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...