Fort Worth Zoo

 Hello everyone!

Long time no write :D Like I said before, I still have lots of pictures and experiences to share with you guys so I'll continue posting even though I am now home in Weymouth.

Bonobo with some crazy biceps

Cheetah!

I never thought Black Rhinos were cute, but these guys changed my mind.

Peek-a-boo! :)

Judging 

Baby Bonobo!

Asian Elephant

Giraffes! <3

1. Baby elephants ^_^

2. We got to see keepers giving dirt baths

3. I want to have this job at some point

White tiger

Malayan Tiger

African Lion

Adolescent male, the keeper said he was about 2 and a half. Older than Wali, with about half the mane :P

I love penguins

Coatimundi

Sleepy ocelot

Jaguar

Ring-tailed lemurs :D

Silverback gorilla

Rachel with a gigantic alligator

Sliding along the sand

Okay, so super heavy picture post, but with going to the zoo what am I supposed to do? :) I really liked this zoo, but one major thing Rachel and I noticed was the lack of space in some of the enclosures. They look great with huge water features, but that's really it. The lions and tigers specifically have very little space to walk around. The enclosure is surrounded by water to make sure they can't reach the people, which is totally fine, but the areas they had to roam around in was very small. I don't know if I didn't see areas where they could go inside, but it didn't seem like there was any extra space. 

That is one of the major reasons I want to work in zoos. I really would like to get a position and work my way up until I am able to reform how enclosures are built or improved.  I know that people want to be able to see where the cats are, but that is not the best thing for the cats. On one hand, they are cats and they do sleep a lot of the time, but they should still have the option for moving around and playing in the open spaces if they wanted it. Just some of my thoughts. 

I'll be updating in a couple days with pictures from my last week/last day and some of the stuff we were doing.

Until then, have a great day! 

Feel free to comment your opinions :)

Goodbye CARE

Hi everyone!

Welp. It is time. My internship has run its course and I'm going home to Weymouth soon...later today actually. It's so strange, I don't know what I'm going to do besides sleep for a week or so. That's a given. But other than sleeping, I don't have a set plan for myself.

I still have oodles of pictures so have no fear, I will be updating this blog with posts. My next one will be about my visit to Fort Worth Zoo with Rachel.

The day today will be spent doing morning duties, which I'll be starting soon, and then basically taking as many pictures as I can of everything. All the cats, the compound, llama, Bindi, etc.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my experiences as much as I've enjoyed writing about them and giving an insight to what the life of an intern at CARE is about.

I'll be posting in the next few days, once I get settled again. Until then, enjoy these pictures:

Ace

Acari in her lockdown

Three of the four babies in their lockdown. Nice and shady.

Have a great day!!

Update

Hi everyone!

First off, 

RACHEL'S BACK!!!!!

This post will be more of an update of what has been happening the last couple of days. They've been some busy ones. On Tuesday evening, Rachel flew back to CARE to help train the new summer interns that are coming a couple days after I leave, but she flew here a week early to help me out with everything, hang out, and to go on all the field trips I was supposed to go on during my internship. It already has been SO nice having her back. 

We gave tours for second graders on field trips yesterday, and are giving three more today and there are a lot of kids. Two classes worth at a time, so it was a little stressful getting ready for that and planning everything out to make sure it ran smoothly. I'll talk more about that a little later, because the most important thing to happen recently was Raven. She went to the vet yesterday because of what we pondered to be a bite on her face. A couple mornings ago, she was in her lockdown with her meat from feed the night before and this isn't unusual, she isn't always out and about in the mornings, she is sometimes sleepy. I noticed her face looked a little swollen on the side when she picked up her head but she went back to sleep. She came out of the lockdown once we were done cleaning her enclosure and a little while later, Heidi is loading up the trailer to take her to the vet because her face got really swollen. Once they got back, the vet didn't know what was wrong so we just watched her all day. Yesterday morning we were hoping that maybe the swelling had gone down but when we checked on her, the swelling had gotten worse. It had spread to the other side of her face and her eyes were almost swollen shut. She was in her lockdown again and was in the fetal position to sleep. We went to get ready for the tour with the plan to check on her again after the tour was over. 

The tours consisted of about 40 second graders from Bridgeport and a couple teachers, one of our volunteers, two past interns, myself, Heidi and Darrion. We were each assigned about 10 kids and our job was to ensure that our 10 kids behaved and we were responsible for them. Heidi gave the tour and it went very smoothly so we went to check on Raven right after. As soon as possible we got Raven into the transport cage and into the trailer to go back to the vet because we saw her nose was bleeding a little and the swelling had increased. Derek was home at that point so he was able to take the second tour of kids. We each got our 10 kids and made sure they were behaving. We got word after the tour that Raven had a cracked molar and they were removing the tooth. 

We had originally thought that maybe a Black Widow spider bit her because there is a stone cave-like house in her enclosure that Spotty always hung out in that was known for having those spiders in them. Rachel and I went in and really checked for black widows and any other potential spiders but we found none, although we did get rid of several egg sacks and webs. Getting bitten by a black widow is very dangerous, especially for a leopard who doesn't weigh a whole lot. It could kill her.

Raven is currently in the vet center and will be for a little while to we can keep an eye on her and make sure she has everything she needs. Last night Rachel slept in the back of the vet center right next to the cage on a mattress. She made sure Raven had water, and was there just in case anything happened.

This morning we woke up to rain. Torrential rain. We got the call that the school cancelled the tours for today because of the weather so we'll reschedule them for a later date. At least it was warm rain, as I knew from doing meds and lemurs this morning. We also moved Bindi to her outdoor enclosure permanently so that she wouldn't be disturbing Raven. But this means we have to go outside to get her food and water bowls, so I got plenty damp this morning just from that. Then meds, etc. It's just been a soggy morning and will probably be a soggy afternoon but Rachel and I have plans to go on one of our field trips tomorrow morning, so that's something to look forward to!

So this was just an update on the last few days, but here are some pictures I got recently. 

 Oh Wali, you're the cutest.

 Melita in her cup

 Love love love this picture of Ace

 Solano and his water bucket

 Bonnie Boo :) Sleepy in the sun

Have a great day! I'll be trying to stay dry.

FLOWERS

Hi everyone!

On occasion, we have low-key mellow days where there isn't a ton of stuff to do. On these days, I like to go outside with my camera, say hi to all the kitties, and just wander around. This compound is awfully pretty, especially now that wild flowers are blooming in the fields and the summer grass is growing. I have a bad habit of taking WAY too many pictures of flowers anyway, so when there are flowers I don't usually see and they're really pretty...you get the picture. Here's a bunch of them! :D

 

Marigolds I potted out front

 I believe these are called Winecups, or Callirhoe (Mallow family)

These flowers are not done justice in this photo, they are gorgeous in the sun. A nice bright coral.

 I liked the blurry and focused contrast

 SO PRETTY

Oh and these are Castilleja, or Indian paintbrushes

 Butterflies are everywhere, I love it

I also potted a bunch of other flowers that I'll take pictures of soon.

Have a great day! :)