Members of the museum are rewarded with several perks- one of them is being able to visit the museum at 9am- an hour before it opens to the general public. However, some of our animal exhibits aren’t quite open that early. Carolina Wildlife and the Farm Yard both open at 10am. The reason these exhibits aren’t open at 9 is simple really- we have to clean. Most of us Keepers arrive at 8am, we gather our food, enrichment, and volunteers and head out to our assigned areas for the day. Keeping the Farmyard closed until 10am enables us to do many things- some Keepers can train their animals, the pigs, duck, or goats can roam free, Lightning gets his hooves picked and a little walk each morning, vet procedures can be completed- like weighing, coping, and hoof trimming, both the exhibit and facility departments can work on projects and on thursday’s we can super clean! We really appreciate our members understanding the need to stay closed an extra hour. Here are a bunch of pictures from last Thurs to show you all we try to cram into that hour.