May 13 Update

I started writing this at around 5:30 this morning. At 5:30 AM, it’s quiet at the Museum, at a time when it should be quiet. It feels normal and that’s nice. What is also turning out to be normal is opening packages with more gifts for the critters! As I mentioned Sunday, we had yard work to do out in Explore the Wild. We got the wolf pool cleaned thanks to Janine. Rob spent an hour pulling poison ivy– youRead more

QuikPics: Radiated Tortoise Health Checks

Dr. Vanderford checked out the radiated tortoises yesterday during Vet Rounds. Animal Care Specialist Janine had to manage the five tortoises. You would think it would be easy, but tortoises come quickly when strawberries are involved. Janine corralled the tortoises– allowing for an easy check for everyone involved.Read more

Virginia Bear’s Laser Treatment

Virginia, our almost 15 year old American black bear, has some extensive arthritis and degenerative issues. We’ve been treating her for years with a variety of medicines and supplements. We’ve even added acupuncture and laser treatments. (Check out this blog post about treatment from almost 2-years ago). I watched yesterday as the team administered Virginia’s Laser Treatment (cold, or low-level, laser therapy is often recommended for pain management or inflammation reduction). The Animal Care team worked (and still works) toRead more

Last Pup Check complete

The last pup check on the red wolf pups is complete. The next planned handling will be for the fall physicals for all the red wolves. The pups aren’t really pups anymore. It happens. It happened last year, and no surprise that it happened this year. They are starting to fill into their body and each weigh over 30 pounds. You can get a feel for how big they are now by looking at Autumn holding once of them inRead more

Daily Meds for Pups

We confirmed at our last Pup check that the pups have Coccidia. It’s a parasite that we found after looking at feces under a microscope (we do what’s called a Fecal Float). The current de-wormer that the pups get every couple weeks does not treat Coccidia. So… we’ve got 10-21 days of daily medicine just for the pups (the parents’ fecal was negative and not surprising since they have likely built up resistance over time).      Read more

Today’s Pup Check

A long day is finally winding down. I know all you want to see is pictures of the pups and hear about how they are doing, so I will spare you the details of the day. Both pups were in the den upon arrival! They were busy wrestling with each other and gnawing on a rat that M1803 (dad) had dropped off earlier. I say huge because, well, they are huge. Their dad, M1803 is huge (almost 80 pounds) andRead more