It’s been a busy week in the bear yard. Last Friday we were dealing with fence damage from the storm. On Wednesday bear pools were cleaned, the yard was scooped, mowing and weed-eating occurred, and trees were pruned from around fences.
Aaron showed me his leg first thing Thursday morning, and of course I decided to show you. Thougths?
What did Aaron walk into in the bear yard?
Even the Duck wants to know
If you have an account on any of the Museum's blogs, you can sign in with the same login to contribute to the discussion.
If you don't have an account, signing up is free and easy.
Friday was a doozie of a day. Tropical Storm Andrea made for quite the adventure. Jessi and Aaron started checking on all the animals and fences at 7:00. I received a call from them at 7:15 saying trees were down on the bear fence on the cliff- so much so that the bears could climb out.
I came in. Jessi and Aaron had confirmed all the bears, and all the animals at the museum were where they were supposed to be and the only damage was to the bear fence. It took us until about 9 AM to get all the bears secure in the house, and then the work began to get the big tree(s) off the fence. The rain held off for the first couple of hours, but the rest of the work took place in anywhere from drizzling to more-often-than-not torrential rain. Daniel and Dale from the Facilities staff worked hard for almost an hour and a half to get the tree cut off the fence.
Dale, one of our Facilities Staff members, works on clearing the trees.
We cleared large sections of the top of the tree by tossing them, pushing them, pulling them with ropes, down into the bear yard. Dickerson fence arrived at 2 PM to repair the fence and Daniel got the electric lines and insulators rehung. Much of the bear yard was covered in water, including electric fence lines, so the bears spent the night in the house. (The Farmyard rabbits spent the night in the main building because there home was flooded out too). At 7 PM it was bright and sunny- it was very weird being in Explore the Wild in the bright sun given how the rest of my time was spent earlier in the day.
By 8:30 AM Saturday morning, the water had subsided enough and the electric fence was confirmed to be operational so the bears were let out.
This is such an abbreviated tale of what occurred Friday. I could share with you about scrapes and bruises and other tweaks and injuries that staff received; radios missing in sections of trees that fortunately, were eventually found and will maybe work again after drying out; puddles that you thought were only a couple of inches deep but all of a sudden your knee was wet; flooding and leaking…flooding and leaking just about everywhere.
Another storm is behind us. Let’s hope the next storm is far off in the future… well after my retirement.
Great Job Everyone, sounds like quite a day!
What a dedicated (and amazing) group of people to keep all the animals safe and dry even at their own personal discomfort!!! Thank you!!!!
PS amendment “own personal discomfort and safety”!!!!! Thank you again!!!!
If you have an account on any of the Museum's blogs, you can sign in with the same login to contribute to the discussion.
If you don't have an account, signing up is free and easy.
I recently posted a drawing and asked you to tell me what was happening here.
original drawing
Many of you commented, but no one was exactly right. The above drawing was indeed of a bear- Gus to be specific. The round dot on his back was his puff of matted hair. I did not think the puff was drawn accurately (unlike the rest of the drawing) so I added the “dart”, “spike-like” projection out of the back. There is no way I could have drawn this- my artistic skills are poor at best. I do mostly-fine drawing names, and only moderately okay drawing stick-people. This drawing was done by Aaron.
Here’s how I would have drawn the above:
Sherry’s version
The drawing was made so we could visually review who would be standing where during the bears’ physicals. (It was also made for the enjoyment factor because everyone knows I like a good drawing). Positioning is critical during any procedures with dangerous animals, even when they are behind bars. Jessi is the primary trainer for the bears, so she will be there. Dr. Vanderford will be there, with Katy of course doing the physical.
We’ll let you know how the physicals turn out- maybe Aaron will draw another picture!
If you have an account on any of the Museum's blogs, you can sign in with the same login to contribute to the discussion.
If you don't have an account, signing up is free and easy.
I thought the bears would be thrilled to have the 15 pounds or so of nuts that my neighbor left on my doorstep last week. However, in addition to the almonds and hazelnuts that Donna left on my doorstep, the bears received their own mail at the Museum. 50 pounds of walnuts arrived at the Museum addressed to the four of them!
2 large boxes arrived, addressed to the four bears
The bears have Kelly Taylor, our Rentals Manager to thank. Kelly absolutely LOVES the bears and asked her family to get presents for the bears for Christmas.
The bears cannot read English so we’ll tell them what the note says
Hey Sherry! That is a cool Christmas story for sure!! Thanks for sharing. (and the education) I did not know bears liked nuts. Go figure!
Happy 2013!
Marlene
I love when we get mail for our animals.
Super sweet gift for the bears!
If you have an account on any of the Museum's blogs, you can sign in with the same login to contribute to the discussion.
If you don't have an account, signing up is free and easy.
Ranger Greg may have noticed the first signs of the impending season change back in August, but here in the Animal Department, we hold off until the middle of October to make our changes from the summer heat to the winter cold. We also have our animals to let us know when it’s time to shut off the fans and turn on the heaters. Scout, the duck, molts all of his old summer feathers to prepare for what would be a fall migration and he starts running around the farmyard in the morning like he’s training for a race. Henry, the woodchuck, and our 4 bears, all pack on a few pounds with the start of fall and then slow way down, spending most of their days sleeping. The bears, wolves, steer, donkey and many others begin to grow in an extra thick coat of fur to ward off the impending cold.
One of my favorite signs of the season comes from our Red-tailed Hawk, Misha. Our normally quiet, calm hawk becomes very chatty in the early hours of the autumn mornings.
I love that you got footage of Misha doing this! I’ve heard him but never seen him.
whoah this weblog is magnificent i really like reading your articles. Stay up the good work! You recognize, many persons are searching around for this information, you could aid them greatly.
If you have an account on any of the Museum's blogs, you can sign in with the same login to contribute to the discussion.
If you don't have an account, signing up is free and easy.
I just learned there are still some spaces left for the two October evening bear feeding. Come join me on a leisurely stroll down to the bear house and help me give them their dinner. Reservations required- hope to see you then.
Called today and reserved a spot for the Oct 14 bear feeding. The last one I went to was awesome as Gus looked right at me through the fence plus I was able to talk to the bear keepers! It was an amazing experience !!!!!!!!!!
If you have an account on any of the Museum's blogs, you can sign in with the same login to contribute to the discussion.
If you don't have an account, signing up is free and easy.
Adorable!
If you have an account on any of the Museum's blogs, you can sign in with the same login to contribute to the discussion.
If you don't have an account, signing up is free and easy.
Watermelon Salad at the Sprout Cafe
It’s WATERMELON DAY and we’re having great fun. Ranger Ro got some video of our pigs eating (or trying to eat) watermelon, same for our bears. I stopped at the Sprout Cafe to try to get some tasty watermelon treats.
Addie's watermelon day outfit.
We’ll get more photos and videos up soon, but in the meantime, follow the Museum on Twitter.
I would wear it if Kent had to
I would love to see both Kent and Jill in that outfit!
I would be happy to contribute to the fund for getting these outfits for all of the keepers.
If you have an account on any of the Museum's blogs, you can sign in with the same login to contribute to the discussion.
If you don't have an account, signing up is free and easy.
Mimi, in the water as she often is in the summer, with her fancy nut-ice block
You would think that being native to Madagascar makes it a breeze for our lemurs during the summer. However, it gets much hotter in North Carolina than it would in the treetops of the Malagasy jungle, so we have air conditioning for the indoor areas- keeping the temperatures around 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
shade for the lemurs from their shelter
Keepers watch the Farmyard animals closely too. Some of the exhibit areas have big shady trees, for others we add umbrellas that the animals can stand under. Shade cloth is added to the top of our hawk and owl cages. Fans go up in every window. We check water levels at least three times each day, adding “water balloon ice cubes” to keep the water cool. Rabbits, the ones most susceptible to heat issues, get frozen water bottles to lean up against.
Lightning, Rocky and Patches hang in the shade.
So be safe and try to stay cool.
If you have an account on any of the Museum's blogs, you can sign in with the same login to contribute to the discussion.
If you don't have an account, signing up is free and easy.
Every Thursday the animal department staff (along with any volunteers or museum staff that can tolerate the keepers) go to lunch together somewhere off campus. Occasionally we splurge and go to Golden Corral. A few weeks ago some of the keepers noticed there was blue cotton candy in the dessert section. We decided to take all the cotton candy they had (of course, we waited until we were on our way out to snag it all) so that we could see if our bears would like it!
Now, we wouldn’t just give our bears cotton candy for no good reason. There is, in fact, a method to our cotton candy madness. You see, often times when we give our animals medicine we have to disguise it in something yummy that they like to eat (you can read more about this in Jill’s post here.)
Mimi, currently our oldest bear, is especially hard to please when it comes to taking medicine. It seems no matter how much we try to disguise her meds with the yummiest of treats, she always knows when we’re up to no good and she refuses to take them. Sherry thought that maybe cotton candy could be added to the list of things that our bears would love and would be willing to take their meds with.
This is not a treat that they would receive very often, but considering it’s just a little bit of sugar and a lot of air, it seems like a decent treat to try. So we grabbed the cotton candy and ran some taste tests with all the bears to see if they would like it. Watch the video and decide for yourself!
Do the bears get their teeth brushed like the ferrets?
there is so much about this post that i like, marilyn. everything from walking out of golden corral with all of the blue cotton candy…to watching the bears (oh i miss those bears) nosh on the goods…to the end credits. great post! thank you.
If you have an account on any of the Museum's blogs, you can sign in with the same login to contribute to the discussion.
If you don't have an account, signing up is free and easy.
Chiggars. Ooo.
Razor burn
Poison Ivy