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...
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