Day 65 - my time is running out!

Day 65.

This morning we went to Lions together. I've missed putting them out for a few days, so I was happy to be asked to let Tau & Sarabi out into their pen. When I opened the way for Tau he turned left down the hallway, which was the wrong way. When he figured it out, he couldn't turn around since he's so big, so he just reversed all the way down the hallway! Beep Beep Beep! I was left there to clean the hut alone. While I was rinsing out Natasha's room, which is right next to "Hut Tree Pen" where Tau & Sarabi were, Tau came to watch me. He's so curious. :) I've gotten really efficient at cleaning the huts, so I was finished by 9:30. Angela asked me to meet up at QB to help get midday snacks for the Black Bears. On the drive there I saw 3 of the Emus running in a line. It was so cute. I also spotted the male Nilgai! I've never noticed him before. The rest of the Nilgai we have are females.

Once we picked the midday for the Black Bears (hide burritos and fruitsicles), we went together to give it out. When we parked there we saw a hawk fly overhead! It was pretty cool. There were a lot of chores to get done, so we put the young ones (Donna, Takoda, Chochmo) into the hut so we could pick up the yards and clean one of their pools. Another chore was to check the hotwire. I took the tester out and got readings on the adults' yards, but did not get any reading in the younger ones' yards! Oh NOOO! We called maintenance to have them come look at it. George came out and we left him there to work while we went to go do a Big Bear encounter. I drove the giraffe truck, which I enjoy. The steering wheel is so big and turns smoothly. On the way to Brown Bears we got to point out the baby Zebra AND the baby Eland to the guests! :) The baby Zebra was confirmed to be a girl so was finally named- Amara. The baby Eland is now hanging out more with its herd instead of being hidden, so maybe they will be able to sex and name it soon.

There were a bunch of small children on this Big Bear encounter, which is always fun. They love throwing the apples & pears out to the Bears. I did the training for this, so just sat back afterward and encouraged the kids while they threw the fruit. We drove the guests back up to the entrance and, even though they'd just gotten apples & pears, we threw out frozen melons for their midday snack.

Lunchtime! Amanda (Cheetah intern), Michelle (Cheetah keeper), Benji (vet), and Avery (vet student and Cheetah helper for the day) were all there at the same time. That was nice. ^_^

After a relaxing lunch, we went to meet maintenance back out at the Black Bear exhibit. Takoda & Donna were snuggling in a cave and Chochmo was sitting right outside it awkwardly. haha. The 3 younger ones were locked back up inside the hut so we could get into the yards again. Maintenance wanted to check all the wires all the way around and look for any shorts. They did find what was wrong, but I don't know exactly what it was. In any case, they fixed it! Yay!

It was time for another Big Bear encounter. We saw the babies again on the drive! haha. So cute! I trained again. Afterward, we didn't have any guests for a Lion 101 encounter, so we relaxed and cooled off in the office for a bit. It was SUCH a hot day! Angela did some work on the computer while I went to get her some water. She said I didn't have to, but I reminded her that I'm her intern- hahaha.

Matt was off making all of the Bear dinners, so we started our journey to go help him when we came across Sarah, who was driving the other direction. Angela asked if she needed any help with Cheetah stuff since we were ahead of schedule. They did have one thing we could do- WALK ELLIE! Right away I said "I'LL DO IT!!" I got into her truck so they could take me to get Ellie. First though, they were going to throw bloodsicles to the Cheetahs and Tigers. I got to help with that, which was pretty fun! You have to make sure the Cheetahs SEE the bloodsicle fly though cuz their sense of smell is not so good. Sillies. They all crouched to lick at their bloodsicles. The Tigers both got red lips.

Finally we went to get Ellie! I got about 40 minutes to walk her. I took off my shoes and socks and t-shirt (I had a tank underneath) and rolled up my pant legs. It was so hot and it always gets really hot when walking Ellie, so this was very nice. We walked along a path in the grass for a while. On rocky parts, I leaned on her a little so my feet wouldn't get too poked. She was very accommodating about it. heh. I didn't have time to relax with her at the river, but we still went that direction. There was some tall, soft, green grass, so I sat with her there for about 5 minutes. It was very relaxing for both of us. ^_^

At about 5 o'clock I took her back to her pen, then took a car to go clear the park and close gates. When I reached the Brown Bear hut I helped let them in. I stayed in the hut to open the doors for them while Angela & Matt operated the outside guillotines. The Bears all came in pretty quickly- good Bears! Matt & I finished closing the rest of the gates, and that was it! I also got a surprise in the office- the Cheetahs had finished my 2 requested paintings. Hurray! ^_^

Bye for now...

Day 64 - Wasps!

Day 64.

Back from my trip. :) It's always sad coming home from a fun trip, and I'm also leaving the internship soon, so this was a very sad morning for me. I cried a little in front of Amanda (who'd also gone on the trip), but she didn't mind cuz she understood. She said it was nice that I loved the internship so much to cry over it when I leave. :)

Angela had all three of us interns today: Rayna, Matt, & I. Rayna & I went to pick up morning enrichment for the Bears & Lions, then met up with Angela & Matt at the Lion hut. They had already checked the fencelines, so Rayna & I started on a project- getting rid of wasp nests!!! There were TONS of them around the roof of the hut. Rayna sprayed and I just held the ladder for her and hid from the spray and falling wasps. One fell on her shirt and got her in the arm, so I let her wear my hoodie for protection- she's slightly allergic to stings! We got most of the nests down while Angela was letting the Lions into their pens.

We then made our way to Brown Bears to let them out. First we woke them up. :) I said hello to the girls who were already pacing around, then went to see the snuggly boys. They were as cute as ever! Still sleepy. They had a bit more time to relax though. We all went outside to clean their yards and throw out their enrichment breakfasts. The cove cave was demolished by maintenance. :( I'm sure the Bears will dig new caves though. Once the yards were ready I was sent into the hut to release the Bears! They all ran out right away and enjoyed their chicken breakfasts. (ew.)

Rayna & Matt stayed to clean the hut; Angela & I went to finish off the wasp nests at the Lion hut. While we were in the back area pens, Tau came up the the fenceline to see what we were doing. :) He's so curious. I sat near the fence and took a pic with him. hehe. We ran over to QB to make up some midday enrichment for all of the Bears. We decided on peanut butter in boxes and some little fruitsicles. The peanut butter smelled SO GOOD! I also got to blow some bubbles for Donna- she's the only one who really likes them. They kept blowing back at my own face though. A few of them blew at her and she sniffed them, but she could already smell the peanut butter box beside me so I just threw it in for her. :)

Angela & I took a group to do a Big Bear encounter. I got to do the training while she talked. Victor & Mak did very well! Oso didn't come over since he was still working on this morning's chicken...

Lunchtime!!! It was good, but sometimes an hour seems too long to sit there at the tables. I was also getting sad again, so wanted to go ahead and do more work. Angela suggested going to look at the kittens who were staying in Desiree's trailer. I told her that was a good idea since kittens bring happiness. :) Also, when I was driving to give Bear Tower a break, I called Benji the vet and made a date, so that made me happy too! ^_^ He'll also hang out with Nick & I, when Nick comes to get me, which will be fun!

After my stint in Bear Tower, I worked on preparing Bear dinners with Angela. I had to unwrap a bunch of donated meats. We were so fast- such a good team, she and I. A Lion 101 encounter was next. I picked up the people and started the presentation - telling them about Tau & Sarabi. Angela met up with me and trained while I distracted. It's always fun to distract. Whenever I sit down to get another meat chunk, the Lion lays down, and it's like we're hanging out together sitting side by side. :) After we dropped the group back off at the entrance, we went to hurry and feed the Black Bears (I'd already set up the Brown hut earlier with dinners). I had to also scrub one of the pools and pick up poo in their hut. My glove broke during this......... O.O It was okay though, because I was going to QB next to wash dishes, so I could scrub the poo off very well too!

I finished the dishes, cut some meat chunks for tomorrow's Lion encounters, prepared a bucket for tomorrow's Big Bear encounter, and sat to wait on a ride. It took a little while as we had a Lion/Bear Feed, and the others were showing the guests the Lions being put up and fed. Finally, Amanda came and picked me up and we closed some gates. We also had to go turn off the waters at Black Bears from when I'd scrubbed the pools earlier. Then we waited for the guests to enjoy the Brown Bears and take pics before we could close the rest of the gates behind them.We enjoyed the baby Zebra while we waited. ^_^

That was it for the work day! A very nice day- I kept busy (thanks to Angela), so didn't get sad.......until nighttime! boohoo. I'll miss this place and the people.I still have 5 days left though.

Bye for now...

Day 58 - Time with Ellie, a camel rescue, prepping chickens

Day 58.

Today was the same group: Angela, Matt, Rayna, & I. We all went to wake up the Lions together first. Today's enrichment was chicken! Tau & Sarabi are okay enough with sharing food now, so they can also have meat chunks hidden throughout their pen. :) So I took their chicken breast bits and found areas to hide them. I used a stick to lift one into a tree. hehe. While we were still in the pens the Lions did some caroling. It's always so cool to hear, no matter if you're in the hut with them where it echoes off the walls or if you are on the other side of the park just listening to the distant sound of them. We let them out and then watched to see if Tau & Sarabi would find any chicken. Sarabi sniffed the ground below the one I'd hidden in the tree. It had fallen there before I put it back into the tree. She didn't realize where it was, but I bet they found it later. We did see Tau stand up onto a tree and reach for another piece I'd put between the trunk split.

It was time to do the Brown Bears next. We went into the yards to clean and throw out breakfast, and also sprayed some perfume for today. I was spraying it in the inner yard for the girls and Rayna was in the outer yard, so I decided to toss the perfume bottles over to her (they were plastic). Well, she missed it and the cap came off when it hit the ground. We found it, but instead of doing that with the second one, I decided to shimmy under the hotwire fence! There was enough room for me and it was actually fun. Angela was scared for me, but the shock wouldn't have been bad anyway. haha. I went to look at the pond cave again. Still secure and Russel had dug out more space inside. I saw Claire in there today too, widening it. Maintenance came to check it out earlier in the morning and decided that they would have to break it down in a couple days. :( I feel bad since they worked so hard on it and Bears love dens, but they will always make another one. We also want to make sure they don't end up digging out of the yard on accident or that a cave crumbles in on them.

When we went in to wake up the Bears, Claire was upside-down with her legs all in the air. haha! So cute! The boys were all cuddling, as usual- little teddy bears. After we let them all out into their yards, Rayna & I stayed to clean. We finished in 40 minutes- a record!

Our next task was something I do not like.. we got 19 live chickens donated for the animals. I will just say that my job was only to hold a lid on a bin until the bodies stopped running around. I am not required to do any more than that and I don't even look at the event happening. I did look while they were alive though, and they were very pretty chickens- some were black & white striped. :)

After that, I solemnly washed some dishes. Angela, Rayna, & I then headed to Brown Bears and then Black Bears to throw out midday enrichments. On today's menu: tater tots! Russel seemed to like them a lot. Claire was busy digging out more of her pond cave. The boys also enjoyed them! Then the Black Bears got tots and cashews, which they liked too. :) Ricky likes everything- haha.

Lunchtime was with some other people out at a Mexican restaurant. It was pretty good! And nice to have an outing together.

After lunch, I had the hardest job of the whole day! You will not believe what I had to do! .............WALK ELLIE! YAAAAY! I walked into the office and Sarah asked if I minded going with Matt to walk Ellie. My eyes got joyfully large and I unhesitatingly said YES! And she said we could take a whole hour! Woohoo! Matt wasn't so into having to hike for an hour, but he enjoyed himself anyway. I was so excited, I walked at a fast, happy, skippy pace. We were told about a trail on a hill, but ended up just at a water tower. I decided to just go to the river instead. We walked down a hill to get to the road that would lead us there- it happened to be full of stickers! They got all in my socks, but I just took those off. Nothing could ruin my happy mood! Once we arrived at the river, Ellie just walked along the shore. I went to set an alarm for when we'd need to head back, and Matt offered to hold the leash while I did. He walked Ellie around a bit, following her back up the path. I knew we had extra time though, so I just sat near the river and waited for them to come back down to it, which they did. I wanted to play in the river with Ellie, but since Matt had the leash, I decided to just enjoy the river myself. I took my shoes off and walked on some rocks that jutted out and went to sit on one, put my feet in the water, and watch it flow. It was very relaxing and peaceful. Matt came out onto the rocks too and sat while Ellie walked in the water for a while. We got to stay that way for some pleasant minutes. My alarm started going off, so I put my shoes back on and called Ellie, and the three of us walked back towards the park. Halfway there Matt gave me the leash again. Ellie & I walked fast and unknowingly left Matt behind. We made it back to her pen and I put her in and said goodbye for now.

Matt was there when I started walking back to the office. He was sent to go pick up apples while I was tasked to pick up guests for a Big Bear. It was just one couple. Matt did the presentation and the talking. I just stood in the back of the truck with the guests and commented on how cute the Bears were. The lady LOVED throwing the apples out to them. Her husband enjoyed it too, she was just more vocal about it. :) I drove them back to the entrance and took a small break before having to pick up more guests for the next encounter- a Lion 101. The same couple was going on it, and another family with 3 small kids. As we drove through "Africa" I spotted the baby Eland!! I pointed it out to the guests and said how lucky they were as usually the adults will hide their babies. I took a few pics, but they were high on the hill, so the baby only looked like a dot in the pics. Oh well. :) I did a bit of the presentation at Lions, but Angela offered up more facts to fill the time.

With the encounters finished, we started driving towards QB to do some dishes, but saw a bunch of park staff trying to pull one of the camels out of a ravine! She lays on sand near there and must have rolled down into it! Some guests saw her there and reported it. This was near the Elephant pen, and George could see it and hear the camel noises, so he was stamping around, trumpeting, flapping his big ears, and throwing logs. The Elephant keepers moved him to another part of the yard so he'd calm down. When I arrived, everyone was already set up with ropes and harnesses. She took a while to go on the safest path as she kept resisting the direction everyone was trying to pull her in. She did move a little bit that way, but became so exhausted that she collapsed and sat in the water for a bit. Finally they got a couple harnesses around her abdomen and pulled her gently up the hill by a bulldozer strapped to the harnesses. Once she was on flat ground she quickly got up. The people cautiously took everything off of her and she wandered off down the road- but one harness was still hanging over her back. The Ungulate staff drove out to her and one fed her a couple carrots while the other quickly grabbed the harness. Success! She seemed to calm down quite a bit too. Angela & I passed by her later and she seemed to be perfectly fine. ^_^ Hurray!

It was getting late, so Angela & I quickly went to Lions to let them in and feed them. We said goodnight to the sweet Lions, then went to close gates. Along the way there were some Aoudad in the road! They look like rams. They are elusive and usually hiding in the foresty area, but here they were in the road! I definitely took some pictures of this momentous occasion! haha. We also saw the baby Eland, which Angela had never seen. The view was far and it was laying down, so she could only see that it was a smaller speck than the adults- but still exclaimed how cute it was!

Our last thing to do was help out the Cheetah keeper by opening a water bucket in Topaz's pen. She was hissing at us as we approached, but we didn't have to be too near, and our chore was finished quickly. That was the end of such an eventful work day!

Bye for now...

57 - It's so peaceful, listening to the big cats.

Day 57.

Angela and all 3 of us interns today- Matt, Rayna, & I. Tau was up and playing with his metal keg- batting it around and watching it roll. :) We went out into the pens and I walked one of the fencelines and also spread out meat chunks! Tau & Sarabi don't fight much over food anymore, so they can have this kind of enrichment now! I climbed a tree to hide one- hehe. Quart called while I was in the pen and the Lions started caroling! She got to hear it over the phone! I let Tau out and he stopped to sniff a chicken that Natasha got last night for dinner- she didn't eat much of it. He couldn't reach it since it was in her room, so he just tried to claw under the chain-link fence. Finally they went out.

We went to let Brown Bears out next. The Grizzly boys were snuggling again. :) They are so cute! Oso came over for some love, then went back to his spot and plopped down again- he's not a morning bear! Matt & I walked the boys yard to clean it and throw out breakfast for them. The girls have been digging another cave! Actually I think it's mostly Claire. It is in the pond though, like a cove cave. We went in to check it out- don't want it to crumble in on them! The roof was pretty solid, just one little hole in the top- like a skylight. I also went into the tunnels that the bears cross through, under the road. haha. Took a pic of myself, too!

Rayna & I went back to clean the Lion hut. On the way there I saw the baby Guanaco, Carmella, nursing! Cleaning the Lion hut was very messy with feathers from chickens that they got last night. ew. After cleaning I went to QB alone to prepare all of the Bear meals. I did it pretty fast and efficiently, although my fingers got so cold from unwrapping so many frozen meat packages. Rayna came to pick me up and we gave the Brown Bears midday enrichments: boxes with teriyaki sauce and boxes with Italian dressing. They like getting boxes to sniff and tear. While driving to lunch there were Bison in the road (common) and a little baby one too! cute! I also glimpsed the baby Zebra at a feeder with some of its herd.

After lunch we discovered that one of us was to sit in Cheetah Lodge for the rest of the day. Rayna volunteered because she used to intern with Cheetahs and loves talking about them with people that pass by. But I love Tower/Lodge shifts and she had taken my Lion one a couple days earlier. So I ended up getting it! YAY! I walked up the hill to get there. Ellie was there! Sometimes she is leashed up there for a break. I pet her and brushed her and threw a toy to her which she ignored and just relaxed near her. I sat on the porch of the Lodge for a little bit with Ellie beside me. Haha- sitting on a porch with a dog sleeping next to me while watching Cheetahs! Ellie slept in the sun for a little bit. Hermano the Cheetah was in the pen in front of the Lodge. He was walking around a lot so the cars that passed by got a good view. One vehicle to pass was a freight truck! No cargo on back. It looked like maybe a father and daughter. Maybe a trucker who stopped in for a wildlife adventure while on the road with his daughter. At 4:25 Ellie was picked up by the Cheetah intern to go for a walk and then to her pen for the night. boohoo... I read my book for the rest of the shift. When the Cheetahs were being fed I heard the Tigers chuffing- I guess they knew it was nearing dinner time. I heard the Lions all carol FIVE TIMES! ^_^ I stood outside on the veranda one of the times and just thought how cool it was to be sitting here in the beautiful surroundings, looking at Cheetahs and listening to Lions roar in the distance.

Bye for now...

Day 56. My animals are amazing. :)

Day 56.

Valerie, Matt, Rayna, & I went to wake up the Lions. Keeno stretched and wiggled his toes. haha. I walked the fenceline of one pen and Quart called me. I kept checking the fence while talking to her and at one point the Lions started roaring, so she got to hear it! :) We also put out Rhea eggs for enrichment. I was told to poke a hole in them to entice Keeno & Natasha, so I found a small rock and cracked them. Valerie had each of us let a Lion out, so I went to let Tau out first. One guillotine is next to Sarabi's window and she jumps up and claws and growls when we grab it. So she did this to me and when she did she splattered pee on me from her paws! EWW!

I took the yellow truck (standard!) to Browns with Matt and we walked the perimeter, but this time on the inside of the fence. Bison were nearby so it would have been dangerous outside. We waited for Claire & Russel to come through their tunnel and gave them their Rhea eggs, then waited for the boys to give them theirs. Victor came right over and sniffed at me and sat waiting for his egg, but I wanted to wait for Mak & Oso so I could throw them all at once. Victor went back into the beginning of the yard to get them, and as they all walked over they were in a little single file line. hehe. :)

Once they were out, Matt & I stayed to clean the hut- I did the spraying and rinsing. Then we went to the Lion hut to finish cleaning it from where Rayna had stopped. Before heading to lunch we went to QB to pick out some midday for the Black Bears and give it to them. I decided on bloodsicles and berries. They all pretty much ignored the bloodsicles, but looooved the berries. :) Little sweethearts.

We took our lunch break then, and about halfway through, the Lawrence's showed up! I had been reading my book and suddenly there was a hand on mine, and it was Kathy! They were taking some acquaintances through the park. I got to sit and talk for a little bit and enjoyed their company.

Afterwards I was sent on my own to do a few things. I drove the Bronco (also standard). At QB I made all the Bear meals, then I went to Blacks to throw out their meals to them. Ricky, Little Boy, & Little Girl all go for the meat first. :) Then I went to the Brown Bear hut to set up their rooms with their dinners. After that, guess what? There were dirty dishes to wash! Matt was still at QB so he helped me.

We waited there for Rayna and then all left to go do a Lion 101 encounter. There were about 20 people, I think. We had the Giraffe truck and also a van. I drove the van with 8 guests in it. A little girl, about 6, sat in the front seat and talked to me the whole drive to Lions. She was cute- showing me her nails and saying she could take on a Lion. haha. Rayna did the training while Matt & I did the presentation. The people seemed very interested in what I was saying and asking questions. :) Keeno came down to do some training too! That's always nice so the people can see him regally walk down towards them.

I got a little relaxing time after that. ahhh. Valerie had left and Angela was coming. We filled out the daily log and waited for Angela to arrive. When she did, she took Rayna to feed the Lions and put them in. Matt & I waited a bit more and then met up with some guests at 5:15 for a Bear Feed. It was a family- parents and two little kids. The girl was maybe 6 and the boy was around 8. Very sweet and polite kids. We told the family to bring their car to the entrance and follow us to the Bear hut. The Rhinos were grazing in the grass so they slowed down there to take a picture. :) At the hut we led them upstairs and let the kids ring the dinner bell as we called in the Grizzly boys. They took a few minutes to answer, but came wandering over the hill. Once Angela met us there, we let the girls in also, then led the family downstairs to go watch them eat for a while. They loved it and noted how much bigger the Bears are up close! :)

After that, Matt & I led them out and then we were done!

Bye for now...

Day 55 - Working with the Ungulates

Day 55.

Today I got to work with the Ungulate department! (that is hoofed animals). I shadowed Anthony all day. He's very nice and Mu, Daddy, Ian, Jacob, & Alex met him when we fed Hodari the Giraffe. :) The shift was 6:30-3:30. Nice! Just a regular 8 hour work day! haha! This shift is called the "Drive-thru shift" in which we drive-thru everywhere and count all of the animals to make sure they're all accounted for and alive and well, and put hay and pellets in all the feeders for them. :)

Anthony said most important first job is to feed the Rhinos and Giraffes. We drove out and saw them conveniently at a feeder, so we stopped there. I stayed in the truck and Anthony carefully got out and dumped prepared buckets into bowls for them. Jack, the male, is nice, but you still have to be careful. Anthony can touch his horn, head, and front half of his body. He's working to be able to touch the back feet since they need filing! Taryn, the female, is aggressive, but Anthony is working with her (she's about 16 and only in the last year has somebody tried working free-contact with her). He poured her food in the bowl carefully while telling her "easy", then touched her horn a bit. He told me noone has ever seen him touch Taryn before, so it was special for me to witness. :)

We headed to feed the Giraffes next. They are kept in a barn overnight for safety (plus Hodari sneaks into other 'lands') I've never seen the Giraffe barn, it was cool. The Giraffes looked so big inside it, compared to being in the great outdoors! They each have their own section fenced off with the large fencing used for Elephant barns. The breakfast buckets were prepared first, then Anthony announced he was opening the door so the Giraffes wouldn't get startled. Mate was first. he was looking through our tiny human-sized door and drooling. Anthony did the same thing with each of them- held the bucket up to eat from while he touched their necks and front legs with a target stick. This gets them used to being touched so that blood-draws are easier if needed. Mate, then Kipande, then JT, then Hodari. They all did so well! Anthony was surprised that he didn't have any trouble from any of them- he said sometimes they don't cooperate very well- and told me I must be good luck since all 4 Giraffes were so good AND he'd been able to touch Taryn the Rhino earlier (he doesn't always get to).

Our next job was to drive through and count all of the animals. We started counting when we'd fed the Rhinos, so they were accounted for already, and Ostriches. I got to see the baby Zebra quite a few times today too! We counted the Eland, but didn't see the new baby! We'd have to look harder next time around. In "America" I finally saw more than 3 Udad (not sure on the spelling)! There are 18 of them, I think, so we looked out and found them all. We drove into "Asia" and counted the many herds there, but would have to go back to count the Sika Deer (they were all clumped up laying down) and Rhea (spread out!). We took a break next and while we were sitting there....

"Ungulates to Safari Base, we have a Code 1- Cheetah in Asia! Repeat, a Code 1- Cheetah in Asia!" Anthony & I both got big eyes and looked at each other, then ran to the truck. He went back into the office for a gun which is protocol when a dangerous animal is out of its enclosure. There was a team of people with guns just in case. We drove out, I was sandwiched between Anthony and a girl from Village. There were also others that responded: a van from Elephants, J who helps with everything, Benji the vet, us, and Patches (main Ungulate lady) in another truck. And of course the Cheetah people were all up in the Cheetah pen area. That area is right next to Asia and it turns out the Cheetah must have climbed up and squeezed through the barbed wire! So we were all sitting there, watching the Cheetah run along the Cheetah pens fenceline, attacking another Cheetah who was in the pen. I didn't see it, but apparently they were both bloody on the mouth from attacking each other. Superficial wounds though. The Cheetah keepers all walked with rakes along the fenceline towards the Cheetah to lure him that direction. Patches came from the other direction to scare him away, and someone was near the pen we wanted him in to assure he got there. That was actually Benji's truck there, which the animals are all scared of because he's a vet. I saw the White Fallow Deer and Nilgai all running away when they saw it! Poor things. So while we sat in the truck waiting for the Cheetah to be led to his pen, the Rhea were all casually walking around as if no predator was nearby. :) They never have to worry about that, so they are oblivious. But then the Cheetahs don't know how to hunt, so I guess the animals are still relatively safe anyway. They finally got him into the pen and cleared the Code 1. :) I think it was Hulets, who was one of the nicer Cheetahs and easier to work with. He didn't give the humans any trouble. Afterward Anthony was saying he'd seen the Cheetah on the fenceline but assumed it was inside the fence. It's hard to tell sometimes! Patches saw that too, but then Hulets had moved down the hill a little and she knew for sure that he was out! I saw maintenance over there later securing the fence.

WHEW! We took a short break after that.

Patches asked us to come and help her let out 3 of the Giraffes. JT was first, then Hodari chased him into the proper section and followed him out, then Mate was let out and had to be sprayed with water so he'd go into the proper section too. Kipande stayed in the little yard for the day- sometimes the others pick on him since he's smaller and younger (only 4 years old). Once they were out we went to fill all the feeders. An Emu came over to my car door while we had stepped out of the truck. Anthony came and waved him away for me, but said Emus are nothing to worry about. The 2 camels came over when we filled the next feeder. I got out to take pics while Anthony poured pellets in. The female camel is a little aggressive, so I was careful as I walked back around the truck to get in.

Next feeder, the Sika Deer and Nilgai came to see us. The Sika Deer did a squeaky noise which they are known for. I'd never heard it before, and it sounded like the alien squeak toys from Toy Story. The next feeder was the one for the ducks and swan. It's on a pulley rope in the middle, so Anthony had to pull it in to check the food level- which was good. A few of the feeders didn't have any visitors when we filled them.

Once we got to "Africa" Desi was waiting at a feeder! Anthony kept an eye on him while he got out to pour pellets. Desi was just hungry so didn't make any moves. The Watusi Cattle must have heard the sound or smelled the food because they were all coming over in a line, kicking up dust. I didn't see them walking over but suddenly there were Zebra in the feeder too! This is the closest I'd seen one! ^_^ Only 5 feet from me!! I didn't see the baby though.

At the America feeders the Bison and Elk will sometimes make it hard for Anthony to fill the troughs, but I was a good luck charm again and none of them came by when he was out of the truck. At one, the Llamas were all standing there watching us while hay was placed in there. It was funny- just standing there staring at us. Anthony said they had faces only a mother could love. haha. I took a few pics of them- it was so cute and funny to have them standing there so still. We filled another small trough and one Bison came up the hill to eat- turned out it was a pregnant one! I though it was good that she was a bit separate from the herd so she could get enough to eat. Anthony said they will separate a bit when it's almost time to give birth! :) Since other feeders were filled, the Bison herd had vacated the last one we needed to fill- so we were safe! I took pics of myself down in the ravine where this last feeder was.

Our feeding job was done, so we went to refill everything we'd used, starting with the hay bales. I lifted a couple, but mostly just stood by while Anthony did everything. heh. There wasn't really much I could do except lift a few things for him. We had a little time, so we went over to look for the baby Eland again. Anthony used binoculars and even got out and walked up the hill where other Eland were, but we couldn't find it. There were Watusi Cattle, Zebra, and other Eland there and they ran when Anthony got close- the baby Zebra was so fast! I was told that Eland sometimes stash their babies somewhere for a while to keep them safe, so not to worry too much.

It was almost lunch time, but Patches had me cut some carrots for the Hay Ride first. Lunch was uneventful, but there was a Code 1 debriefing after that, which I saw the beginning of. They were discussing what took place and everything. I couldn't stay since I needed to help David (Ungulate keeper) do a Hay Ride encounter. I didn't really help much since I couldn't do the presentation, but it was nice to see again. The Sika Deer were as cute as ever. :) We drove over to the Hippo too, to see if he'd come out to do a few training tricks. David called to him for several minutes and tried enticing him with lettuce and a melon. Blippo (yes, that's his name) just rolled a couple times and swam near, but never came out. Poo. It was okay for me though, because earlier I gasped about him being out of the pond and Anthony drove over so I could get a picture- and he even got out and had Blippo open his mouth for a pic. :) The people enjoyed Blippo rolling around though, so it was still a good encounter.

Once we returned I found Anthony getting ready to do a Giraffe Feeding encounter, so I joined him. He found Hodari and let the people feed him, but he got to the bucket early on and didn't stay very long since the food was gone. That encounter was a bit boring to me since I was in the truck cab and didn't see much except Hodari's torso.

The shift was almost over. We only had to go restock the truck with food for tomorrow's "Drive-thru shift" person, refill the Rhino food cans at the Boma (house), and then go home! I felt weird leaving so early, but it was also nice! :)

At home I sat in my comfy new recliner that Ian & Daddy helped move to my room, and relaxed before going to dinner and the local community college play "Peter Pan". The Lawrence's said I should see it as the Captain Hook was effeminate and AMAZING! :) A nice Shabbat going to see a play. Shabbat Shalom.

Bye for now...

54 Days! Mak is a "sleepy" bear...

Day 54.

It was Sarah (main Carnivore lady), Valerie (keeper), & I today. We went straight to Lions to quickly let them out. We did walk the fencelines first and put out some Rhea eggs for enrichment. They did some carroling while they waited. When we were letting them out, Keeno rubbed on the door by me. :) Tau was the last to be let out and I operated the closing guillotine. I was holding it open for him and he walked out, but then stopped with his tail tip still under the door! I slowly put it down so it'd touch his tail and he'd move it, but he didn't! I just had to keep waiting until about 5 whole minutes later he moved again! SHEESH! We did a very quick cleaning job after that, then headed to Bears for...

A Brown Bear knock-down! It's time for them to have physicals done (every 3 years). On the drive over to their hut I saw Tibetan Yaks on right, then White Fallow Deer on left, then Sika deer on right, then Rhea on left. haha! The girls (Russel & Claire) needed to go out, so we spread their breakfast quickly- I smeared peanut butter on rocks and logs- then let them out. Russel found one of the peanut butter spots and licked it several times. We did a quick cleaning job of the girls' rooms.

Someone operated a guillotine to separate one boy from the others. It ended up being Mak. My job was to comfort Victor & Oso with berries so they wouldn't get too stressed about being separated (since they are "brother bears"). When the vet team arrived I operated the guillotine that everyone would go out of to get Mak onto the truck bed. The truck was driven into the yard and backed up to the door to be ready. After Mak was darted he didn't make too much noise- he didn't know it was coming. I kept an eye on him as he lost consciousness. He was getting sleepy and didn't know why. I kept telling him it would be okay and he could go to sleep. He wobbled a bit and then sat down, and finally laid down and slowly blinked his eyes, then fell asleep. His mouth was open and his lips looked so cute. The vets put a catheter in and checked his vitals, then moved him onto the truck. Once they drove away, Valerie & I let the other boys into the yard and threw some bread out to them for breakfast. They weren't too interested, and kept pacing around the outside of the hut, sniffing.

We arrived at the clinic after everything was all set up inside with Mak. I got to pet him a bit, hug and kiss his back, and hold his paws. Angela came in for this procedure, and she was measuring his pads and claws to see how much he'd grown since his last physical. The vets were feeling all over to check him. We usually have an encounter to do at 11, but on procedure days we cancel those. BUUUT, Jungle Jamie hadn't heard of the cancellation, so signed up 14 people for a Big Bear! We couldn't do that since one of the Bears was unavailable, but we offered to do a Lion 101. Sarah had me go out with Rayna (also came in just for the Bear procedure) to do it ourselves. Neither of us had ever trained the Lions before, but I'd seen it done several times, so I was okay with it. We picked up the guests, drove out to the Lion loop and Rayna did the presentation while I trained. Tau came up right away, then Sarabi joined us too. They both did very well and so did I! Keeno didn't come down, but looked majestic sitting under the round shade of a tree. :)

When we finished and returned to the clinic, it was almost time to take Mak back to his hut. I waited in the truck bed and helped lift him onto it (holding the stretcher), then I got to ride with him too. I sat a bit squished next to his back, holding onto him to steady myself as we drove bumpily to his hut. I helped to lift him off the truck, but going into the hut the door was too small and many of us couldn't make it through and had to let go of our portion of the stretcher. They handled it though, and got him settled in his room. Angela offered to stay and watch him while Sarah, Valerie & I went to take our lunch breaks. I ate pretty quickly though because I finally got to have a shift watching one of our animals wake up! I brought my book and read aloud so Mak could hear too. When I did this for my dogs, they always seemed to like it- maybe a steady voice soothes them- so I thought it'd be nice for him too. I paused a couple times to go look at his face and call his name to see if he'd move a little. He had been blinking a bit and smacking his lips, and once when I called him he moved his ear and picked up his head a tiny bit. He also kept shifting his back legs every now and then. Mostly he stayed asleep all day. I guess the Bears take a LOT longer than the Lions to come out of anesthesia!

I was given a list of tasks to do all alone, starting at 3 o'clock. First was a Big Bear encounter. I picked up the bucket of donuts & apples from QB, then drove the people out in the giraffe truck. I told the guests all about all of our Brown Bears, and that we had one MIA since he was sleeping in the hut. Usually while we make the introductions the Bears start coming over because they know it's Big Bear time. WELL, they DIDN'T! I called and called them and clicked at them, but nobody made a move to come over. The guests and I laughed about it and talked about how we can't force them to do anything, and they are sometimes lazy, and maybe they weren't in the mood for donuts. :) I was getting desperate and threw a couple donut pieces to them where they were sleeping under their shade structure. They sniffed, but didn't get up. I finally threw one more piece and it landed right next to Victor's head! He ate it and looked at us, then finally meandered over! YAY! But then......... walked away! NOOO! I actually said "NOOOO" too. haha. The people all laughed about it too. Our time was running out so I apologized about not getting a Big Bear out of them, but gave them the bucket of apples to throw out. They threw some to the girls and Russel swam out to eat them. They threw some to the boys and after several apples had landed, they finally got up and ate them! The guests and I talked some more and giggled at how cute Russel was in the water. Then a little girl, about 8, asked if maybe Oso (who was in front of us eating apples) would maybe do a Big Bear now that he'd gotten up. I told her I could try it again once he'd finished his apples. So we waited, I got my bucket of donut chunks, then asked him to do Big Bear............ he didn't. There was one more apple, but I'd gotten it from near the fenceline and decided to ask him for Big Bear with the apple. It WORKED!!!! HAHAHA! The people were happy they finally got to see it. :) Time was out, but I felt bad that we spent the first half doing nothing, so I went over a little and got both boys to do Big Bears for donuts, FINALLY! I think the guests really liked the drama of the whole thing too. :) I returned them to the entrance, then went to check on Mak really quick before doing a Lion 101 encounter. He looked okay and just stayed asleep. He was breathing good tho.

I picked up the guests for the Lion encounter- 2 families who had been on the Big Bear one. :) I love when this happens as I feel like I have some sort of comraderie with them now. I feel more comfortable. I learned that Tau & Sarabi no longer need one or the other distracted since their food aggression with each other had lessened. I had them each do some training tricks while I talked, and noticed that Sarabi was being submissive to Tau! I had gone over to have her do a trick and Tau looked at her, and she ducked and squinted her eyes! I was amazed! I guess he is going to become the dominant one after all- as it should be with Lions! Good boy! He's finally stood up for himself. May help with the breeding too.

Once that ended, I met up with Sarah & Valerie to do a Lion/Bear Feed. It was grandparents and 2 of their grandsons who were teenagers and shy. We walked them over to the Lion hut and let them push meat through the chutes and watch the Lions come in. They got to hear 2 roaring episodes. :) Then we drove out to the Bear hut to let the Bears in and watch them eat. We looked at Mak first, who was still sleeping, and told the guests about what happened to him today and that he was just recovering. We let his 'brothers' in and instead of going right to the food, they sniffed around at all the scents left by the vets and sniffed at the door that Mak was behind. Victor started banging on the door and digging and the ground. He and Oso sniffed and sniffed at the door and tore at the boxes their food was in, but didnt' eat any of it. They were just being destructive to show their feelings of irritation at being separated from Mak. It made me sad for them. And Mak sat up in his room to sniff at the door too. He stood and walked at one point, but was so wobbly that he laid back down to sleep. They will all be together tomorrow though. Poor little Grizzlies.

The girls were let in with no fuss and enjoyed their meals thoroughly! The guests took lots of pictures in front of the rooms and took a long time watching them. They also felt bad for the boys, but we all knew they'd be fine. We said goodnight and headed out to close the gates. On the drive I asked about a baby Eland I'd seen earlier! Valerie said it was born yesterday! Aug 4, 2010. :) Not sure who will name it or when we will find the name out tho. I think I spotted the baby Zebra too. :) Bethany has a list of names narrowed down, so we should find out soon!

I stayed in the Cheetah Lodge until the last car pulled through (saw Hermano (Cheetah) laying in his yard), then went to help bring the Tigers in for dinner and bed. Leah was being affectionate and rubbing on the gates at us. I think they said it's because it's breeding season and she gets lovey-dovey. :)

That was the last thing of the night. WHEW!

Bye for now...

Day 51 - Ending the day with a BBQ!

Day 51.

On my drive to work today I looked out at the pretty horses and cows while listening to 30 Seconds to Mars. Niiiiice. ^_^ When I got there and we were driving to the Lion hut, I heard "California Girls" by Katy Perry. haha. :) I also noticed a peacock preening itself.

At Lions we woke them up and Sarabi was standing on the "window" chewing her dewclaw- looked like she was sucking her thumb. Natasha ate half her meal and took her meds! YAY! We went into the pens to spread enrichment and check fencelines- I sprinkled poppy seed and garlic in Keeno & Natasha's pen. I also rearranged some toys, but they usually don't play with them anyway. We went back in the hut to release all of them, then went into Natasha's room and looked out the window at Tau & Sarabi. Sarabi saw us, stared, charged at the window, jumped up and pawed at the chain-link while growling. It was pretty cool! Angela got a video of it.


Rayna & I were then told to go to Lion Tower to fill out any breeding notes about Tau & Sarabi. On the way, we saw the Rhino laying on the hilltop and one had a bird on its head! At Lion Tower, Rayna filled out the log while I unlocked the gates and watched Tau & Sarabi playing. Tau ran at the fence towards me in a playful manner. When Rayna had finished we were about to get in the car and noticed Desi had followed us over! I climbed the ladder of the Tower to get out of his path, waited for him to move far enough away, then got into the car with Rayna. whew! and cool!

We met up with Angela & Matt at the Brown Bear hut. All 3 boys were cuddled up together again. Makes you want to just sit in the midst of them and snuggle. :) The girls were already pacing around and ready to go out. After checking on them we went into the yards to throw out their breakfasts of bread and nuts. The girls were let out and crossed through the tunnel, but before we could let the boys out a goose had flown into the yard! We walked into the yard to shoo it away, but it flew away on its own before we reached it. Since we were already in the yard we took the opportunity to check out the cave the Bears have all been digging. It was excellent! The roof was very sturdy and the cave was pretty deep! Sometimes we see two of them disappear into it! Angela & I were both happy to get to see the cave. haha. Then we finally let the boys out into their yard. :)

Rayna & I stayed to clean the hut. I sprayed while she scrubbed. The boys heard us cleaning and I could hear them outside the big metal door so I sprayed the hose through the crack. They bit the stream and batted at it, having fun with me. :) I loved it too! When we finished cleaning we headed to QB to make Bear dinners. While getting the buckets to put the food in, Rayna yelled and dropped one, saying there was something on it! We both peered at the floor and saw the tiniest little frog! SOO CUUUUTE! About as small as your pinky print! Rayna gently scooped it up and took it outside to the tree area. We put together the Brown Bear midday enrichments- jerky and frozen jello! (We froze it cuz it didn't solidify very well) They LOVED the jello! ^_^ So happy cuz I created it for them! We put some chopped fruit into old boxes for the Black Bears which they loved! They tore open the boxes and nom nomed everything.

Lunchtime! On the way to go to lunch there was a long line of White Fallow Deer. Looked so cool. I spent part of my lunch going to the house to grab some clothes since there was to be a cookout at the park for the workers. I spent the rest of lunch reading my book while eating.

We went back to QB to finish making the dinners- I was quickly unwrapping some donated meat for the Bears. We also saw some little kittens that one of the barn cats had! SO CUTE! About a month old. :) We try to catch them and fix them, but this mom was good at getting away so she had babies.. There was a little cream one I got a picture of.

Next I drove to Bear Tower cuz the afternoon shift couldn't make it, so I got to stay there for 3.5 hours! YAY! On the way there I saw Little Boy (Black Bear) in his pool. :) At the Tower, I watched the Bears play, read my book, took my boots off and put my feet in front of the fan! I had to go to the restroom at one point- there is a porta-potty area under the Tower. When I came out 2 of the boys were at the fence next to me! haha! I got my camera and came back down to hang out with them a little bit. We enjoyed each others company for a few minutes, then they started wrestling around. Oso joined them and they wrestled and ran around the yard for about half an hour before it was time to go in. :) Then Matt & I closed the park gates.

Work was done, but the party was started! Us girls changed in the office and sprayed a bit of body spray to cover the sweat smell, then went to join everyone. We said hello to Benji, the vet, who had planned the party. I looked over and saw a red portable grill and paused... I recognized that grill! I looked closer at the people standing over the grill and realized it was the Lawrence's!!! I put my arms around both of them and said hello, and they laughed in delight and hugged me. Apparently Ron was the cook for the party. The food was really good and I ate four different desserts! I even had a Mike's Hard Pomegranate Lemonade, but my belly was so full it didn't affect me. I made a plan to see the Lawrence's on my day off and visited with a few different people. We left around 8:30. Very nice hang out with everyone.

When I got back to the house I saw Sarah the white cat and pet her a little bit. She rolled over so I gently poked at her belly and she tried to playfully grab my hand- she accidentally scratched me tho! I cleaned it with peroxide and put neosporin and donned one of the Safari band-aids that Mu had bought me! Finally, a reason to wear one! I even got a compliment on how cute it was! haha! They asked if I was just wearing it or if I needed it. :P

I sat down to write this blog and post my pictures on Facebook. I use my phone internet tether which makes a bubble around me of internet. Someone looked over and asked if I was online and I told them about my phone. Her eyes got big and I saw a couple of other stares around the room. I offered to share the bubble and they all ran to get their laptops. haha! Another girl walked in and asked what someone was doing and she said "We discovered there's a wireless hotspot around Ashley", so she ran to get her laptop too. And I am pleasantly surprised to announce that the speed is fine even with 6 people on it!

Bye for now...

Day 50 - Lots of encounters with guests today!

Day 50.

It was Angela (keeper) and Matt, Rayna, & I (interns) today. We went to do Lions and noticed that Natasha ate her prescription cat food last night! YAY! Benji the vet thinks this will help kick-start her appetite, so hopefully she eats her meals again from now on.

We looked at the Lions for a little bit, waking them up and saying hello. When I was by Keeno's door, he huffed loudly at me, which startled me, then he rubbed the door- I guess that was a happy sound. hehe. We went into the pens to walk the fencelines- I sprayed perfume and rearranged toys in Tau & Sarabi's pen. I set a toy up in a tree with a stick holding it in place. Tau liked when I did that another time, so I hoped he'd like it again. While the Lions were waiting they did some caroling. Sarabi also turned at the door and peed- it sprayed out at us! But we dodged. :) It would have been a good time to collect a sample for the vet, but we didn't think of it in time and didn't have a sterile cup anyway- we should get one! We released the Lions then: Keeno batted at Natasha for taking so long (but we were trying to get her to eat her medicine meat chunk so it wasn't her fault), but they were fine afterward and happy to go out; Tau went and sniffed my toy set up! but he didn't play with it. Although we did go back later in the day and see that he'd knocked the stick down, but the toy had stayed in the tree. :) While we were watching Tau, Sarabi noticed us and charged at the hut (which we were in, looking out the fence window) and batted at us a little. It would have been an entertaining video if we'd caught it. Oh well!

On our way to Brown Bears, Desi chased us again. :) One of my favorite things- I love Desi!

In the Brown Bear hut we found 3 lazy Grizzly boys all snuggled up together. They yawned and stretched and just laid there looking at us. Oso had his head on Mak's belly and Victor leaned into the fence and rubbed against it as if we were petting him. I released the girls so they could go onto their island, but before letting the boys out I opened the hut door that leads into the pen and sprayed off the porch there. Angela went into the empty outer yard and looked at the cave that they'd dug- she was impressed with their work! Sometimes we see them go in there and disappear! We can't even see their butts sticking out. I had the chore of walking the perimeter of the whole Brown Bear exhibit to check the fencelines. I took a rake with me in case the Bison came by- they hang out around that area a lot. It was pretty cool to walk around where the Bison walk! ^_^ I did see them when I was almost finished, but not too near me to be alarmed. I took some pics of them, then went back inside the Bear hut to release the boys into their yard.

After the Bears were all out in the yards Angela & I started to clean the hut until Rayna & Matt returned and we passed the job off to them. Angela & I headed to Black Bears to toss a snack over the fences to them. While we were there, I saw Little Boy humping Little Girl, which noted that it was breeding season! haha. All the boy Bears are fixed though as there is an overpopulation of Bears in zoos due to so many orphans in the wild. Angela trained Donna while I gave a bit of the snack to Takoda & Chochmo (we were waiting to throw the whole thing until Donna was done). I tossed quarter apples and pears to the boys. I took a few pears and pushed them onto the fence and let Takoda grab them off with his lips.

When we finished there, we were getting in the truck and noticed something special! The Black Bears end the "America" portion of the safari, so we were in "Africa". There, out in the field, was a mix of a herd laying in the grass together: Eland, one Giraffe, Watusi Cattle, and Zebra! It was beautiful! We also spotted the new baby Zebra (Christina) a few times- she's hard to spot since she blends into her mother!

Next we all did a Big Bear encounter together- my duty was to drive the Giraffe truck with all the people in the back caged area. This was a pretty large group and half of them were kids. They had lots of fun. :) When we took these people back we got a call that one person had paid a bunch of money to have her own private Big Bear encounter. Angela & I went back out to Brown Bears to meet her. Angela did the talking and I did the training. All 3 Grizzly boys ended up doing it for me. :) Good boys! Afterward, we said goodbye to the lady and then prepared some little boxes with peanut butter and hot sauce to throw to each Brown Bear. The boys liked both flavors, but Claire sniffed my hot sauce box and walked right away! She did like the peanut butter one though. Russel ate the peanut butter one first, then really went after the hot sauce one! YAY! She liked mine! When we were driving away I saw Russel still laying by the fence and she turned her head to look away while reaching out a paw to touch the hotwire!! It gave her a shock and she walked away quickly, but then went back to lay in that spot again. Weird! Angela said she does that sometimes and they think she's testing the hotwire..

After all of that, it was lunchtime! I enjoyed my little meal and listened to two other interns talk and giggle a lot- they couldn't stop! haha. It was a fun and relaxing lunch. When I finished I met up with Matt at QB to help him finish the Bear dinners by weighing out some meat for them. That was the last thing to do for those, so then I was told to go back to the entrance and do a Big Bear all by myself! I was actually excited because I'm confident in doing this now. I had to pick up some donated meat first and Jaime (who does encounter sign-ups) helped me carry the bags to my Carnivore car. :) So nice. Then I went to greet my guests and drove them up in the Giraffe truck, pointing some animals out along the way. I didn't see the baby Zebra which was disappointing because I really wanted to show her to the guests. There were a lot of kids in this group and they really enjoyed throwing the apples to all the Bears. I actually had a hard time getting the boys to come out to do the encounter, but the people enjoyed my remarks to the Bears while I was asking them to come up. :) I finally got one boy to do it and told him he was the star of the show- the other boys got jealous for donuts and came out too, so they all ended up doing it. I spoke loudly too, so that the whole group could hear me saying my presentation. Sometimes it's hard to hear the person talking, so I want to make sure it's not that way when I am the presenter. I drove them back and thanked them all for coming and said "I hope you had fun!". One young boy answered that he DID have fun! :) Everyone was happy.


I parked the Giraffe truck per Jamie's request and headed back to QB with the donated meat. That went into the freezer and I started loading the Brown Bear dinners to go set up the huts, but Angela called that she was on her way and to wait for her. She dropped Matt off to set up the hut dinners and took me on the Lion 101 encounter. This was nice because a family from the Big Bear was who was going on this encounter, so we said hello again! On the drive to Lions, the dad said something and paused for me to fill in with my name, but instead of saying "Ashley" I said "Big Bear" because that's where I'd met them. haha. I corrected myself, but he said they will probably just call me "Big Bear" when they tell the stories of the park. hehe. It was a fun encounter with just this little family- Dad, Mom, 5ish boy, 3ish girl in a fuchsia dress. The little boy asked a lot of good questions. Angela talked and trained and I distracted the other Lion. When we'd finished with Tau & Sarabi, Tau turned around and lifted his tail- we said "WATCH OUT!" The little boy didn't move, so I stood in front of him- sacrificing myself to the pee, but his mom moved him in time and we all escaped the spray! We went over to introduce them to Keeno & Natasha, and Keeno did some training. When we'd finished, guess what? Keeno turned around and lifted his tail! He was actually aimed right at the little boy too! Wonder if they smelled something on him that made them both take aim at him. lol! The whole family dispersed, the little boy running further, but still in the path of the spray. He narrowly escaped this time, then said he'd stay on that side of the road for the rest of it. ha! We were done anyway, so we all went back to the van laughing about it.

Right after we came back it was time to meet up with another guest for a Lion Feed! I volunteered to meet up with him and walk him to the Lion hut. I love talking with guests. :) He said he used to work for a circus and got to go in with large cats, free contact! I told him we do protective contact here (fence between us and them), but it's still cool to be so close! It had been years since he worked there and his family thought it'd be a good birthday present to send him on the Lion Feed and be close to Lions again. :) Matt did the presentation of the Lions. The man pushed all their dinners through the proper chutes and watched them all be let into their own rooms and eat. We got a good caroling session too- it echoes and vibrates off of the concrete floors and walls. SOOO COOOOL! Matt & I were sent to start closing the park gates, so I said goodbye to the man. I took the bronco since I'm supposed to "become one with the bronco". I stalled it a couple times, but that was on hills, so I think I'm getting pretty good with it. I even switched gears this time! I also had spare time to go in reverse and take an extra loop just to get more practice with it.

Matt & I stopped at Brown Bears and waited there for Angela to have finished the Lion Feed and give Natasha her medicine. It took a while since Natasha is stubborn about medicine. While we waited we talked to the Grizzly boys- there is a fenceline by where we parked. They had gotten excited when we pulled up- must have been hungry! But we had to wait for Angela since a keeper needs to be with us to let them in. We sat on rocks outside the hut while we waited. I actually sat near the fenceline and all 3 boys lumbered over and sat in front of me, just hanging out. :) It was 10 or 15 minutes before Angela made it up there. I enjoyed relaxing with my boys. ^_^

The Bears all went into the hut quickly since they'd been waiting! Matt & I went in the bronco again to finish closing the park gates. I stopped a couple times to get pics of animals who were being cute. It was a fun time and a nice way to end the day.

Bye for now...

Day 49 - Clouds, babies, lots of lion and bear time

Day 49.

This morning it was chilly and cloudy. I enjoyed it since it's usually so hot! A cool, cloudy morning. ahhhh. :) It was all the Carnivore interns (Rayna, Matt, & I) and Valerie. We all went to the Lions together. The couples got to switch pens with each other today! We walked the fencelines and rearranged the toys a bit- I kicked a couple bowling balls to other spots. While the Lions were waiting Tau was talking to me- looking at me and grumbling at me in response to me talking to him. Natasha skipped her meal again, but we were told she may not eat for a few days after her knock-down. She did go outside right away though. :) After they all went out, Matt & I unlocked the Lion drive-thru gates and on the way from there to the Brown Bears, we saw the baby Guanaco! So cute! I heard her name is "Carmella" cuz of her coloring. :) Some names are auctioned off, but other animals are named by the first person to spot the baby. This was the case for the Guanaco baby. Pretty name.

We went into the Brown Bear hut and saw a few cuddly Grizzly Bears who didn't want to get up yet. Oso was using his log toy as a pillow. The girls were already up and pacing around though. We opened the door to let them out and cross through the tunnel onto their island. While waiting for the girls to cross through the tunnel, Mak stood up to look at me (I was upstairs). He leaned against the fence first, but then just stood up on his hind legs. It was so cute. :)

After all the Bears were out, Matt & I stayed to clean the hut. It didn't take too long since by now we are fairly efficient at it! I did the scrubbing, so had a few spare minutes to go out and look at the Bison. They were walking along the road and causing a traffic jam. The ungulate department was called 3 or 4 times to come and move the Bison out of the guests way! Really, if the cars just go really slowly the Bison will move out of the way. That's really all that the ungulates do. Oh well.

Next was to clean Lion hut! Woohoo! I did the spraying this time and we finished really quickly- we surprised Valerie with our speed! We did do a thorough job too. After that we got to take an early lunch (11:30) Matt, Rayna, & I sat together and talked while we ate. It was nice. We went back to the office to meet Valerie once our time was up, but she said there wasn't anything to do yet, so we relaxed in the office for another half hour!! Valerie is just so efficient that we always have extra time to relax. ^_^

It was then time for midday snacks for all of the Bears! They got melons or bloodsickles and the Black Bears also got some cashews to go with it. We also went out to the Lion drive-thru loop and tossed over a couple of bloodsickles for Tau & Sarabi. (Keeno probably wouldn't be interested, and Natasha definitely isn't! She's not food motivated at all. We got to watch the Lions for a while and say hi to them all. Nice to have extra time!

Valerie & Matt went to do a Big Bear encounter and I stayed at the Black Bear area to toss all of their food to them. While we tossed the dog food and nuts, I watched the long pieces twirl around as they flew through the air- it was raining dog food and nuts! Little Girl came out to partake and everyone foraged around for their favorite part- dog food, nuts, produce, meat. While we were driving it was just us 3 girls so we had a little girl talk about Matt who has a crush on Rayna. :) He's done some awkward things around her. haha.

We also went to set up the Brown Bear dinners- the girls got theirs in boxes today with donut crumbs scattered about them. We had to wash dishes after that, but we are fast at this chore now so it wasn't so bad. Then Rayna & I prepared the Lion diets for tonight. We loaded the tote of diets into the truck and met at the front with Valerie and some guests for a Big Bear encounter. It was a pretty large group of about 24 people. I did some talking and answered questions for one end of the group- they seemed interested in my facts. heh. On the drive to take the people back to the entrance, I saw a Sika deer carefully stepping his way through the laying down herd. :)

Then! We relaxed more in the office. Once 5 o'clock rolled around we took a couple of guys into the Lion hut (Lion Feed encounter). We told them facts, let them drop food into the empty rooms, let them observe the Lions being brought in, and waited for Keeno to roar. The other Lions didn't join in with him! Oh well. The two guests were very nice and still loved the experience even though they missed all 4 Lions caroling together.

Last but not least was to put in the Brown Bears. The Grizzly boys have all been so good about coming in right away! Mak even ran to the door! They must have been hungry. :) The girls LOVED their boxes of food. Lots of goodies for them like celery and grapes! They seemed to think every bite was delicious! The boys chowed down a lot too and we left after saying goodnight to the happy Bears.

Bye for now...

P.S. Also spotted today: a newborn zebra! So cute!!