Day 47 - I attend a senior potluck!

Day 47.

Today was pretty relaxing. We didn't have a lot of chores to do and also had some help. :) It was just Valerie & I, as usual on Thursdays. We stopped at Lions first- they were all sleepyheads this morning! Keeno was looking at us, but laying down still with droopy eyes, Natasha is always still laying down and yawning, and Sarabi (surprisingly) was still laying down and even laid her head down! She's usually a chipper morning Lion! huh! Tau was actually already up and alert.

We started by letting Keeno onto the sundeck (which leads to the yards), but had to wait for Benji to provide the new medication for Natasha's sore throat (other than that, she is perfectly healthy!). We waited a little bit, going to look at the Lions more and giving Keeno some boxes with perfume on them to keep him occupied. He LOVED that and rolled around on one of them. :)

It was taking so long to wait on the medicine, we decided to go let the Brown Bears out. They were also sleepyheads this morning! This is normal for Oso, but everyone else was still curled up too- even the girls! Oso & Victor were snuggled, Mak was curled up in another room, and the girls were each in their own room (with access to each other) with their legs up against the walls. :) Valerie took time to train the girls with berries- I distracted whoever wasn't being trained. They did pretty well, but kept trying to get at the berries that I was using to distract the other Bear! Before we finished, I heard this really huge fart from Claire... then another one from one of the boys! Valerie left to go operate the tunnel guillotines, and I was to release each Bear group. While I was up there another Bear farted! Not sure what gave them such gas, but it was pretty funny! If only we'd had a "Breakfast with the Bears" and some guests had been there for THAT experience! hehe. As I was opening the boys' door, they were still laying down and I saw someone's feet sticking out like a seal. They went out pretty quickly once the door was opened though. :)

After the Bears were out we headed straight over to get Natasha's medicine that Benji had ready, then to Lion hut to give them to her. It took a while to coax her to please eat the meat chunk with the medicine in it! She finally did after about 15 minutes. She wasn't very hungry (we left a hunk of meat in her room earlier that she didn't touch), but she was excited to go outside after being cooped up. She just laid under her shade structure all day, probably enjoying the breeze and sunshine. Valerie & I cleaned the Lion hut together, and she pointed out a few things that I'd been taught incorrectly to do! eek! My first assumption WAS to clean the walls, and I had been told not to, but we ARE supposed to spray down the walls since the Lions pee on them and birds poop on the ledges. I always thought it was gross to leave the walls alone since the boys mark them.

While driving to the vet clinic, I noticed the White Fallow Deer and the Sika Deer were all laying in one big white and brown group. It looked pretty cool. :) At the vet clinic, we updated Benji on how Natasha was doing and how she took her medicine. He was happy with our news.

We had a Big Bear encounter to do, and Valerie let me do all the talking and training. :) All three boys came over to do it this time! yay! After, we took the people back to the entrance of the park, I was sent to do midday enrichment for all of the Bears by myself. I love when I get to go off alone, and that they trust I will do everything correctly. I wanted to give the Bears fruitsicles, but there weren't any.. boohoo. We did have some new beef jerky though, so I thought they might enjoy that. I stopped at the Black Bears first and threw a bunch of jerky and cashews out to them. They all seemed to like it a lot! Next was Brown Bears. A bunch of cars were in the drive-thru loop and watched me get out and toss tons of jerky out to the Bears. Mak was in front of me so I tossed a long jerky stick right in front of him. Then Victor came over to see what it was and started sniffing for bits in the grass. I threw him a long piece too. Oso was on the other side of the yard and came RUNNING over to see what the snack was! They all loved it! I crossed the road to stand in front of the girls' yard and spread a bunch out in the area they were in. They loved it too! :) They were also dripping wet from just getting out of the pond. Cuties.

On my way to take my lunch I spotted a Guanaco with a baby!!! SO CUTE!!

At lunch I joined Bethany (ungulate intern) & Anthony (ungulate keeper- also took my fam to go meet Hidare). I mostly listened to them talk about their day to each other. Then Benji (vet) & Claire (vet intern) sat with us too and we all talked a lot. Everyone always comments on my healthy meals too. :) It was a nice lunch.

Next, Valerie & I headed to QB to prepare all of the Bear dinners. I actually did them myself while Valerie was trying to feed the barn cats, BW & BK. BK is still very scared, but she ended up coming fairly close. I loaded up all the dinner buckets and we went to Black Bears. We locked Donna, Takoda, & Chochmo out of one of their yards so I could walk in it and throw around all their food. That was fun. :) I took the apples and just flung them in all directions. heh. Also put like 20 of them in the pool for them to bob for. In the hut there is a little tub that we fill with water. It's empty now since so much water comes out when they sit in it, but they still wanted to sit in it! Donna looked like she was trying to tell us to fill it, putting a leg in and shaking the tub around. Once we gave them access to their food, Takoda grabbed his meat and went to eat it while sitting in the tub. haha! After that we went to set up the Brown Bear food in their hut. We poured it in boxes for them to tear up. We also gave them the hay that Natasha had used to lay on the other night. I took the empty buckets to the car and there were some wild turkey's RIGHT THERE! They all ran when I got close though.

Now with all those empty buckets I had to go do the dishes. pooey. I also prepared the Lion dinners. I was going to meet Valerie for a Lion 101 encounter, but the guests canceled because it was so hot! I turned off the water which was filling a pool at Black Bears, then went to the office. As I drove to the office, I enjoyed the view of the Zebras, Guanaco & baby, and the Camels laying in the shade. :) Valerie & I sat and just relaxed in the office for a bit. Thanks for the extra time, guests!

We also took time to drive out to the Lion drive-thru loop and check on Natasha. She was still laying under the shade looking around. Keeno was across the yard under a tree. Tau & Sarabi were active- Tau tried chasing our truck as we approached. :) Sarabi sat near the fence looking at us. Then as we drove away Tau chased us again- limited by his fence.

It was time to put the Lions up in their hut. Natasha took a LOOOONG time. Keeno was calling her too- sounded like a hoarse throated whine. :) Once Natasha was finally up on the sundeck, she came over to me for some love and I happily obliged by talking to her sweetly . All the Lions started roaring then and I noticed the building was vibrating! ha!

Valerie & I fed them and secured everything, then headed over to let the Brown Bears in. I operated the tunnel guillotines and they all went into their huts quickly, like good Bears! We followed the last cars and closed all the gates, then met with the Cheetah keeper. I had to stay at the Cheetah Lodge to watch the last cars drive through, while Valerie helped put the Tigers into their hut. I had to walk down to the office from there, once the last car had driven through. Then it was time to go meet the Lawrence's at a "Senior Potluck" they'd invited me too!

I arrived late since it started at 6, but I didn't get off until 6:45. There was still food though. :) Ron & Kathy were actually about to leave, but then stayed to make sure I got food and watched me eat while they talked to me. hehe. I was only there for half an hour while other people were cleaning and closing the place up. The seniors don't stay long for evening events! Kathy made sure I had enough to eat and also take home with me. There were some little apples, Alex sized, that she gave me to take. We hugged goodbye and I went back to my house to eat and rest. :)

Bye for now...

Day 46 - Natasha's medical procedure

Day 46.

Today we did a "knock-down" with Natasha to check that she's healthy. She's been throwing up, diarrhea, skipping some meals. So we started the day by letting the other lions out into the yards. Keeno went alone into his usual pen, and Tau & Sarabi went into one of the small upper pens. That gave them a change and also ensured that we wouldn't have to make Natasha move from her room to get them out. We spread some vinegar and soy sauce around for enrichment, and I put a barrel in the tree too. I never saw them get it down and actually forgot to look later. :)

We had to take care of all the Bears first too. We went to QB to pick up 6 frozen melons and take those to the Black Bears. Ricky & Little Boy were too sleepy to walk to the thrown melons yet. I did see them eating later. :) For Donna, Takoda, & Chochmo, we thought it'd be fun for them to bob in the pool for the melons. They did go over and try to grab them out, but failed and tired of trying. So we locked them out of the yard for a minute while we went in to remove the melons from the pool for them. haha. They still just sniffed each one, scratched a couple times and then left the melons sitting there. Oh well! Maybe they went back to them later when they thawed a bit. Next was time to let the Brown Bears out into their yards. I went into the hut while Sarah & Angela threw out the breakfast enrichments. I operated the doors to release the girls, let them cross the tunnel to the inner yard, then I released the boys too. Outside my window, Victor stood on his back legs and looked up at me- so cute!

After that we quickly drove to the Lion hut to get everything ready for the knock-down. Tau & Sarabi were in a pen right next to the driveway area, and came over to check out what we were doing, pulling our truck up right next to the hut! Valerie & J had been cleaning the other rooms, while Natasha was still laying in hers. She seemed curious as to what they were doing. When the cleaning was finished, we all went outside to meet up with the vet staff- two of whom were students volunteering to help today. Benji, the vet, went in with Sarah (main Carnivore/Cheetah lady) to dart Natasha. We heard her roar, and about 15 minutes later they confirmed that she was out. We all went in to watch the catheter be put in and help get her onto a stretcher, then lift her onto the truck bed. I was holding a vet-pole wrapped around her back feet. We rode in the back with her and I pet her a few times. We arrived at the vet clinic and unloaded her together onto a rolling bed, then wheeled her into the main room. Benji set up the breathing apparatus and ran a few tests while the rest of us really just helped with little things- Rayna cleaned Natasha's ears, Angela checked her paws for foxtail stickers. At one point I bent down to hug her (she was cleaner and softer than Keeno!) and Benji saw me and smiled. He knows we love our Natasha. A little later I saw Valerie bend down to hug her too. :)

She was wheeled over to the x-ray machine and we had to push her onto it. She's a chunky girl and it was a little difficult, but I think I helped a lot with my amazing strength! I helped push her shoulders while the others worked elsewhere to get her onto the table. We waited a while for them to get a few good x-rays, then Angela & I were sent to prepare her room for her to recover in. I wished I could have helped load her back on the truck and ride with her, but that was okay. I did enjoy getting to set up the room all nice for her- we took out her bed and placed down a bunch of hay. Angela sent me to the service gate to open it for the truck when they pulled up. I walked down the road and waited, crouched, in the shade of a short tree. Several guests drove by as they entered the drive-thru area which is right next to the service road that leads to the Lion hut. I think I waited a good 10 or 15 minutes and finally I saw them! I quickly went to the gate to open it so they wouldn't even have to slow down. Sarah thanked me as she drove by. :)

The little train was coming- it's tracks cross over the Lion service road- and it had to stop and wait for us! haha! I was walking behind the trucks though, so I ran a little to get out of the train's way. :) Everyone else unloaded Natasha and carried her into her room. I went in to watch them flip her onto her hay bed, then we all went into the hall while Benji injected the waking up drugs. We locked her door and all stood in the hallway waiting to see her wake up. It took about 10 minutes and she slowly blinked her eyes and tried to swallow (hard after having a tube down your throat!). The director of the park came by to check on her too! :)

We left Rayna to watch Natasha while everyone else went to eat lunch. Angela & I sat together and relaxed- it would have been a good time to go home and take a nap! After lunch I was to go to Bear Tower to give the volunteer a lunch break! I got there and took off my boots, letting my toes feel the cool fan breeze, ate a snack, read a little.. then Valerie showed up to clean the Bear hut with me! Dang! Not even a whole 30 minutes in the tower- poo! The Bears were all sleeping anyway, but it's a nice place to just sit and relax. The hut didn't take us too long to clean.

Afterwards we met up with Sarah & Angela at QB to prepare all of the Bear dinners. The Grizzly boys were getting their food in cardboard boxes (enrichment), and so I put some apples in one, but when I got it to the truck it popped open! ugh! Sarah laughed at me and I got it secured. Angela & I had to stay and wash some dishes, then headed to the Lion hut to check on Natasha again. She'd thrown up bile a few times and was breathing a little fast and shallow, but seemed okay. We went to fill in the daily log in the office, relax a bit, then went back to the Lion hut once Sarah & Valerie had arrived there too. The Lions were fed and brought into their rooms, and we checked Natasha again. She was breathing deeper and more normal now and seemed okay. She got a speck of water and we left her food in the fridge to try and give her at breakfast. Everyone looked okay, so Valerie and I started our closing procedures- let the Brown Bears into their hut (I operated the tunnel guillotines), drive through the park to make sure no guests were left, and close the gates! A day not filled with tons of small jobs like usual, but still exhausting anyway!

Bye for now...

Day 45 - Fun in Bear Tower, and a sad goodbye for Willow

Day 45.

Today was Angela and us interns: Matt, Rayna, and I. We all four went together to the Lion hut and woke up the lions. Natasha gave us a little scare because she's been skipping some meals and acting more lethargic, plus she's 20 and captive lion lifespan is 20-25 years old. (Keeno, who is 18, just had a physical done and he's in perfect health!) They are thinking about putting her under anesthesia to check her health too, but wanted to wait a few more days to see how she eats if we give her the freshest meat we have. She did finish most of her dinner last night, but this morning was just laying there and didn't look up for a minute. Angela got scared for a second until she noticed her breathing! She still didn't get up until we opened the yard for her, but she was okay. (She usually would get up when we came in and rub against the fence near us lovingly.)

One of the chores was cleaning the upper pens (not used much), so I walked around looking for old poo and then cleaned the drain path. While I was in there, Desi the ostrich was following me along the fenceline and a few times he tiptoed towards me and when I looked he dropped down and did his dance! haha! He must like me since I always say hello. Some workers tell him to go away, but he's actually a pretty good ostrich! They say not to encourage his dancing, but I appreciate it and watch when they aren't looking! There's no point in ignoring him, cuz he still follows us around anyway! :)

Next we went to Brown Bears where some guests were doing a "Breakfast with the Bears". Rayna & I picked up the breakfast buckets (which included some tortilla strips!) and met everyone at the exhibit. It was a family with grandparents and parents and 2 little kids. The little girl had a glove on each hand that was too big. :) cute. I got to watch them throw stuff in one of the yards, but then had to go to Lion Tower since someone hadn't shown up! We can't open the lion drive-thru section unless someone is in the tower. I thought I'd be there all morning, but J surprised me and came only 10 minutes into my stay. I did get to watch Tau & Sarabi be cute first though. Sarabi was just walking along the fenceline looking at the few cars that were passing through. Tau was laying on the roof of his shade structure and at one point thought he'd try to get the plastic culvert onto the roof with him! He grabbed the edge of it in his mouth and pulled, then used his paw to stabilize it and it was actually up there for a second, but then it fell off and he grumbled about it. haha! All that hard work and it fell... :) Oh and he also tried to mate with Sarabi while she was nuzzling him, and a couple vans with kids inside were right next to them. haha. I heard the kids exclaiming something.

Oh, and Ron & Kathy are in Bear Tower on Tuesdays, so I saw them and waved so big at them! They seemed pleasantly surprised to see me too, as I don't usually work on Tuesdays.

Rayna came to pick me back up since J was in the Lion Tower. The guests still weren't done placing the breakfast out! We went into the hut to wait and released the bears when everything was ready. Oso was being so lazy, still laying on the floor in the same spot until we opened the door for him. :) He's not a morning bear. Once the bears were out we stayed to clean the hut which went pretty quickly- Rayna is really good. Matt had to go to Cheetah Lodge for a shift.

After we finished cleaning Brown Bear hut, I headed to QB alone to prepare all of the Brown/Black Bear diets and the Lion diets. I also washed some dishes and cut some meat chunks for Lion encounters. Angela was so thankful that I finished that before lunch. :) I like impressing the keepers!

It was lunchtime, so I went to the house to grab a few things I would want when I went in Bear Tower at 1:30 until about 5:30. Flip-flops, computer, phone charger, book, movies. I didn't know what I'd be able to do up here, so I brought a bunch of stuff in case! haha. I actually wrote most of this blog in Bear Tower today! ^_^ When I got here I was replacing the Lawrence's, so we visited for a couple minute before they left. They said they'd loved meeting the family yesterday. Ron thought if we'd owned a pickup truck that we'd have taken his whole rock yard home with us for Alex!

The Bears slept for the first couple hours I was here, but then Russell decided to go for a swim. 15 minute later, Claire decided to join her. They wrestled and looked for goodies in the water and just relaxed there for over an hour! :) What a nice day for a long swim! The boys got up around 4 and started chasing each other and playing a little too. They might have been swimming before that, but I can't see their pond from the tower. :) Near the end of the day the boys got more active and started digging in the dens in the hill, reconstructing the place I guess! One of them was scratching and shaking a tree and trying to grab the high branches. He held on and put one foot up on it like he might climb, but didn't. I looked at them a minute later and he had a branch in his mouth! Not sure how he got that! haha. About an hour before closing the girls got tired of swimming and just sat near me or paced near the gate. It seems like they know that it's ME in the tower- someone who puts them in the hut at night. They must have been hungry and hot. Cuties. They sit with their back feet sticking forward. :)

We have a Lion/Bear Feed with guests- they get to go drop the Lions' meals into their rooms and watch them come into their hut, then they drive to the Brown Bears and watch them come into their hut and eat the dinners we already set up earlier in the day. When they arrived at the hut I met up with Angela to let the girls get through the tunnel and into their rooms. Then we went into the hut with the guests and watched the Bears eat. That was the end of our day- a nice ending seeing people get amazed at how big the Bears are. :)

Sad Note: We lost Willow the Cheetah today. She was only about 5 years old, already on meds for renal failure (common in Cheetahs), and she wasn't eating much the past few days. When my fam fed the Cheetahs yesterday we skipped her & her sister cuz she wasn't getting up or interested. The keepers couldn't get her to take her medicine chunk of meat either. Today she didn't eat again and the vet came to test her kidneys and said it was the end for her.. so they euthanized her this morning... ~_~ I hope Kira, her sister, will be okay and not too sad...

Bye for now...

Day 42 - Preparing for a zoo event & my family's arrival!

Day 42.

We started at Lions as usual, waking them up, checking fencelines, moving toys around. I actually put a barrel in a tree and supported it with a stick. heh heh. When Tau got out there he immediately went to my setup and batted at the stick to release the barrel! ha! Then he climbed the tree a little too! Lions usually don't climb trees, but it is a pasttime for Sarabi and I guess it rubbed off a little on Tau too. :) On her way outside, Sarabi stopped to pace in front of Natasha- both of them staring at each other menacingly. We finally had to get the hose and spray her feet to get her to go into the yard! Lions don't like getting wet. Then Matt & I stayed to clean out their hut.

From there we were to go and clean the Brown Bear hut. We usually drive the only automatic car, but today Sarah told me I should practice driving the bronco (one of the hardest!) and "become one with the bronco". I actually did a very good job! I only stalled out once while waiting on an incline for cars to go by. We cleaned the hut, then it was lunchtime! I had to make sure to end my lunch on the dot so I could go give Bear Tower a lunch break! While I was in there the Grizzly boys (Victor, Mak, Oso) were digging a den- veerrry fun! At 1:30 the Bear Tower volunteer came back and all of the Carnivores of the day (Sarah, Valerie, Matt, Rayna, & I) met in the Brown Bear exhibit with TWO truck-loads of people for a Big Bear Encounter! They had already set up for me to do the training while Sarah & Valerie each took a truck and spoke to those groups about the bears. Rayna & Matt were supposed to have done the speaking, but it didn't work out that way so they just watched. Rayna is still learning about the Bears anyway. :) I did a good job training though! And it was a very fun, large group with lots of little kids. :) It's so cute when they throw the apples to the Bears. A lot of apples were thrown over to Russel & Claire too, in their pond, and they swam around and ate them leisurely. They are having a lot of fun being in that middle yard! ^_^

Next was a string of chores that we always do: prepare Brown/Black Bear diets, wash dishes, set up Brown Bear dinners in their hut, throw Black Bear dinners over the fences to them. We also cut up a ton of meat chunks for a special event that was to happen in the Lion exhibit! A special fancy dinner put on by some large contributor to the park I think. There was a bit white tent set up in front of the Lion pens for the past week. Only the keepers attended, so we didn't get to see what it was like. Oh well. But we did see van-fulls and truck-fulls of the guests, all dressed up, being driven around the park after hours. We were told to put the Brown Bears in their hut, and afterwards the people drove over to try and see them! Nobody told the keepers to keep them out though! Oh well again! Sarah & Valerie put on official button-down shirts for the event and sprayed some perfume on to cover the sweaty smell. haha.

The last thing us interns did was wash off a truck with a hose, then we got to go home a little early, which was good for me since the fam was coming!!! ^_^

I went to the house to shower and change, then drove to Roseburg to pick up the produce for the Bears and also some groceries for the visit! When I was pushing the cart-load of produce out, a manager (I think) saw me and asked if the produce in boxes was better. I've never had the produce NOT in boxes, so I just said yes, and thanked him for contributing to the animals. :) Then I went grocery shopping and called Mumu to see where they were. They were only 15 minutes away from the hotel!!!!!!!! I thought it'd be a few hours more- and I was still 40 minutes from arriving at the hotel! My plans to spread blue balloons everywhere was nixed, but I rushed over to see everyone. When I got there, Ian & Jacob were downstairs and led me to the room. I opened the door and Daddy was talking, then noticed me and said "oh!". I peeked around the corner to see Alex on the bed and when he noticed me he looked surprised, then smiled really huge, then hid his face. :) We visited for a little while, then I went to bed snuggled with Alex. Mu came in the bed later and we had a sandwich with Alex as the meat. :) How nice to have wiggly little Alex sleeping next to me. ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ And at one point in the night he rolled over onto Mu and flung his leg over her- haha! Two days with my family- yaaaaaay!!!

Bye for now...

Day 39 - Cheetah Day!

Day 39.

Went into the office today, ready to start. We all walked out, including Desiree who is a Cheetah intern. I thought, "oh, she's helping us today! cool!", but then Valerie saw me and asked what I was doing! I was supposed to be a Cheetah intern today! WELL! I had never heard about this! What a surprise! My supervisors forgot to mention it, but that was okay- very exciting opportunity!

I went back in to meet up with Phil the Cheetah keeper. We met up with Arielle (another Cheetah keeper) and Amanda (Cheetah intern) and went to check on the Cheetahs. We drove on a rode that divides two pen areas. Hulets, a male, was going nuts pacing back and forth and doing what they call a chirp-bark. This is supposed to be a Cheetah breeding call. They've been trying to set him up with Liz, an older female (last year to breed her), and he was very attracted to her at the moment! They decided to put Liz into the pen with him to see if she'd accept him. To get her there, she had to go into the corridor/road that we were in! We all held rakes for protection, and in she came! Amanda & I stood to make a barrier so she'd go into the proper pen. She didn't take long, but it was the pen next to Hulets' pen, and she decided to sniff around there for a while before cooperating in crossing through a door into HIS pen. :) Well, he was very excited to see her, but she kind of smacked him. He kept following her for a bit, but eventually they both just laid down. Oh well...

Next, Phil told me boots were no good for working with Cheetahs (too much hiking around their hilly pens), so he sent me to run to my house to change. While he was driving me out to my car we saw a fox in the park! Uh oh! I hoped they wouldn't have to shoot him, and I heard later that he'd disappeared. They wouldn't have been able to shoot anyway cuz of the loud noise around the other animals in the area. WHEW!

When I got back from changing my shoes, I was picked up and we all went to QB where I had to take a dead bunny out of the back and put it in the cooler (later Cheetah dinners!) I held it gently and laid it on the shelf with the others, giving it a pat. I did tear up a little, but Phil can be a little harsh with joking with people, so I didn't let it show. He asked if I was okay or if I would now have nightmares! I said I was fine and nothing more cuz I was choking up a little. Luckily I was in the back of the truck alone (they were all in the cab), so noone saw and the wind helped freshen my face and my spirits. SNIFFLE! I know animals eat each other, but although one must be nourishment for the other, it's still sad to see a life lost. :( Especially a bunny, since I have one! (ownership which is claimed by the whole family now, Quart! haha!)

It was late morning then, and time for Sanurra to go into her pen in the Village, so people can see her up close. We put her in a crate, drove to the Village, and let her in. I lifted the kennel with Arielle, and it was heavy! Sanurra was a good girl going in perfectly. We then drove back up to the Cheetah area and entered Taini's pen. She used to be an Ambassador animal, so we didn't use rakes to go in. The public could see us too, since the pen is next to the drive-thru! So we went in and watched Arielle do a training session with her. This was pretty cool for me, since I'm not usually close to the Cheetahs, especially with no fence in between! :)

Amanda & I had to pick up some people for a Tiger Encounter. We drove them up to the Tiger area and I watched and took pics while Amanda did everything. Saigon is the only one who will do it, as Leah is not food motivated and doesn't really like people. She also hates cameras and hisses when she sees one! haha! While Amanda was training Saigon, he kept moaning, wanting more treats. It sounded funny! He also took meat from her stick very gently, the way Dexter would take food from my hand. :) When we finished training him he went over to Leah who was under a shade structure, and nuzzled her and chuffed at her. Cute! She's not very affectionate with him though... since she ignored him, he went to his favorite spot in the grass to lie down for a nap! He plopped on his side and laid with his chin up in the air.

NEXT, they always have Sanurra do a painting in the mornings, so they decided to do MINE! I had bought 3 little canvasses (they said they were a bit small, but it worked out). We went into the Village pen with her and set up her painting stuff. I had picked blue (Alex), green (Nick), and red (for a splash of color). They squirted each one, one at a time, onto a rubber mat, had her step on it, then pointed at the canvases to step on. She did this circled quite a few times to get enough paw prints on them. It was really cool! The public was watching too, and Phil showed them one of my finished products. :)

After that fun time it was time for............. a popsicle break! LOL! I told them how relaxing it was to be helping Cheetahs- lol! And our next job? Pick up a vet intern and take her to do a picture with Taini! We walked into her pen again and had the vet intern pose next to her while petting her head! I asked if I could get a pic too while we were standing there. With the picture I also got to pet her head and scratch behind her ears. :) She was purring all the while. COOOOL!

We started some real work after that, cleaning poo out of a few pens. We walked in with rakes with the Cheetahs still in there. One pen had two of them, Kira & Willow (both girls). I went into a ravine where I saw a turd and Kira was staring me down the whole time since it was near them! Phil was watching out for me though, to make sure it was safe. One of the pens we went into contained Frankie & Andiamo (Andi) who we wanted to move into another pen. Amanda & I hiked the hilly pen to look for them, then used our rakes to herd them out into the next pen. I thought that was so cool! Frankie was a bit scared and kept hissing and stamping his feet, but Andi walked obediently ahead of us.

It was lunchtime then- which felt like it came quickly! The morning was full, but so laid back and relaxing! After lunch we were required to attend a meeting put on by Benji the vet, about "Zoonotic Illnesses" (things that can be passed from zoo animals to humans). He wanted to stress to be careful handling animals and blood and things. Most of us always wear gloves, but some people skip this sometimes! eek! The meeting was 45 min. Interesting, relaxing, but made me sleepy and ready for a nap. Alas, I couldn't take one! We passed by Sanurra's Village pen and saw her sitting still as a statue, watching something. Cheetah eyesight is VERY good, so there's no telling what she saw, but eventually she got up and paced around very agitated! It was time to do a Cheetah Talk with her, so we went in the pen and Amanda did a presentation, but Sanurra was too distracted so there was no training with her. We wanted to crate her and take her up to her own pen so she could calm down, but she wouldn't go in the kennel. She was left there while I was assigned to go walk Ellie, her Cheetah dog! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ (I actually asked if I could do this task since I miss my own dogs!)

Ellie & I walked along a trail through some trees, then down the road, into the RV park, and to the river. I let her walk in the water a bit. She got chest deep. She enjoys that, and I walked beside her on the shore. She tries to pull on leash, but I used my dog walking skills and on our way back to the park she was already walking better with me! I told her that there's no need to pull or get ahead because she can't go any faster than I'm going! No point in pulling me! We enjoyed ourselves and each other, and I put her back into her pen and bid her farewell. Phil was coming down the Cheetah hill from showing a guest on a private encounter, so I walked back to the offices with them. Then we took ANOTHER popsicle break! They tried to tell me that this was not a normal Cheetah day- they usually don't relax this much! I still think Carnivores run around more than they do though! ha! We also didn't have a lot more to do yet, so we went up to Ellie & Sanurra (she was put away by now) to visit. Arielle opened the little door between their pens so they could be together. We went in and pet Ellie a bit and watched Sanurra laying down and being cute. Ellie loved the attention. :)

It was time to get dinners together, so we went to QB and prepared some bloodsicles and some hide burritos (ew). Arielle & Amanda's shift was over, so Phil & I went on our own to go feed all the Cheetahs. I helped him get one of the Cheetah's attention so he would see when we threw his dinner to him. Cheetahs have to see it thrown, otherwise they have a hard time finding it! Very poor sense of smell. We fed about half of the Cheetahs, then Phil had to go help Valerie put the Lions in their hut. So he had Desiree (the Cheetah intern whom I'd switched with) come with me to feed the remaining Cheetahs. She prepared medications and we threw dinners out. Phil finished in time to help us feed the Tigers. Before we could put them in, the last car was driving through and stopped to ask Phil all about them. He showed them "Big Tiger" trick from Saigon and chatted for a while. I took the chance to snap some pics of the Tigers as they swam and sat in their pond. Leah also came and rubbed along the fence at us. She's usually anti-social, but she's in estrus so is very affectionate right now. She also hisses less at Saigon. :) Poor Saigon. When the guests were done chatting, we went into the Tiger hut to feed them and let them in. I really just watched, but it was cool. :) And it was time to go "home".

Bye for now...

Day 38 - Rayna, a new intern

Day 38.

Today a new Carnivore intern started- Rayna! She was there previously as a Cheetah intern, so knew some of the stuff already. She went with me all day and I showed her Carnivore things to do. We started by running to QB to pick up Brown Bear breakfasts. There are sometimes deer in there running around and today we saw a mom and her twins! ^_^

Maintenance was weed-eating at the Brown Bear exhibit, so they didn't get fed or put out until noon! We went to help put out enrichment at the Lions. Natasha is lethargic and threw up a couple times and didn't eat yesterday's meal! Benji, the vet, came to see her. She didn't eat tonight either (but sometimes she waits to eat anyway) and if she hasn't eaten in the night, or tomorrow night's meal, then they will knock her down Monday to check on her. HOPE SHE'S OKAY!

Rayna & I went to Black Bears to throw a snack to them. Ricky was still sleeping in one of the little caves. Cutie. :) We went back to Lion hut to clean together, then drop of the day's produce in the cooler at QB. After that it was time for a Lion 101, which we all (Sarah, Valerie, Rayna, & I) went to together. Rayna & I rode in the back of the truck with the guests and talked to them a bit, then I helped distract while Valerie trained. We didn't have very many chunks so I had to tease the Lions a lot.. :( On the drive back I saw one of the white peacocks laying in a mound of brown dirt. It looked pretty! haha.

Then the 4 of us went to finally let the Brown Bears out! Rayna & I rode in the bed of the truck- fun! We threw out their food in boxes and also had some cool whip to give them. ! I had to stay in Bear Tower then since we'd already sent the volunteer home. The girls & boys switched yards so both groups were very happy and active. The girls were swimming around the pond finding old things that the boys had sunk. At one point Claire grabbed something, backed up to the pond, and plopped in. :)

Then it was lunchtime for me (Rayna came to take over Bear Tower). While I was finishing up the Lawrence's saw me and visited a bit! ^_^

After lunch I picked up Rayna and the Brown Bear dinners and we went to clean the hut and set up the dinners in their rooms. Then we had to go put a bunch of donated fruit into the freezer- which felt good cuz we were so hot!

The end of the day was drawing near- so we went to close gates, then were told to put the Brown Bears up by ourselves! Actually Sarah came at the last minute and watched and then told us how impressed she was with the work we did today! YAY!

Bye for now...

Day 37 - We had a FILM CREW!

Day 37.

This morning we went in late in anticipation of having to stay until after dark! We arrived at 8:45, just 15 minutes before the park opens. Angela had to go to a meeting, so Sarah (MAIN Carnivore/Cheetah lady) took Amanda (a Cheetahs intern), Matt, & I to go let the Lions out. I walked the fenceline and picked up poo while Amanda sprinkled around some spices & herbs for enrichment. Sarah & Matt did this in the other pen. Then Sarah had Matt let Keeno & Natasha out the proper doors, and then I let Tau & Sarabi out their proper doors. It was like a test, cuz with Angela we look at her to make sure we're choosing the right pulleys, but I felt this time I didn't want to question myself and I just did it, and I was correct! So hopefully we impressed Sarah. hehe. Tau took his time again, sniffing around the last hallway before going into his pen. He took long enough that Sarah got the hose and threatened to spray him. He still didn't go, so she DID spray him, and he STILL didn't go! He ended up getting a nice shower, kept closing his eyes and putting a paw up in protest of the water, but he kept walking back into it! He put up such a good fight, but eventually went outside to escape the shower. SHEESH!


My next job was to go alone to QB to pick up the Brown Bear breakfasts, clean their yards, and throw out the breakfasts. Angela was supposed to meet up with me to help let them out. Well, when I arrived at the Brown Bear exhibit there was a line of almost 10 cars! I unlocked the gate and went in, then quickly unlocked each yard gate to go in and run around looking for trash and also throwing the breakfasts. I did this as quickly as possible while the cars all waited. Then I ran back to the hut to prepare Russell's meds (put in Swiss Rolls!) and waited for Angela. I called to ask if I could just let the Grizzly boys out since everything was ready for them, but was told to wait. Poor guests had to wait about 15 more minutes... Eventually Sarah showed up cuz Angela was still in a meeting. I released the boys and the cars were allowed to enter the area to see them. Once they crossed through the tunnel into their own yard, Sarah shut the tunnel and prepared the gates to the Girls' yard. I waited another minute for Angela to finally show up and we gave Russell her meds and released the girls into their yard too. whew!


I was left at the hut to clean it alone, which I actually like since it's some nice alone time and I think I clean it very efficiently when I'm by myself. Afterward, I took a few minutes to take off my boots and sit in front of one of the large fans (used to dry the floors) and cool off a bit.


When Angela & Matt finished their encounter they called and Angela was pleasantly surprised that I was already done cleaning and I met them at QB to prepare midday enrichment for all of the Bears. This didn't take too long since we'd been given some Rhea eggs for this purpose, and we just made a bucket of nuts and croutons too. Matt went to give the Brown Bears' eggs to them, and Angela & I went to give the Black Bears their eggs, croutons, and nuts. They didn't seem very interested in the eggs! Donna, Takoda, & Chochmo sniffed them and walked away.. Chochmo pushed on one and cracked it, but he only sniffed the contents and walked away again. Oh well!

At lunchtime I sat alone, purposefully, to relax and read the rest of my book! I've now finished 4 books from the series The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency!

After lunch I went to QB to prepare all of the Bear dinners (forgot to pit the avocados! had to go back later and take them out) and wash "dishes". I set up the dinners in Brown Bear hut, but the Black Bears couldn't have theirs yet because the film crew wanted to get shots of them! If we fed them, they'd just go to sleep afterward! We did give them a small snack though. And then I cleaned two of their yards and scrubbed a pool. I finished this work before Angela came back, so I just sat there near the young ones (Donna, Takoda, Chochmo) in the shade and relaxed.

While waiting I heard on the radio "we got our shot!"- I think they were at the Elephants! Then later I heard "they're working on the hippo right now" from the park Director. How exciting! I still waited for a long while so that Angela could help me lift the pool I'd cleaned to drain the dirt out. I actually tried several times to lift it myself, but I couldn't do it, and I didn't want to hurt myself! When she showed up she checked over my work, helped me rinse the pool, then we went together to go put the Lions up. The Lions all went in pretty quickly and easily! Hungry Lions. :)

I got a treat after this! Matt & I were to learn how to walk Ellie, the Cheetah Dog!- she was raised with Sanurra the Cheetah who was a single cub. She's an Anatolian Shepherd. Amanda, the Cheetah intern, told us where we could walk her, how she walks (pulling!), a few training tricks, and to keep her away from kids and other dogs! We all walked her together down the road and to the river where she played in the water a bit and sniffed around. Amanda let me take the leash on the way down there. :) I was so happy walking and petting a dog! On our walk back up to the park, Amanda had the leash and Ellie kept trying to walk around me- tangling me up! We walked her back to her pen in the Cheetah area. Amanda showed us how to put her away, and when we'd finished we realized the door on the other side was open! The Cheetah keepers had left it open for us to put her in, but didn't tell us their plans! Ugh! We caught her fairly easily, and then put her into Sanurra's pen (switch for the night). The keepers need to work on their communication! They admitted they'd just thought of the switch, but for some reason expected US to radio THEM for those details, instead of just radioing to us about it themselves. sheesh...

After that little fiasco, Amanda & I went to wash remaining dishes and go sit in the office to eat our dinners. We got a nice break before the film crew came back to the park. Then we went to meet them at the Black Bear exhibit! Angela & I were extra excited! They weren't filming audio, so we didn't have to worry about making noise. Their truck was parked in front of the adults' (Ricky, Little Boy, Little Girl) yard, with their camera on a tripod on the bed of the truck. We were all pretty quiet while we watched. The cameraman asked Sarah if she could coax Ricky into moving certain ways, and Ricky mostly obliged since berries were being tossed his way! They did get a lot of butt shots, but they sounded pretty satisfied in his foraging. :) They said they were good, and wanted to try to get some Elk footage, so Dan (park Director) took them over to find the Elk herd. Angela & I ran to QB (nearby) to grab the Black Bear dinners and feed them finally! We entered the yard that the kids (Donna, Takoda, Chochmo) were locked out of, and scattered their food all around, then let them into that yard too. Then we quickly threw out the adults' dinners to them, and excitedly ran back to our truck so we wouldn't miss seeing more of the film crew! I think we were the most excited about this! Amanda actually said it was kind of boring- guess she didn't know what to expect..?


Well, we finished feeding them just in time, as the film crew had just finished filming the Elk! We had to lock some gates behind them while they drove over to the Cheetah area, but we only arrived 5 minutes after them. It was dark by then, and our truck only had one headlight and a dirty windshield! Kind of scary, but still pretty cool to drive through the park at night! Very different. We parked outside the Cheetah area and ran up the hill, still very excited! EEK! :) They had parked their truck on the Cheetah road that runs between Cheetah pens. They set up their camera just so, so that they didn't get any fences in the shot. The two female Cheetahs that they were trying to film wouldn't come up! Sarah was throwing chunks of meat which hit the grass with a thud, but only one girl slinked up to it, then went back and sat still again. Behind us, in another pen, a male Cheetah named Hulets had come down to the fenceline and started making grumbly noises. He was wondering what we were doing! The film crew thought it'd be easy to get good shots of him, but the fence was so high! The cameraman figured out an angle where he couldn't see the fence, and shot in night-vision. The viewing screen was big enough for us to stand behind him and see too. SO COOL! Another guy had a hand-held thing that I guess takes measurements of some sort? And a guy who I think was the director, was holding a little laptop thing where he could also see the footage and press record when he wanted to. This guy actually reminded me of Qlint with his blue eyes, cool hat and jacket, and being a film guy! :) Hulets was quite cooperative, eating chunks that were thrown. The cameraman asked Sarah to get him to walk a bit, so she threw a chunk further off and I watched in the night-vision screen as Hulets slowly got up and crept towards the chunk of meat, then laid down to eat it. He actually turned to look at us at one point which everyone thought was such a good shot! Satisfied with Cheetahs, we wrapped everything there up and Angela & I went to open all the gates for them to drive back through. There was an Emu waiting with us at the last Cheetah gate, so I kept an eye on it while Angela held the gate for the film truck to pass through. We said goodbye and headed to the office.

I wished my adventure with the film crew could continue as they were going to the Village area to film a few more animals in the dark, but nobody else was continuing with them, and Angela didn't think we could. It was already 10pm too. We finished our daily log report, sent it in, and drove home. What an awesome adventure to have watched a film crew at the park! and help a little too! Their commercial will be to sell the camera that they were using, so they wanted cool animal footage to show off the camera's skills. :) Hopefully we will all see this commercial soon in the future!

Bye for now...

Next two days off to do housework and planning my family's visit! ^_^

Lion Tower & Good Bears

Day 36.

Today was Angela, Matt, & I. We went to put the Lions out and discovered that today's enrichment was supposed to be bloodsicles, so I ran to QB to get them while the other two checked fencelines and did the chores. Once I returned, I put out Keeno & Natasha's bloodsicles under their shelters, then we let the Lions out. Tau took a minute to sniff around and rub on the hallway fence- he's such a curious guy!

After letting them out it was time for me to head to Lion Tower for a full half-day shift! YAY!! I always tell them that I love doing towers, but they always find someone else to cover it, so I was excited today! I had to open the gates to the drive through to the Lion area and as I was pushing one of them open, Sarabi charged at the fence! I was standing right by it and jiggling the fence- she didn't seem to like the noise it made! She charged a few times and looked like she was having fun too. Tau walked by and looked at me, but was unaffected. I climbed up the ladder to sit in the tower and relax. Usually the Lions are all sleeping while I'm up there, but since it was morning, Tau & Sarabi were pretty active! They kept finding different toys to play with. :) I had put a pine branch on the roof of their little shelter yesterday (for Keeno & Natasha, but they didn't play with anything), and Tau decided to jump up and sit on the roof to play with it! It was so cute. He sat there for a couple minutes, then pushed the branch off and jumped off too. He spotted the small plastic culvert toy and bit that and pulled it around, and batted at it too. Sarabi thought that looked fun, so she came over to play and grabbed onto Tau's leg and pulled! Tau roared at her and she stopped and affectionately rubbed under his chin. Psh- thinks she can be mean and bossy and he'll always forgive her! (which he will) They paced around a little and found spots to lay down and sleep. Keeno was laying near his fence and watching them.

At 11am there was a Lion 101 encounter, so the Lions came down for a snack (except Natasha who is not food motivated). Angela took the opportunity to throw over Tau & Sarabi's bloodsicles. They both leapt after them and scratched and chewed them a little. I don't know if they finished fast or if they just got bored, then laid down and slept more. Sarabi did a bit of stalking birds (but didn't catch anything) and rolling around her bowling ball, but they mostly slept the remainder of my time in Lion Tower. I decided to plan out my family's visit next week (!), read my book, and call my prince charming. :) The next shift person showed up a little before 1, and I was able to take my hour lunch break and read some more! Everyone else already took lunches, so I had more relaxing alone time. All in all I got peaceful time until 2! Ahhhh...

I waited a little bit for Angela to get back from a Big Bear encounter that she'd done. While waiting I saw a squirrel scamper across the dirt office parking lot noisily. Angela dropped me off at QB to prepare all of the Bear and Lion dinners, which I do quite quickly now! I also cut up some meat chunks to use for Lion 101 encounters. That's what Angela was actually at, so when she finished she picked me up and we headed to Black Bears to feed them and clean a little. I scrubbed one of their plastic pools out and refilled it, then walked around that yard to pick up boxes from yesterday we'd given their food in. Sometimes I wonder if people driving by think, "well, THAT'S not a Black Bear!" when I'm in the exhibit yards. haha. Especially if the Black Bears are hiding!

We took so long cleaning and time was flying by, so we had to go quickly to Lions to let them in- which they all came in fast! Thank you Lions! We did take a minute to watch them and say goodnight, and hear caroling. Last thing to do was put Brown Bears in their hut! Matt drove along to make sure no guests were left and close gates, and I went in the hut to open the doors for the Bears. Victor took an extra couple of minutes while he checked out a den that one of the girls had dug in a hill, but they all went in fairly quickly. :) GOOD BEARS!

That was it! On our drive out we listened to the radio and "Wish" was playing! YAY! I always think of Alex singing that with me in the living room. ^_^

Bye for now...

Rib meat!

Day 35.

Today was Valerie, Matt, & I. I love working with Valerie because she's so efficient that we are able to have some free time to relax. :) I told her this today and she thought it was a nice compliment!

First things first, wake up the Lions! They were all still laying down, but looking at us. Actually, Keeno is always standing up waiting for us, and everyone else is laying down. :) They all looked good, so we went to check fencelines and move their toys around in the yards (today's enrichment). They also got to go into each others' pens today (we switch them like twice a week to enjoy the other yard). When Sarabi was going out, she spotted Natasha (the oldest) and she quickly leapt through the door to get a good look at her, and they both stared and growled at each other. They are rival prides, so the girls hate each other! The boys would fight too, but they all know that their "pridelands" overlap, so they know each others looks and roars and smells. Pridelands overlap in the wild too, so this is not unusual.

We then made a stop at QB to pick up FOUR ribcages! These were to go to each Bear group (Grizzly boys, Alaskan Coastal girls, young Blacks, older Blacks) Our first stop from there was the Brown Bear hut to wake them up, then toss out each ribcage. Some guests were already driving through, so they got to see us carry and toss a ribcage into the Bears' yards, then the Bears come out of their huts and enjoy the ribcages. :) Valerie allowed us to stay and watch the fun for about 10 minutes. The Bears loved sharing their treat! The boys were clustered around theirs, and the girls were politely sharing theirs.

Before cleaning the hut (which they'd just vacated) we went to drop off the ribcages for the Black Bears. The young group (Takoda, Donna, & Chochmo) all went to investigate right away, then Donna ended up trying to claim it for her own and drag it into the hut. We watched and it got stuck at the door, but later in the day we noticed that she'd succeeded in getting it inside. :) I hope she shared! Then we tossed the older Black Bears' (Little Girl, Little Boy, Ricky) into their yard. None of them came out to see what it was! Huh! But later in the day we did see Ricky out there chewing on it for a little while.

After all of that fun, Matt & I cleaned the Brown Bear hut & the Lion hut speedily before taking our lunch. I went off alone to eat with my book. I like relaxing alone at lunch! Matt did come find me near the end, which I don't mind, but I do enjoy my alone time since I have to be there for 11 hours of the day!

After lunch Matt went to give the Bear Tower volunteer a break, and Valerie & I drove a group of people out to do a Big Bear encounter. She let me do the presentation and the training. I still get nervous before, especially when a keeper is going to watch me, but I am getting very good at this! I introduced myself and then all of the Brown Bears- names, ages, species type, muscle humps for digging, claws, weights. Then I told the people about how "Big Bear" was invented by Oso and we put a command with it so we could see their bodies, but also have fun. After the presentation it was time to show the training- but all of the boys were sleeping in the shade of their structure! It was too hot for them to be interested! OH NO! I called them a few times and clicked my clicker a bunch. Finally Mak came over and did a few "Big Bear"s for us. Valerie kept trying to call the other two over while I did my training with Mak. Victor ended up wanting some donuts too, so he came over and did some "Big Bear"s too. :) Oso was just a lazy boy, and he only came over at the VEEERY end and got some crumbs. This was just like yesterday! haha. Valerie thought we might feed them a little lighter portions if they seem so uninterested in their food treats. Oh well.

We headed to QB to make all of the Bear meals. Our produce supply is running out, and we didn't get a very good donation last night (lots of potatoes which the Bears don't like- so we give those to Elephants who DO like them). We had some dried berries, which are usually used for treats for the Bears, but we had to use them for the meals! Lucky Bears! We took the Brown Bear meals into their hut and set them up in their rooms, then drove to the Black Bear exhibit to throw out their dinners for them. We don't want the birds eating everything, so we put all of the berries in any boxes we had. Most are tv dinner boxes, and a few were candy boxes! haha! After we'd thrown it all out to them, and were walking away, they were all eating and Little Boy looked up at us with a Milk Duds box hanging from his mouth! CUTE! ^_^ Oh, we also threw in a bowling ball as a new toy and Ricky & Little boys both pawed at it and sniffed it. I'm sure they'll enjoy it later. :)

The next thing to do was put the Lions to bed and feed them, but it wasn't time for that yet since the last car had not driven through yet. SOOO, Valerie decided it was time for an ice cream break and offered to buy Matt & I one each! How very nice of her! The cafe has a nice selection of scooped ice cream, but I ended up choosing Cookies & Cream cuz it's Nicks' fave! We sat and enjoyed those for about 30 min! So relaxing.

Finally the last car went through, so we went to put the Lions to bed and feed them. They each get a toy in their room, and Matt had given Natasha the '1/2 boomer ball'. It's a large plastic ball, but only a half of it (they broke it long ago). Matt placed it right under the food chute, hoping the meat hunk would land in it like a bowl. It DID, and after lying down to think about it for a minute, Natasha finally got up to check out what was for dinner. Then she picked up the "bowl" and moved it to the back of the room where she laid down again. It reminded me of Shlomit, claiming her food. Natasha usually waits to eat her dinner though. She knows no one can take it, so she takes her time. :) Cutie old woman! (She's 20 and captive Lions live around 20-25 years old). OH, I don't know if I mentioned it, but July 15 was Keeno's 18th Bday! Happy Belated Bday, Keeno!

The final part of the day came and we went to close the gates and let Brown Bears into their hut for the night. The Grizzly boys wouldn't come in! They took so long that Valerie decided to "clear the canyon", making sure there were no guests left in "America". On that drive we saw the "Enchanted Elk" in their forest, and listened to the radio. "Wish" came on and made me think of when Alex sings it! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^

We got back to the hut and the boys finally, and slowly, made their way in for dinner and bedtime. And that was the end of our day at the park!

Bye for now...

34 days! Working with Claire.

Day 34.

Today was just to be Valerie & I, but Benji the vet is on vacation, so his intern Claire came to help us! She's helped a bit before, but not for a whole days work! :)

The Lion yard lawns were being mowed, so we had to leave them in their hut and start with the Brown Bears this morning. The bears were extra sleepy since we were waking them up about an hour early! Sometimes we find them still spooning and being sleepyheads, but this morning was just too cute! They were all still yawning and laying there with feet in the air, not wanting to get up yet. When I opened the door for the boys they took a little bit to want to go out. So lazy, like highschool kids. :) When they and the girls were finally out, Claire & I started cleaning the hut. She had a project she was working on with the Elephant department, so she had to be taken over there all of a sudden. We left the hut unfinished and while she was busy with elephants, I helped Valerie clean stuff at the Black Bear exhibit. We cleaned off all their toys, a big pool, and a little tub that goes in the hut. Once we scrubbed everything and refilled the pools, we let the Bears have full access again and Donna jumped right into the tub! It was so cute- "fat girl in a little tub"! She's not fat, but she's pretty big for that tub!

Claire was ready to be picked up then, so I drove to get her on my way to Lion hut. Valerie & I quickly checked the fencelines while Claire sprayed perfume around for enrichment. The Lions were pretty anxious to go out by then! They all went out quickly, but Tau rubbed himself on the wall for a minute until Sarabi bossily peeked in the door to see what was taking him so long! He looked nervously at her, then rubbed once more and went out. Claire & I cleaned their hut together (Claire was very good and we finished quite fast!), then picked up Black Bear midday enrichment (horse legs) and went to go throw those to them. I let Claire do the throwing cuz her first attempt was so perfect! The younger 3 (Donna, Takoda, Mo) didn't seem very interested in the legs. With the older 3 (Ricky, Little Boy, Little Girl) we were trying to get them all into one side yard so that we could pick up the other side, so we threw all the legs over on the left, but Ricky just came to sniff and scratch each leg as we threw it, and Little Girl & Little Boy weren't interested enough to cross through the guillotine door to the other yard. Little Boy came through at one point, but Little Girl was busy jumping in the pool and getting Little Boy to chase her. Oh well! We had put in a good attempt, but it was lunchtime, so we left them with full access to both yards.

When we'd gotten a nice lunch break, we drove back out to Brown Bears to finish cleaning their hut. It didn't take long again (Claire is an excellent teammate!), and Valerie had us meet her at QB to help prepare meals. Our job was to cut meat hunks to proper proportions for each Bear. I'm getting better at this, so it didn't take me so long, and I'm also able to tell more how much a meat hunk weighs, so soon I won't need the scale (we don't have to be exact). For now though, I want to double check myself. :)


There was a Big Bear encounter coming up, so Valerie sent me to do it on my own with Claire to watch. I think I did very well! This group had 12 people, half of which were little kids under 5! :) I started by introducing Claire & I, then all of the Bears- saying what kind they were and how old, and that Brown Bears have the hump on their back that's digging muscle, and stuff like that. Then I got my clicker and donuts ready, but no Grizzlies nearby to do the "Big Bear"! I guess it was getting too hot to care for donuts! I finally got one to come over and do it. Then another came cuz he saw the donuts I was throwing. Oso only came at the very end and got a few crumbs thrown to him (all I had left!) Then the people got to throw apple slices out to all the Bears. The parents held their little kids up to throw and they all made it over the fences! Actually one little girl (about 2) got it ON the fence, so I handed it back to her for another try and that time a Bear got it. :) Some of the people also noticed the Girls (Claire & Russell) coming over, so they held onto some slices to throw to them. How nice! I bid them farewell, then Claire (the person) went with me to wash dishes with Valerie! Woohoo! Right after that was another encounter to do- Lion 101. Valerie went with us this time, I drove the people out, and Valerie did all of the training and talking. I got to distract the other Lion with meat chunks, which is always fun. ^_^ It is a fast night for the Lions, so we made sure to give them every chunk we had so they'd get a nice snack.

From this point on we all three rode together. The end of the day was upon us, so we quickly put the Brown Bear food in boxes and set those up in their rooms, then threw all the Black Bear dinners out to them. After that we had many many dishes, so we washed those before heading to Lions to put them to bed. On the way there, the free roaming animals were all finding nice places to lay and relax- we saw a weird group who found a tree-shadey spot to lay in together: a Camel, an Emu, and a Guanaco! haha. The other Camel was laying in the midst of the herd of Sika Deer.

So since it was a fast night for the Lions and they usually go in slowly since they've figured out what night this is, we tried to act like the container with their snack was heavy with food! They all came in pretty quickly, and once Tau was in his room and noticed his measly meat chunks he roared with indignation! Every time we walked passed his room he jumped up and roared at us! He was angry that we'd tricked him! Poor Tau... and his toy was the metal keg which he batted around a lot- not sure if this was out of anger/boredom or just cuz he wanted to play. hehe. Sorry Tau and other Lions...

Since we were sharing a car we all went to lock gates together and let the Brown Bears in, who did nothing notable in coming in for dinner and bedtime. :) Very good bears. And that was it!

Bye for now...

Day 33 - Tau's Bowling Pin!

Day 33.

Today it was just Valerie & I. I enjoy these days because I am left alone to do chores, which I enjoy the alone time and also I think I learn more by having to do it by myself. :) I realized today how much I know and am becoming good at.

Valerie's family was also visiting, so her brother shadowed her all day and her parents came by in the morning and at closing time. We all went to wake up the lions together. Everything was normal, all the lions laying in their same spots as usual (Keeno standing and waiting, Natasha still resting in her corner, Sarabi on her bed but alert and ready to go out, and Tau laying next to his door looking curious and still a bit tired.) I went into the pens to check all of the fencelines and to spread enrichment (curry powder & garlic powder). Once all of that was good, her parents went in to get another look and the lions all started roaring! :) Then Valerie let them all out in their specific sequences. Tau was last to be let out. He was standing in his room waiting, holding his bowling pin in his mouth (that was the toy he was given last night- it changes daily). Valerie asked him if he wanted to take it out with him, and he answered by carrying it as he walked out. :) He stopped in the last room though and started playing with it! I couldn't see very much since her family was having such fun watching, but I heard him batting it around and I saw a few glimpses of him from my vantage point. He played for about 15 minutes! Valerie didn't want to force him out since he was just having fun, so we all just waited and watched. He was exactly like a house cat playing. hehe. After about 10 min, Sarabi got impatient in the yard and came back in to get him- she burst in, leaping into the room after him and he jumped back a bit frightened. She growled at him, then walked out hoping he'd follow. She intimidates him, but he still wanted to play, so he just kept an eye on her while he played a few minutes longer. Finally he picked up the toy to go out, but then he dropped it to the floor right before he got outside. Oh well- he has toys out there too. :) Plus they actually sleep most of the day under the trees in the shade. Occasionally he & Sarabi will wrestle, or stalk some birds, but mostly sleep. (Keeno & Natasha have always been sleeping when I watch from Lion Tower.)

Next was the Brown Bears turn. We woke them up to check on them, then I was left in the hut to let them out myself. The boys are let out first so they'll cross through the tunnel onto their "island", then the girls can go on the outer ring yard. Well, the boys took a very long time exploring around the section of outer yard before they finally crossed through the tunnel. YAWN! After they were all outside, I was left to clean the hut.

I was going to make all of the Bear dinners next, but our fruit was in the freezer and all frozen together, so we had to set it outside to thaw while we took an early lunch. After that I got a nice break by going to Lion tower for 30 min to let the volunteer have her lunch break. There was a giraffe nearby eating the leaves of a tree and scratching his neck on the trunk of it. He was pretty close to the Lion area, so we had to keep watch just in case we need to shut the gates, but he stayed at that tree for hours. :) I also saw two finches land near me, one with food in its mouth, before quickly flying away. There could be a nest on the roof of the Tower cuz I heard a lot of chirping- or maybe it's just a "Peewee hangout"! When I looked at the lions they were just sleeping, but for one minute Sarabi was up and stalking a bird. She moved SOO SLOWLY, moving one foot at a time in very slow motion. When she pounced, she didn't catch anything, but I saw a bird fly away.

Then I met up with a Cheetah intern to go clean the Lion hut together. She'd never done any work with our department before, but since it was just spraying out the hut (I did the scrubbing) she was fine. :) I think Valerie did a couple encounters by herself while I was doing the cleaning. We parted ways, and I met up with Valerie at QB to finish the dinners that we had started on before lunch. The fruit was still pretty frozen, but her brother was chiseling them apart so we could feed the bears! I was sent on my own with all of the bear dinner buckets and set up the Brown Bears' dinners in their hut, then stopped by the Black Bear exhibit to throw their dinners over the fences to them. Donna is now with Takoda & Chochmo, being pretty nice (Chochmo is cautious around her), so they all three have access to both large backyards now. :)

It was getting late, so we met up with Valerie's parents again to go put the Lions in their hut and feed them. Nobody wanted to put the meat through the chutes, so Valerie just did it. The Lions did their nightly carrolling, then we left to go put the Brown Bears to bed too. I closed gates on the way and met up with everyone at the hut. Valerie had me stay in there to let each Bear in, while she maneuvered all of the hotwires and guillotines outside accordingly. The Grizzly boys took forever again to get into their hut! We finally figured out why they wouldn't come in! We always have fans blowing to dry the floors after we clean, and maintenance got us some new heavy duty ones (really nice!). Well they are louder and the Grizzly boys are scared of them! So when two of them finally entered the hut they bolted right back out when they saw the fan! Valerie figured out their fear and turned the fans off so they'd come in. We did turn them back on though, cuz they need to get used to them- we also want to keep the hut cool in the summer heat! They exited the room the fan blows in (their food room) but we figured they'd get over it in a couple hours (at least) and go eat later. :)

While I drove to finish closing gates I saw Eland and Watusi Cattle herds enjoying the light of dusk while eating the grass- how very peaceful they looked. When I passed the rhinos, the sun was just so, and all I could see of them was silhouettes.

That was all for today- busy with just two of us, but still one of my favorite days as it was somehow relaxing. :)

Bye for now...

Day 30.
July 12~

It was a misty morning, with the sky all covered in white and the misty air keeping everything cool. I loved it, and it was peaceful.

Since Lions are always first to do, we all (Angela, Matt, & I) drove over to wake them up. Today's enrichment was perfume (perfume in boxes for the Keeno & Natasha, but Tau can't have boxes so he & Sarabi just have it sprayed on trees and toys). We sprayed 4 boxes for Keeno & Natasha, I grabbed the poo bucket to pick up poo from the pen, then Matt & I went in. He was going to check the fenceline while I picked up poo, and we could both throw whatever perfume boxes we were holding. WELL! Matt told me I didn't have to carry all my boxes AND the poo bucket, but I told him I was fine (I wanted the joy of throwing the enrichment out too). I found a poo area right inside the pen, so put down my 3 boxes and started to put the poo in the bucket. As I was scrapping it up, Matt came over silently and took the three boxes that I was actually kneeling over! I thought that was quite rude! I ignored him though and just continued to pick up the poo all around the pen. Once I finished I saw Angela at the door of the pen and she was holding 2 of the boxes and asking me why they weren't inside the pen! So Matt took them and didn't even throw them out in the yard! sheesh! Apparently he forgot Tau can't have boxes and assumed 2 of them should have been put in the other pen. He thought he was correcting me I guess. Angela had a word with him about paying attention to details like that. It could have been disastrous if Tau got a box and got sick from it! ugh.

After that we let the Lions into their respective pens. Keeno went right in (he usually waits for Natasha) and started rolling around! He must have loved the perfume! I think it was actually the spot I had set my 3 boxes down and the smell must have stayed on the grass. When he was done rolling, he looked over at us with his disheveled mane- very funny! :) We also overheard Tau & Sarabi have a tiff for about 3 seconds. Yikes! This is normal for them as Sarabi is a bossy lady.

Matt & Angela left to let the Brown Bears out while I stayed and cleaned the Lion hut. This was also a peaceful time, since it's not so hard to clean this hut and I was alone. When I took the hose off of the hose wheel I heard little chirpings- there is a nest inside with baby birds! :) I couldn't see them though. I also saw my froggy friend again. I guess he lives there! Seems kind of dangerous to live in the Lion hut, but he must get along fine, and he also blends into the green paint. :) While I was cleaning I heard a radio call that the giraffes were all headed up to the entrance gate! "Africa" is the first land through the entrance gate, so I could see them from my place inside the Lion hut, walking along the road about 20 feet from each other. They've actually just introduced one of the giraffes to the other two. He had been a lot smaller, so they'd picked on him; they do fine now though. I watched them for a few minutes and took a picture. Giraffes walking up the road through a misty haze. :)

A while later there was another radio call that the Giraffes were causing a traffic jam! haha!

After my much appreciated time alone, I met up with Angela & Matt at the Brown Bear hut. Angela & I left him there to finish cleaning it, while we went to QB to prepare midday snacks for all of the bears. Along the way we had a camel traffic jam (both camels were standing perfectly aligned to block the whole road!), about 10 Canadian Geese all walking in a line, evenly spaced, and Eland, Zebra, & Wildebeests running through the hills (we noticed a tractor nearby- probably scared them!)

The midday snack I prepared was canned dog food in boxes! We get boxes donated- old pizza boxes, cereal boxes, tv dinner boxes, etc. We stopped along the fence of the adult Black Bears (Ricky, Little Girl, Little Boy) and threw their boxes to them (Ricky ate his right away!), then finished the drive to the Brown Bear exhibit to throw theirs to them. Mak came up right away for his snack, but Victor & Oso (all Grizzly boys) were too busy swimming in the pond. They took about 10 minutes to finally come and see what we had for them. Poor Mak had to wait! But they all enjoyed their boxes of dog food. Then we walked to where Russell was and threw her boxes to her. She laid down to tear into them right away! Then we walked over to the girls' pond and found Claire just sitting there, enjoying the water. :) She wouldn't come out for a while. I threw a box nearby and she looked, but still just sat there. We called her and Angela threw the other box close to the edge of the pond, and finally she got out to see what the treat was. She did enjoy it too! :)

We still had the younger Black Bears' (Donna, Takoda, & Chochmo) boxes, so we drove into their exhibit to throw theirs over the fences to them. Chochmo is the smallest and he is so full of energy and ran after his box very excitedly. :) He & Takoda spend days together, wrestling and swimming; and then at nights Takoda spends his time with Donna. (This week they will try to introduce them all again to see if Donna will be nice to Chochmo. She had been aggressive before. If she is nice, then they can all spend all of their time together and have access to both big yards!)

After all of that hard (fun) work, it was time for lunch. Uneventful, as usual, but I always bring my book. :)

Then we went to QB where a cat had been caught in one of our live-traps. They are trying to catch and spay/neuter all of the cats, then they can live there, but not populate the whole place with feral cats! This cat was pretty calm, a bit stressed, but he seemed very nice. It turned out he was a male, so hopefully the only one impregnating the females! We placed a towel over the cage so he would be less stressed, then walked him into the clinic. The vet staff had to return a Siamang to his exhibit (he'd had a check-up), so Angela & I just sat with the cat until they returned. I lifted the towel and laid my head on the bed to see him better. He had sleepy eyes and felt calmer with my soft talking, so he ended up laying down and relaxing more. :) We had to leave before any surgery took place, but I heard he did well and was excited to be released back at QB later in the day. :)

Next was a Big Bear encounter where Angela had me do all of the talking and training. I did better than before, although still a little quiet. Since we were in the Brown Bear exhibit already, I was dropped off at the hut to help Matt set up their dinners in their rooms, then we drove together to toss out the Black Bear dinners to them. Now that the dinners were thrown out, we had a bunch of empty buckets, so I was sent to wash them.

It was nearing closing time, so my next job was to drive the drive-thru and close gates. The first gate is where Desi the Ostrich likes to meet us. I was alone, so I tried to maneuver the car to block him away from me so I could get out and lock the gate.. but he was so close and the car was too small to block the whole road! I ended up calling Angela on the radio for help, but she told me not to worry about that gate- she & Matt would close it later. :) I felt bad about this, but Ostriches can be dangerous, so it was better to leave it open!

The last cars were still driving through, so I went slowly behind them. I love closing gates, especially alone because it's so peaceful to me. I played 30 Seconds to Mars on my phone while I drove, stopping to take some pictures of animals that I passed. When the cars finally passed a certain point, I was told to go meet up with a Cheetah/Tiger keeper (Michelle) and help her put them away. (Angela & Matt would put the Brown Bears to bed and finish closing the rest of the gates.) I helped Michelle get Sanurra the Cheetah into her kennel, carry it to the truck and load it on. Ellie was still in the pen too (the dog that is Sanurra's friend), so while Michelle drove Sanurra up to her pen, I got to walk Ellie there! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ She walked well, and I jogged with her a couple times just for the fun of it. I so miss my dogs, so it was nice to pet and walk one! I let her into her pen, then we slid Sanurra's kennel over to her pen (next door) to let her in and feed her. The Cheetahs dinner is thrown to them and they all jump up to catch it, then run off a bit to eat in "privacy". :)

The last animals to be put up are the Tigers, since they are at the very end of the drive-thru. Leah went right into her room, she's always so famished! Her food was in a paper bag under her bed, so she pulled it out and tore into it quickly! Michelle wanted to get a footprint from Saigon, so she set up a tray with clay and stuck it in front of the door that he'd be walking through. When the door was opened he sniffed the clay and stepped right over it! UGH! Oh well! They will have to try again later.

That was the end of my day. A very enjoyable, somehow relaxing day. :)

Bye for now...

29 Days - A hot summer for the animals.

Day 29.
July 11

Today we had a helper! Josh, Angela's boyfriend, got to spend the day working with us and see how his woman spends her days!

We began with Lions, as usual. I actually went to QB to pick up their morning enrichment, and all the Bear breakfasts. Once I met up with everyone at the Lion hut, I had to go into a yard to check the fenceline and pick up poo! The Lions all went out into their yards with no fuss. :)

Then it was the Brown Bears turn to be awakened and let out. We first went into their yards to clean up and throw out their breakfasts.

The hut had to be cleaned next. I helped Matt finish almost all of it before Angela came to pick me up to help her with a Lion 101 encounter. This was actually for another intern and her mom, so it was casual and easy! This intern is for Elephants, so she doesn't know much about the Lions and loved it. They also got a pic with Tau & Sarabi both standing up behind them. After training the young couple, we always walk over to the other pen to see if Keeno will come down and do some training. There have been a few times he didn't feel like it- he was sleeping or too hot or whatever. Well this time he was walking our direction, but then he noticed a horse leg sitting on a rock! That had been set out there for his morning enrichment and he hadn't found it before then! haha! So he took it and laid down to chew on it. Angela realized he wouldn't come down for training, so she just told them a bit more about the Lions and then we started walking away. WELL, Keeno must have wanted to do training after all because he RAN towards the fence and grumbled (Lions can't purr) at Angela to let him have some of the meat! She had him do a few training tricks and he gobbled up the meat chunks heartily. :) He seemed so excited about this. Cutie!

I was sent to QB on my own to make all of the Bear midday snacks. When I finished grabbing those we headed to Black Bears to give theirs to them. I practically handed Ricky his treat since he was sitting next to the fence! I did toss it a bit though so that his claws couldn't get me. :) When we were throwing Chochmo & Takoda's I was sitting next to the fence and Takoda pushed on it and lipped my hair! eek! I scooted away after that, just in case! haha. Then I threw Donna's treats over for her, and we left to give the Brown Bears their midday treats. I got to throw Claire's again. :)

As we drove to go to lunch, we passed by the Black Bear exhibit again and I saw Chochmo & Takoda plopping into their pool which was still refilling from earlier. The hose was tied to the fence so the water sprayed in an arc into the pool. The Bears love it when we do this.

I had a short lunch before I had to go do breaks for both the Lion Tower and Bear Tower. I do love the Towers, but splitting up my lunch break was a bit weird. Oh well- I got about an hour of Tower time. :) The Lions were sleeping and all but one Bear were also sleeping- the other was in the pond chewing on a stick. After the Tower people had gotten their breaks I was able to finish my lunch hour in the office with my book. It was still relaxing after all.

I had to go to QB again to go prepare all of the Bear dinners. Angela & Josh showed up when I'd almost finished and took the Black Bear dinners while I drove to the Brown Bear hut to set up their dinners in their rooms. This is actually an enjoyable task as we try to set up the food in a fun way, such as sometimes putting it in boxes, or hiding it in or under toys, or putting toys on top of it. Once I'd finished with that task I had to go to QB once again to prepare the Lions dinners! This was not hard since the meat hunks were already cut to specifications. I only had to put some nutritional powder on them and meet up with everyone at the Lion hut. Josh helped to load the dinners into their proper chutes at the proper times and Angela quickly and expertly let them all into their own rooms for the night.

Angela & Josh had to leave after that to head to the airport- he was going home. Matt & I were to go with a Cheetah department keeper (Michelle) to put the Brown Bears away, close gates, and help put the Tigers away. I actually drove to close gates while Matt & she put the Brown Bears to bed. Then I met at that hut and Matt & I switched jobs- he closed the rest of the gates and I went to help her with her duties. We had to put Sanurra the Cheetah into her kennel, then load it onto the truck and drive up to the Cheetah area to let her into her pen for the night. Ellie (her Anatolian Shepherd dog-mate) was already in her pen next door, so I went in to give her dinner to her and Michelle fed Sanurra her meat hunk. The last task was to feed the Tigers and put them in their respective rooms. This was done quickly and we were done! yay!

Bye for now...