Yes, that’s right… I said bathing a small car. That’s because our 1,400 pound steer, Max, is almost big enough to be a small car (or at least it seems that way when you have 4 or 5 people scrubbing him down). We give Max pretty regular baths during the warmer months of the year. He really seems to enjoy being bathed and pampered and it also serves as a fun thing for our volunteers to participate in, along withRead more
Posts tagged: #Marilyn
Red wolf pups: it might happen!
Anyone who knows me, or has been reading the blog for a while, knows that I have a great passion for red wolves. After breeding season was over, I was sure that our female was pregnant. Being that we (the keepers) like to pick on each other and give one another a hard time about anything possible, I have withstood much teasing and joking from my co-workers… and as always I have appreciated their humor! Despite the fact that mostRead more
QuikPost: Moving right along!
A lot of work has happened on the new building extension for the Animal Department. The structure actually looks like a building now, and that’s always a good sign that construction is on its way to being finished (hopefully). The Exhibits Department is also having space added onto their workshop, but I only got pictures of our rooms.Read more
QuikPost: Video of the wolves howling!
One morning last week, Katy and I were in Explore The Wild when the wolves started howling. Katy managed to record it with her camera. It was awesome to watch them howling in front of us, so make sure to watch the video and have the volume up! (Special thanks to Sherry for spending 19 minutes of her time downloading the video so that she could unknowingly steal this post from me, until Katy stopped her and told her theRead more
QuikPost: Fun with enrichment
As I stated in another post, sometimes animal enrichment also serves as keeper enrichment. Last summer, the exhibits department donated the large stuffed horse from Play To Learn to the Animal Department when it was time to buy a new one. The horse sat on our support hall for a very long time, but finally one of the keepers decided to use it as enrichment for some of the farmyard animals. Obviously, this is an item that needed to haveRead more
The trials, tribulations, and benefits of red wolf fostering
Fostering is important because it not only increases the wild population, but it also helps to keep the genetic diversity as high as possible. If you remember from a previous post, genetic diversity is a constant battle when managing the red wolf breeding program. There are many variables that have to fall neatly into place for a successful foster to occur. To start, red wolf field biologists must be able to follow the movements and actions of a wild, radio-collared female wolfRead more