A lot has happened during the 11 months we’ve been gone from blogging. I’ll be making several posts regarding some items to share with you from 2016. To start of with, in September we received some funding that allowed us to expand the alpaca yard. (in August 2015 we were able to grow it a little, but this time we added much more space). In less than one week, a few trees came down, the fence was moved back, mulchRead more
Posts filed in: Exhibits
Keeper Katie’s operant conditioning work
Keeper Katie works with the bears closely and is their primary trainer. You can see how well Katie is doing working with Virginia to open her mouth. (Getting a good look at an animal’s teeth is an important part of veterinary care). We’ll post more videos of the Keepers doing operant conditioning work with the animals if you want- just say the word.Read more
Christmas 2016
So, I arrive this Christmas without any issues at all- waking before my alarm and remembering to pack some food. The Keepers have left me some notes: Compared to Christmas 2015, there are a few primary differences I notice right off the bat: I am using a smart phone this year to take pictures… no more flip phone for me. I set the logbooks up on the Vet Room table rather than the counter- apparently sitting is a desire thisRead more
QuikPic: Alpaca yard expansion
I was going through the photos on my phone and found this one. We expanded the alpaca yard in August and the girls immediately went and starting eating the tree. No longer any grass, or the bottom half of the tree in this area any more. Read more
Medicating the Bears
Every animals takes their medication differently. A few years ago, Jill made a post about how we get some of our animals to take their meds. Recently, we had Leslie out in Explore the Wild taking photos of some of our exhibits and she just happened to catch Janine and me giving our bears their dewormer. Just like your pets at home get prophylactic dewormers (medication that is intended to prevent parasites), we do the same for our animals hereRead more
Filou gets his physical.
Dr. Vanderford was nothing but smiles checking Filou out for his physical. While his physical went great- the only issue being the need to take off some weight- he has aged quite a bit since then. Opossum’s tend to only live 2-3 years, and Filou is slowing down and showing some issues in the past month or more. Read more