Tortoise Physicals Complete

Our radiated tortoises got a clean bill of health during their physicals this year. They have moved inside for the winter, and that’s where all the pictures below were taken. When warm enough, they will head outside again, but for now, you can come see them in the Indoor Viewing area on the Lemur Deck.Read more

Virginia Bear Update: laser and more

Readers know Virginia has extensive osteoarthritis. She receives multiple medicines and laser treatments to help. Some photos (and video) below. We’ll be doing a series of posts in December about Virginia’s recent challenges, and her trip to the NCSU Vet School for a CT scan.      Read more

First week in October

Since last week, I am happy to report a truckload of stumps have been picked up and are dispersed through most of the Farmyard yards. Some are being cut smaller today so we can use them indoors as well. Besides adding stumps to yards, we got the bear yard mowed, weed-eated, as well as seeded (with an annual rye grass) and aerated. Lemur yard also got a mowing and weed-eating. The bear and wolf yards need more work, but thatRead more

Last Week in June

I was so happy this morning to welcome back former volunteer and former temporary Animal Keeper Nicole. Nicole’s arrival and help brought smiles and cheers from the rest of the team this morning! The other thing I was sooooooo happy about this morning is Virginia’s improvement. Last week she tore part of the skin off her foot. Given the issues she has already walking it was a hard few days for her. We’ve had her locked in the house soRead more

Summer is Here

Again this week, not sure where the time has gone. Yes, it’s only Tuesday night, but my schedule has me off grounds starting around noon on Wednesday. Seems that putting out fires (figuratively) or being in meetings has limited my access to some good photos (as well as my sanity). Furthermore, the heat lowers my tolerance threshold. I go through several masks and bandanas daily, but do get to spend some quality time in the walk-in freezer. Here a fewRead more

Copperheads on Campus

It is the time of year when we start to see more snakes, and copperheads are just one of the very common snakes found on our grounds, in Durham, and around the state. The past couple days we had to remove two copperheads from unwanted areas. Janine and Rob were loading limbs (from last week’s yard work) onto the trailer to haul off. Janine was pleasantly surprised (I mean terrified) to come just about face to face with this littleRead more