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traveling companions

I was chatting with someone recently about my trip to Ohio to pick up our new red wolf, # 1414.  Afterwards,  I began thinking of what other animals I have shared my vehicle with.  Here’s a partial list of my travel companions over the years. red wolves. Besides the Ohio pick up, last month Aaron and I had our road trip to Atlanta to get #1369 on his plane out to Tacoma.   WV and NY were probably the longest trips, each over 500 miles each direction.Read more
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QuikPost: heading out…

I’m leaving  (very early) tomorrow morning to fly to San Diego for this year’s AAZK (American Association of Zoo Keepers) conference. The San Diego Zoo is hosting it this year. The conference lasts 5 days, and 3 days of that is an intense agenda of presentations by zookeepers, curators, conservationists and other renowned individuals in the zoo keeping field from around the world, along with several workshops spanning virtually any topic you could wish to learn about as an animal keeper. I’llRead more
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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
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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

Canebrake Rattlesnake Tubing

We’re hands-off with our venomous snakes at the Museum. What you see in the photos below is “snake tubing”. Kent is holding the snake tube with the canebrake rattlesnake inside. The tube itself is a hard plastic, about 3 feet in length. The most important factor is the diameter of the tube. You want the diameter of the tube to be only slightly larger than the diameter of the snake. This prevents the snake from being able to turn aroundRead more