Visit to the Zoo

Here in Northwest Florida there is a small zoo. I'm always wary of visiting a small zoo as the facilities for the animals can be less than desired. However, I was pleasantly surprised with our visit to the zoo.

First, there are peafowl and chickens running around everywhere among the grounds. There was also a pair of free-roaming turkeys. I suspect the amount of fowl running around uncaged and unfettered keeps the ticks and other bugs from getting out of control. The girls really enjoyed it. The roosters were really very colorful and pretty.

We looked at ducks, swans, and geese, but the girls weren't that interested. We had bought some bags of zoo food, and we used them at the petting zoo. It really should be named a "feeding zoo". The animals don't care about petting; they are solely interested in the food contained in your hands. Larien was hilarious, running around saying "I want to feed another animal." She never distinguished the different type of animals, although I kept telling her, "This is a cow. This is a goat. This is a sheep." That didn't matter. "I want to feed another animal!"

Both girls got the knack of feeding the livestock. Larien was fearless, caring not one jot about tongues, lips, and the occasional tooth. Inwe was much more cautious (the girl who fed the poodle with her mouth), but by the end she was a champ at it. Phill had the job of getting Finwe to sleep in the stroller, so it was all me directing, reassuring, and watching the girls. Our hands were disgusting by the end, but a well-placed sink took care of that.

While we were washing our hands, PopPop arrived. We continued down the path to the next group of animals. There we discovered two giraffes. Much to the girls' delight there was a tall platform built so the zoo visitors could feed the giraffes. This time I was left with the sleeping Finwe, and Phill, PopPop and the girls went to feed the giraffes with the zoo food. Larien just jumped right in; Inwe was a bit hesitant, but warmed up to feeding the giraffes. Phill and PopPop enjoyed it as well.

We looked at some small monkeys, actually different types of tamarins (moustached, emporer, and golden lion), but the girls were more interested in large animals at that time. Probably the next most interesting exhibit was the lion exhibit. Right as we approached we saw a group of three kids and a mom watching the male lion who was resting right by the fence. The enclosures aren't sunk in the ground. Instead, you are at eye level with the big cats with a wooden fence and then a strong chain link fence between you. This mean about two feet of space; that's all. If you were dumb enough, you could lean over and touch the lions.

Equally as dumb is to throw something at the lion, like an acorn from a live oak. Yes, a kid did throw an acron at a large male lion. The lion roared loudly and scraped, claws out, at the fence. (Phill and I said later that if our kids did that it would require an immediate removal from the zoo and a "lifting off the ground".) This display from the lion had its desired effect. The errant family moved; Inwe refused to get near the lion; and the rest of the people near the lion had a lot of respect for the huge cat.

Next to the lions were tigers. Inwe was much more interested here. Larien was definitely interested. And, my dad told me a short tidbit from his time in Vietnam. "You know a Marine was dragged from a bunker and killed while I was in Vietnam." (One day I'm going to get more out of him. One day. At least my mom knew about this particular story. But, my dad and Vietnam is for another day and another blog.)

We looked at orangutans, a mom, dad, and a new baby. Cool. We watched a rhino, African wild dogs, ostriches, zebras, and other African plains herd animals. The zebras, ostriches, and other herd animals were in a lareg savannah type area that we could see from an elevated platform. From the same platform we could see the chimpanzee island, a troop of three (small, but these three were really happy). The large male climbed the trunk of a pine tree with amazing ease and followed that feat up with a climb to a top of a pole (the kind used for elevating a beach house) and then a spectacular leap to the ground. Off in the distance was the gorilla island, with a troop of four. Two of them were playing hide and seek.

We also rode a train around the African area. A hippo was recently born to the pair held at the zoo, so the train stopped for all of us to get out to see them. The baby was hard to see, but we saw its head. The train ride was nice because we could get much closer to the animals than from the platform. The enclosures for these animals were the best in my point of view.

I have forgotten to mention the bat house, where the bats were actually flying around. The zookeepers must have cycled the bats to think night was day and day was night so that the visitors to the zoo could see bats flying instead of hanging. I appreciated it and the girls loved seeing all the bats flying.

We didn't see everything, but we were there for four hours with two girls who did not want to eat and who had skipped nap. We called it a day after the train ride. The girls didn't mind; they left happy and willingly. Sadly, I forgot my camera. Terrible, huh?