Come join Zookeepers and Volunteers from The Museum of Life and Science, Carolina Tiger Rescue, and Duke lemur Center for their annual Rummage Sale.
From 7 a.m. to noon under the picnic dome at the Museum of Life and Science
Great prices on a huge variety of stuff! And all proceeds benefit our local Piedmont AAZK.
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Our handy office shelf broke, so we fixed it!
Animal keepers (and our volunteers!) can be pretty good at fixing things.
Sometimes more creatively than others.
It was one of the best things in the office while it was up! It brought a whole new natural and rustic feel to the room.. fitting in well next to the creepy doll, the stinky can, and the snowflake cutouts on the window. Haha..
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The beginning of Spring brings all kinds of changes to the Animal Department. The bears are up and playing, the Ring-Tailed Lemurs get to stay outside in the yard, and the Wetlands explode with activity. One of our tasks for Spring includes removing the hay in the bear house. We put a good amount of hay on both sides of the bear house for the winter. It gets changed during supercleans and then removed completely once Spring arrives. There are 3 of us on the Explore the Wild team, Marilyn, Jessi and myself. We always try to work hard and have fun. But sometimes we butt heads. Below will be photo evidence of one of those times.
Marilyn was determined to get all of the bags of old hay to the compost in one load. Jessi and I were totally fine with making more than one trip. So we let her do what she wanted and I took lots of pictures.
First she tries to sit on the bags and immediately slides off the Mule
After several minutes she decides to hold one of the bags while riding in the back of the Mule
We drove from bears to lemurs before two bags fell off the vehicle, at this point Jessi and I are cracking up laughing!
We finally arrive at compost and Marilyn was successful at getting all the hay there in one load as well as making Jessi and I laugh for at least 15 minutes straight
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Black Bear paws are used for many things:
Walking
Rooting around looking for food
Scratching
Marking trees
Climbing trees
Swimming
And as plates
Virginia using her paw as a plate for her nut shells
This last use is one of my favorites and all of our bears do this. Sometimes they will place a piece of food on their paw and raise their paw up to their mouth. So cute and functional.
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Interns Jamie and Jessica finished their work with us last week and gave us a goodbye present.
Jamie, on the left crying, painted the picture for us that Jessica is holding.
We were happy and impressed with our present:
Sarah, Kimberly, and Jessi (L-R)
We’ll miss Jamie and Jessica and wish them well at their summer internship sites (Jessica is heading to the Western NC Nature Center in Asheville and Jamie is heading to the Knoxville Zoo).
So sweet! I’m going to miss those ladies.
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We used to have naked sheep once a year- check out last year’s sheep shearing. The four of them lost about 21 pounds of wool. Much less than the 35 pounds the 4 sheep took off last year This is our first year shearing alpacas and today was the day. They no longer look like this:
Ray experiences her first complete shearing
Jonathan lays the alpacas down, straightens them out, and ties their legs. It goes pretty quickly and easily.
come look how skinny Emily is!
We’ll get some video and more photos up in the near future, but do come by and check out the girls. I am sure the keepers will want to talk about hairdo options and more!
Awww- Ray was so fluffy before! Now they all look like drenched crazy giraffe poodles.
What’s going to happen with the wool?
What’s the difference between good and bad quality wool?
The good stuff is taken strictly from the body. The neck, legs and head isnt really good enough to use and its not as long as the hairs on the body
Sounds like a good fund raiser.
They are so skinny now. Imagine what our bears would look like if we shaved them!
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Most of the education work we animal keepers are asked to do happens on museum grounds in the form of programs, events and blog posts. Every once in a while something fun pops up and one of us gets to go out into the world to spread our knowledge to the sponge-like minds of eager children and adults alike.
Well, maybe that’s pushing things a bit. This event wasn’t as much about “spreading knowledge” and “eager children” as much as it was about a 4 hour, 200+ person career fair for 8th graders. Think of speed dating but with potential career paths rather than potential dates.
First things first, I needed to collect a bunch of things from around the office to bring with me that showcase what animal keepers do.
Next I asked my fellow keepers what tools or objects represent their jobs best.
My favorite responses: “fecal cups!!!” “keys” and “my clicker.”
The day of the fair arrived and I set up my table. This was all happening at Neal Middle School, a local magnet school that emphasizes science, technology, engineering and math.
The kids came in groups of 2 -3 classes at a time. I was surprised and really happy to see how many of these students were dressed in suits and ties or conservative business attire and even more so by the number that, without any trepidation, approached me, shook my hand and introduced themselves.
These two boys stuck around for a while and asked so many great questions about the job that I asked for a photo for the blog!
I was one of ten careers being represented that morning. The others were the Boy Scouts of America, the Mayor’s Office, a pilot for US Airways, Habitat for Humanity, a Duke University pediatric social worker, the headmistress of a Montessori School, Durham Technical Community College, “Work Smart” a local IT outsourcing company, and the owner of a small business named, “The Art of Style.”
Overall, it was far more tiring than my typical Farmyard morning, but totally worth it. The kids were awesome, the teachers appreciative and the other careers present had some amazing stories to share. I’m very glad I got to spend a morning with them all!
If a Zookeeper would have come to my Middle School it wouldn’t have taken me so long to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up.
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Mark your calendars!!
4th Annual AAZK Rummage Sale
Saturday May 4th, 2013
7am-12pm
under the picnic dome at the Museum of Life and Science
433 N Murray Ave
Several of us keepers (Jill, Sarah, Jessi, Katy, and myself) are part of the NC Piedmont Chapter of the American Association of Zoo Keepers, along with keepers and volunteers from both the Duke Lemur Center and Carolina Tiger Rescue. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year and we invite you to browse our large selection of cheaply priced items. There will be a wide variety of items to choose from. Anything from clothes and furniture to books and electronics.
AAZK promotes the continued development of animal caregivers and the welfare of animals through encouraging excellence in husbandry, supporting continued education and collaboration between professionals and promoting conservation through fundraising and stewardship.
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If I only had a video camera to show you how the following played out you would laugh so hard.
my gift bags from Donna
Last week, I approached my driveway at 9 PM, I stop the car because someone is at the foot of the driveway. I assume it’s a dog walker, but my neighbor turns around says something like “oh…I’ve been caught” and starts to run back to her house with a large grocery bag in her arms.
I yell for her to come on back. I’m laughing as I do this (and I hope Donna is too). I then yell “Does it need to be refrigerated?” The conversation continues back and forth somewhat. I park the car and come out to greet her. We chat for a minute or so - she is embarrassed. (Me, I’m thankful for the gifts). She places the bag into my truck (which has been parked in the driveway). She leaves walking away talking about making “Popsicles” for the critters since it’s been so hot.
I thank her and head to the truck to not only find the large grocery bag she just placed there (watermelon inside), but three other grocery bags. I evidently caught her on her last drop off rather than her first one!
this week’s gifts from the “produce bomber”
People like Donna and all that she does for us and the animals make days like Monday a little bit easier. THANKS DONNA!!!!!
What do you do with the marshmellow creme?
Tell Donna I made “Pina Colada” popsicles/ice cubes for the critters out of the pineapple and coconut! We haven’t tried them yet, but I’m sure they’ll be a hit.
Wendy- I don’t know what other keepers use Fluff for (bears maybe?), but Jill and I used a small amount last fall to make popcorn balls for pig enrichment.
Usually Jill eats all the fluff before the animals can get any!!!
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We started the blog over 5 years ago. Our goal was to bring you into the life of a Keeper at the Museum. Death is a part of life. Some animals die on their own, others are euthanized. In fact our very first blog post was about saying goodbye to Moo.
As we’ve written previously, some days are tough and some days suck. Today has been one of those days. I’ve written in the past year about Chummix and his “old goat disease“. We’ve been monitoring him and the keepers have been working hard to keep him eating. This past week it was determined that it was time to euthanize him.
Chummix will be missed by keepers, guests, staff, volunteers, and likely by Max. I’ve already received condolences from several staff members and friends. For those folks who especially cared about Chummix, my condolences go out to you as well. We’re often asked, “what can I do?”. (A few years back I wrote some suggestions- click here for ideas).
it’s hard to remember that Chummix was once bigger than Max!
Below are links to some of my favorite blog posts about Chummix.
Chummix and successful training
“Chummix’s” New Year’s Resolutions (Resolution # 2)
Chummix would always head butt things when I was around- ALWAYS. I think this is how I will always remember him.
I’m so sorry for your loss. Chummix was awesome.
He was the first animal that injured me so that I had to go to the dr!
While Chummix and I didn’t see eye to eye on a lot of things , I will certainly miss him
I always looked forward to seeing Chum on my daily walks. He will certainly be missed.
RIP Chummix. We’ll miss you and your crazy eyes.
A sad time, but comforted knowing that Chummix had good, long life with such a great team looking after him. Thanks to all of the keepers for the care you give to all of the critters that live at the Museum. Thinking of you all.
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hope it was successful!