Day 20.
Today was accomplished by Valerie, Matt, and I. The three of us went to wake the lions up first (since they are the first ones seen on the drive thru part of the park.) For today's enrichment, Matt sprayed perfume in Keeno & Natasha's pen, and I rearranged some toys in Tau & Sarabi's pen. I was going to switch toys between the two pens, but it took me a while to lug one of the heavy toys to the door, and then it didn't fit through! So Valerie & I just ended up sticking it up in a tree! I got to climb the tree to pull it up and secure it. When we let Tau & Sarabi in they both thought it was peculiar, and climbed up to sniff the toy. How had it gotten up there, they wondered. Tau stuck his head inside, maybe he was looking for hidden feet? :)
Next I drove Matt & I to QB to grab the Brown Bears' breakfast enrichment. Matt threw it into the yards while I let the boys and then the girls out. I am now trusted to do this on my own. Matt came up and we cleaned the hut together, then Valerie came to grab me to try and do a presentation at the 11am Lion 101 encounter. I picked the people up in a Wildlife Safari van and drove them to the lion area. It was an older man who looked like a safari guy that you'd imagine had been to Africa or the Outback (with an Outback-style hat too!), and a young Spanish couple. The older gentleman had a large camera and mostly just wanted to take pictures. He talked a little bit, but wasn't much for asking questions. It also seemed that the young man maybe didn't speak English because it looked like his woman kept translating. They did want to pose for a picture, with the lions standing behind them! I like when we do those ones. :) So, very nice group, but still not much of a presentation for me. Oh well. (And Keeno didn't come down to partake in training again. Probably wary of us since they darted him last time, for that procedure!)
After that, I walked to the Lion hut to help Matt clean there. I sprayed everything down for him to scrub, and raked the walkway. After all that hard work we took our well-deserved lunch break! I took the opportunity to book some things for Nick & his parents' visit this weekend! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^
When I finished I met everyone at QB to prepare the Brown & Black bear diets. Matt & I had to cut our own meat slabs! eek! (It's usually already cut for us, and we only have to weigh out the right amount for each animal.) So, we set up the Brown Bear hut and arranged their toys and food, and set up recycled hay for them! (It was from Keeno's room when he was recovering from his procedure.) Then we took the Black Bears' food and threw that to each of them: Ricky & Little Boy; Little Girl; Takoda & Chochmo; and Donna. All of them went for their meat slabs first, except Chochmo who loves avocado & walnuts best! :) Little cutie! (He's the smallest one, almost 1/2 the others' size!)
We had to do all the dishes next, from the buckets we'd just emptied for the bear meals. Dishes are tolerable though.. meh.
Next, Matt went with Valerie to feed and put the Lions in; and I met up with Phil (Cheetah/Tiger keeper) and Desiree (Cheetah/Tiger intern) and we closed all of the gates and also put the Brown Bears in their hut. While we were closing the remaining gates, Desiree & I were sure to snap pics of the animals we passed. :) Then the three of us went to feed and put the tigers in. This didn't take too long, as the tigers are always hungry and come in quite fast! And it was time to go "home"... :)
Bye for now...
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