over onto their inner yard, then tried to get the girls out, but Russel was being aggressive with Claire! We got them separated into their own rooms, then let them out one at a time. (Bear Tower told us they kept doing this every once in a while throughout the day, so someone ended up putting them inside in separate rooms sometime in the afternoon. They think it might be because it's mating season. Russel is the dominant female.)

Erin, another intern, and I finished up the paint job in the bear hut! YAY! It looked very nice. :)

I then went to Lion 101 with Valerie (the main Carnivore girl) and Erin. Erin did the presentation while Valerie did the training/tricks. My job was to distract the lion that Valerie was NOT with. First I distracted Tau as Valerie showed the group Sarabi. He was very gentle taking the meat cubes from off of the stick I held it with. He also laid down every time I knelt to get another piece. Cutie. :) Then we traded lions. Sarabi was a bit more aggressive getting her meat. She accidentally pulled the stick from my hand at one point, but Valerie had warned me she might do this and so I knew to just let it go.

After that we had lunch where I talked on the phone to Mu for almost the whole time. :)

Erin & I went on our own to clean the Brown bear huts. Some of the paint hadn't dried ALL the way, so it came off a little. But the place still looked a lot better than it had! After that we drove into the bear exhibit to meet a group for "Big Bear". Erin did the presentation again, while I sneaked a few pics of the bears. :) The Bears stand up when the trainer says "big bear!". This helps them to look the whole body over for any wounds or anything.

After that encounter, I went on another Lion 101 with Angela (keeper in training). I distracted the lion who wasn't being trained at the time again. So fun! Sarabi was a little more grumbly then so I had to feed her a little faster so she didn't go over and bug Tau as he was doing his tricks.

Valerie & I drove to QB to get the lions' dinner and drove over to Black Bears to throw some meat to them too. We had a bit of a break here, so we went to the office for about 10 min. It was nice to relax a bit. :)

When Angela, Erin, and Matt (another intern) made it back to the office (from cleaning the Black Bear yards and feeding them), we ALL went to put the lions to bed. Their dinners were just snacks because it's a "fast day". They do 2 "fast days" a week cuz in the wild lions don't get food every day. The lions seemed to know, because it was hard to get them to come in. Sarabi came pretty fast, but Tau took a LOOOONG time. They just kept calling him. lol. Finally he went in, and Keeno hesitated a couple minutes but he finally came in too. Then Natasha was totally ignoring the keepers! We could see her laying in her yard on her back, not even looking when they called! haha! Angela, Matt & I left while the others stayed to get Natasha to go into her room. So the 3 of us went to close up all the gates and make sure no guests were left in the park. At the last gate I saw a bird drop a snake in the driveway. I had to get out to shut that gate, so I crept over to look at him. He was SOOO TINY! (or she!) He was in the alert position too- hehe. We were very careful in case he might be poisonous tho. You never know.

Now I'm at the library, then I will meet Angela at the "house" at 8:30 to go to the grocery store in Roseburg to pick up our donated fruits/veggies. And that's it!

bye for now...

Day 5 - And today, it's LIONS, TIGERS & BEARS! Oh my!

Day 5.

This morning I went to wake up the Brown Bears again. Angela (keeper in training) and Erin (new intern also) and I went together. We picked up food at QB (the food place) then up to the brown bear exhibit. Before letting the bears out we wanted to clean their yards and throw their breakfast out. I got to do the girls' outer yard, while Angela & Erin did the boys' inner yard. It was SO COOL walking around the whole yard that the huge Alaskan Coastal Brown Bears do!! HAHA! I walked the whole thing looking for any debris from previous days (this yard cleanup is not daily). The girls only had one paper that a guest must have thrown in or lost out their car window. Then I tossed out their breakfast- donuts, lettuce, peaches, plums, and walnuts.

Erin & I then went into the bear hut to wake the bears all up and let the boys out first. Angela had their tunnel open so they could go through to their inner yard. Once they were securely over there we let the girls out into their outer yard.

Today we are painting the hut in places that look bad. (The AZA inspector comes every 5 years and happens to be coming next week to Wildlife Safari! So we are trying to make it look very nice!) We painted for a bit, then there was a Bear Encounter with a bus full of little kids around 5 or 6. Angela did the talking and Erin & I took pics. The kids got to throw used boxes (from crakers, poptarts, etc) with peaches inside, to the bears. They gave some to both the boys and the girls. :) After that we went back to painting for a bit.

Angela then took us to the Black Bear exhibit to throw out some walnuts in each of their yards for "enrichment". Throwing walnuts is pretty fun! I do a softball toss so that they make it over any high fences and also they scatter better after flying so high. :) Pretty fun to do. :D Then we went into the little house pen in the middle and cleaned, and I took pics from there cuz the bears are so close from that point!

Erin & I were dropped off at the entrance to pick up guests who were going on a Lion Encounter. We walked them around the front and into the lion area where Angela & Valerie (one of the main Carnivore people) were waiting. The two of us stood back while Angela did the presentation and Valerie had the lion do behaviors for treats.

LUNCH TIME! I ate again with other employees/interns. :) I just listened to them talk to each other while I ate my healthy meal of carrot, kale, bread, cheese, blueberries. yum!

After lunch, guess what we went back to? .......................painting the Brown Bear hut! There is still more to do tomorrow too. heh. We also cleaned the rooms for the bears, and spread out their dinners.

After that Angela & I went to "wash the dishes" (clean the buckets that food was carried in). After about an hour, we had to do another Lion Encounter. Since I'd never taken guests alone to walk to the lion area, Angela walked with me. But that meant she couldn't drive the truck up and we had to carry the large bucket of meat together around to the lion area! It was just a couple doing the Encounter, and the guy offered to help carry the container, but we didn't want him to. :) Once there, we just showed them how we bring the lions in for dinner and bedtime. Keeno was called in first, but Natasha, his mate, wouldn't respond, so he was sent back out and THEN she came in! The guests got to push the meals through the chutes before each lion got into their own rooms. Keeno, Natasha, and Sarabi had their meat in paper dog food bags to give them a "challenge". Tau has hereditary stomach trouble, so he can't have a bag.

Angela & I were left there to let the guests watch for as long as they wanted. The lions ate, then two times they did a "chorus" where they roar back and forth. One time all 4 lions were doing it and the second time only the males did it. :)

Once the guests had their fill, Angela & I went to fill out the daily report in the office. While we were there, one of the cheetah people asked for help putting the tigers up! ("Cheetahs" do both the cheetahs AND tigers.) So Angela & I got to respond to that! YAY!

We drove up to the tiger area, waited for the very last car of the day to pass through, then went down to the tiger house. Angela let me put the meat into their rooms before each was called in. There are 2 and they are bro & sis. I forget what their names are tho....

And that was it- we closed and locked the gates to the park!

bye for now...

Day 4 - Scooping poop

Day 4.

Woke up early to arrive at 7:30. Went with Cailyn (girl I closed with yesterday, and who I trained with all day- but it was her last day today!) to open the brown bear areas. We open their side of the hut and they come out on the outer ring and are supposed to go through a tunnel to get to their inner area. They took almost an hour to decide to go over! In the meantime we threw out their breakfast of bread, donuts, fruits, and nuts over the fence into their area. We also cleaned their hut rooms (we had closed the door already so they couldn't come back in). I had to scoop the poo and then scrub disinfectant everywhere while Cailyn sprayed down everything. Once we did that the boys finally decided to go over to their area and eat their breakfasts. :) Then we shut the tunnel, then threw the girls' breakfast into their area, then finally let them out (they were very antsy having to wait on the boys!) Then we cleaned the girls' area and then deep cleaned the whole hut- grabbing cobwebs and spraying everything, including the ceiling. It looked very nice when we finally finished.

After that we went to "QB" where the food is all prepared. We prepared all the bear meals in buckets- brown bears' dinners and black bear meals. That took a while- I had to pit a ton of peaches and Cailyn had me doing it with my bare hands at first! But another girl came by to help and told me to use a knife! I was so thankful! My hands were pretty freezing after that, even with the use of a knife to open the peaches! We gave the bears dog food, nuts, fruit, meat. Counted out everything exactly.

Then we had our lunch break. Since it was Cailyn's last day we all ate together in a private room at the cafe. I brought my carrot, kale, cheese, and bread lunch, then also bought a chicken skewer. It was pretty fulfilling. :)

I had a little time after the meal to watch a cheetah encounter, and then Cailyn and another girl who just got hired from internship, Angela, and I all took the truck again to pick up a girl from a different department and take her to QB to get food for her animals (not sure what those are!), then drove to the elephant area to give them some food goodies that were donated (bread, veggies), then took her back to her department.

The 3 of us went back to QB to pick up the meals we had prepared earlier in the day and went to the black bear exhibit to throw the food over the fence for them. We toss all the fruit over, then swing the bucket to throw the dog food and nuts over.. but I messed up and it all fell short of the fence! Angela said that was okay- she still can't do it all the time. :) The black bears are very cute and small. We don't do much with them. Sometimes they are moved into different areas to be with different buddies. (A guillotined door is pulled up and the bear is called through)

After that we went back to brown bear exhibit to put their meals into their rooms- I got to choose 4 "enrichment" items to put in the girls' rooms. We then toss the food all over their rooms and also spread a bit of jelly for enrichment too (different enrichment is chosen daily- I chose the jelly!) Once all the brown bear food was placed, we went to the lion exhibit. It was pretty cool in there. The older male lion, Keeno, was called into his room. Angela and I prepared each of their cuts of meat with some vitamin powder for their joints, and Keeno gets fish oil. Angela had me push each specific cut (certain # of lbs for each lion) into their own rooms through a chute (like an old-school door mail slot), then the other lions were brought in one at a time to their own rooms and started chowing down. We stood their for a while watching them- Cailyn was milking all the time she could to say goodbye to them- and then Keeno started making some noise and the humans I was with made noise to egg him on, so then he started roaring a little and the young lion couple (Tau & Sarabi- 2.5 years old) started up too and it sounded so cool! Keeno's mate (Natasha) was too busy to join in tho. :)

We drove back to the brown bears to close up since it was after park closing. I went into the hut with Cailyn while 2 other girls went into the habitat to do the fencing to make the area smaller so we could call them in easier. We called the girl bears in and shut them in their rooms, while the other girls closed off the pen and let the boys over to that outer area near the hut and we called them into their rooms. They all went pretty quickly since it was dinner time. :) We went downstairs to watch them eat for a while and take pics.

After that it was time to drive through the park and shut all the gates. (also make sure no stragglers were left!) This was fun cuz we rode in the back of the truck and stood in the areas that the animals do! I got to jump out at each gate and help Cailyn close them all. One of the gates is by the ostrich's favorite area to hang out at (the entrance to the drive thru.) The male was hanging out there, so we had to be very careful closing the gate. Once we finally got him to move away from us, we closed the gate, jumped in the truck, and drove off. AND HE RAN ALONGSIDE US!! I took a video of this- it was so cool! He was pretty much running right next to Cailyn tho and she was nervous, telling the driver to speed up! lol!

And that was it! ^_^

bye for now...

Day 3 - The Real Work Begins!

Day 3. (June 15)

I had a cereal and fruit breakfast while reading Mu's "Lady's Number 1 Detective Agency". Went in to the park at 9 and read the handbook on protocols for cleaning/feeding bears and lions, and info about each animal, like their name and birthday.

Sarah, the main carnivore lady, came in around 11:30 and said that since my drug test results hadn't come in, that I would just go on a bunch of "encounters" today. I joined a family on the elephant encounter where a keeper showed us some supplies they use and then we met George and his trainer. He is an African Elephant and he did a few "tricks" for us like playing a tambourine on his knees, blowing "Happy Birthday" (not really) on a harmonica, laying down, etc. We all got to feed him 2 pieces of carrot. His trunk was slobbery/snotty and had long, course whiskers on it- felt very weird! I also got to pet his trunk. :)

After that I had a lunch break and came back to go on a giraffe feeding! I got into the vehicle, but someone came to tell me plans had changed cuz my test results had come back- now I would be taking over a shift in the bear tower! The girl drove me over to it and I climbed up the tall ladder and met Ron & Kathy, an older couple who volunteer at many things, the Wildlife Safari every Tuesday. They showed me how to do a few things, but mostly told stories of what they'd seen the bears do on different days and that the bears were the most fun tower to be in cuz there wasn't as much activity from the lions or the cheetahs. I asked them some questions about the bear pen layouts, they asked about where I was staying- saying they hoped it wasn't the dorms! They'd heard bad things about how crappy it was- I confirmed that the kitchen situation is not ideal for germ-a-phobes! Then the guy asked if I would feel comfortable coming to their house for dinner some time! ^_^ I said ya! They left soon after that, but the wife told me if I wasn't totally comfortable I could invite another intern along with me when I come over. I just have to figure out my schedule and call them to let them know when I'm available. :) (They did reassure me that THEY wash their hands before preparing meals! lol)

So then I was in bear tower alone for about 4 hours. The girl bears were pretty lazy- sleeping most of the day away. The boys slept for the first bit, but then one went in the water and another followed him and wanted to wrestle. After their ruckus, the third boy awoke and became active too. "The Carnivores" (what our group of people is called) came to do a "Bear Encounter" at about 3. They drive people up in a truck that has fencing on the bed and a bench in the middle. The boy bears got to do tricks for food and the guests got to throw them some pieces of food too. The female bears woke up at this point and seemed a little jealous, wandering over and watching the encounter. Once that was finished all of the bears stayed pretty active. The boys did a lot of swimming in the pond and a little wrestling and running. The girls didn't interact with each other too much, one wandered a lot and raked up some hay from the grass like she wanted to build a bed or a nest. The other girl walked a bit and slept a bit, on and off.

There were also some elk near my tower that I watched a little. I took lots of pictures and a couple videos, read a book that was left in the tower about a woman who raised a lion, tiger, and cougar; waved at all of the people who drove by, and chatted on my phone quite a bit. :)

After the last guest passed my area, "The Carnivores" drove up to let the bears into their huts. I came down from my tower and went into the bear area with Cailyn (keeper). She took me over to the fence by the boys and told me who each of them were- I was only 3 feet from them with only an electric fence in between us! Then we got the all clear from Matt (intern) who was in the bear hut- he had spotted where the girl bears were and so we safely entered their area and moved part of an electric fence so that their area was smaller and we could get them into the hut easier. I thought that was awesome to walk on the same ground that the bears do!!

Once the girl bears went in, the boy bears- who were in the center of the drive through loop- were led through a tunnel under the road and into the same area we had made smaller for the girls (this area leads to the huts). They took their time, but also went into their rooms. Then we closed and locked the gate to the drive through and went into the hut. It's like a barn with the "rooster window" part on a second story, so you are walking above the bears, but can see through the flooring. We looked out the window at the boys as they finally entered the hut. Then we went downstairs and walked next to the actual cages they were in! Right on the other side of a chain linked fence! They were all busy eating their dinners. :) I took some pics of this too.

After that we drove the truck along the path to make sure no guests were still there, and locked up gates as we drove through. The rheas were right near us when we locked one of the gates! Cailyn & I stood at the gate after we locked it and one of the rheas, "fluffy neck," came over and pretended she was going to snap at us. (Fluffy neck cuz hers is bald!)

Cailyn let me lock the last gate on my own and we went to the office to fill in the daily log, and that was it!

Now at the library typing this story, then I will go home and eat and read or watch a movie on my laptop. :) Start again tomorrow at 7:30am! I will do a "normal" day tomorrow, and tower watches sound like once a week, unless we need to fill in for someone. I don't mind tower- it was fun! ^_^

Love you guys!

bye for now...

Days 1 & 2 - Wildlife Safari!

So Day 1 just involved seeing the park itself and settling into my dorm. It helped to have Nick along to help me fix up my room and everything. Met some nice people who also stay at the dorms. :) I ended up with a garage as my room (sound familiar?), which is better cuz most have curtains as partitions between their rooms! I get a door and more privacy and a nice king mattress (covered with 2 sheets for germ protection!)

Day 2.

Nick & I slept in a little, snuggling up really good. :) We had privacy getting ready since others were either already at work or still sleeping in. Went to the park to get info on my (required) drug test and a key for the dorms. We drove to Roseburg, the nearest city, to get the test done and go to Albertson's (THANK THE HEAVENS!); dropped the new groceries off at the dorms, then went on our way to Medford where Nick would be flying out of. It was about 1.5 hour drive on the I-5 through the mountains (very windy road sometimes!). We stopped at Sonic to eat- yum! Then we had a bit of extra time to see "Butte Creek Mill" or something like that, a place that has a dam and makes flour. We went into the old-smelling place built 200 years ago, and watched a video of how they make everything and what antiques from the olden days that they have. Saw the mill, but it wasn't on at the time. Also out back is the creek that has a dam. Very pretty- Nick said it would be so cool to live right next to a river like that. :)

After that break it was time to take him to the airport.. BOOHOO! Right as we pulled up I had hot tears pouring down my face- I didn't even get that nose tingly feeling first- the tears just squirted right out! :( The airport was small, but looked nice from the outside. I pulled up and Nick came over to my door to give a squishy hug and a kiss, then waved as he entered through the doors.

I sang Thirty Seconds to Mars songs all the way back to make myself feel better. :) It worked, mostly. :)

I then found the library in Winston so I could type this message. Nice little community center with the library inside.

I'm not sure of my hours every day, so I don't know when I can make it to the library when they are open, but I will try to write something every day. :)

LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ^_^

I start my employee process tomorrow, and will have my camera with me- hopefully I get to work with the animals right away! ^_^

bye for now...

How The Safari Began!

Ashley had applied to a few internships with zoos, animal parks, wildlife reserves..... even a circus! That circus would have been fun! :)

But for weeks, no response or acceptance letter came. She decided to face reality: that she would be staying home this summer, working her regular job, tending her beloved dogs, caring for the pelicans and other wildlife at the Pacific Wildlife Project, and of course, hanging out with her perfect husband and awesome family!

Then one fateful day (a Tuesday), she got a voice message from Wildlife Safari in Oregon. They had an intern back out of the program and the season had already started! They had to fill the spot FAST! They told her they had marked her application as someone to contact later, after her successful phone interview. Oooooh. She wanted the position, but she never even had a phone interview, so she was a bit confused. Her file was in with the "already interviewed" files! She called back and asked, "I would love to do this, and I can leave right away, but are you sure you mean ME??" The answer was, YES, come now!

Within two hours, Ashley had quit her job, put her volunteer work on hold, and started packing. There were a few whirlwind days of errands, packing, preparing. We had a farewell dinner on that Friday, and on Saturday, June 12, Nick and Ashley drove toward Oregon.

Everyone is so proud of Ashley! This is her dream: to work with animals, preferably wild ones!