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...