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Christmas 2019

Happy Christmas! Today has been incredibly smooth. I am sure it is due to the abundance of help. Yesterday we had an almost full contingent of staff, and today, Keeper Chris and Volunteer Virginia were in to help this morning. Given the help, it meant my start time was much later. I woke before my 6:01 AM alarm and arrived at work to get settled and organized for Chris’ arrival at 7 AM. In addition to the later start time,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

Flashback Friday: Virginia

I was texting was former Museum staffer and Animal Care Team helper Leslie last week. She is expecting her second human child the end of the year. Got me thinking about babies and bottle feeding. Virginia is one of the last babies I bottle fed. Virginia is our almost 15 year old American black bear. She arrived at the Museum at less than four months of age weighing about 15 pounds, and still on a bottle. She was pretty adorable,Read more

Virginia and Mimi called out?

I walked in to work the end of the day Saturday to prep for the coming storm and was greeted by this note on the board:   Some might be saying what do you mean two of our four bears called out for the day??   No worries, the bears are here, but two of our volunteers were unable to make it in today 🙁Read more

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