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...