Hurricane Sandy aka Frankenstorm

My cat thought all hope was lost........

She began praying to the couch gods....

Turns out we were just fine.  A few limbs were down and our neighbor across the street lost their recycling bin and trash in our yard.  yes thank you for putting out your trash 2 days early in a hurricane.....idiots.

Giant Panda

Last week I volunteered again at the dc zoo.  I wanted to show you a picture of what it looks like when I arrive at the zoo in the morning.  And by this time I have already been up for an hour and a half.

I walked to the sloth bear building where I arrived at 6:35am, then me and the keeper immediately went down the hill to start feeding and shifting animals out.  After we shifted the animals out we went down to feed the red pandas and clean their enclosure.  After that we went into the panda building and talked with the panda keepers for a little bit since we had some extra time from starting early.  Then we went back up to the cat/otter area where we cleaned the inside enclosures for the morning.  Then the keeper wanted to go looking for cinderblocks that way she could move a fishtank into the cat area for the fishing cats instead of in the otter building.  We searched and only found one...but then thought about the logistics and figured the tank wouldnt fit very well in the building.

Here are some panda pictures I took:

After that we went back up to the sloth bear building and waited until the sloth bear demo, then we ate lunch and had the unit meeting.  After the meeting finished we then made enrichment for the sloth bears for the evening before ending the day.

Red Pandas and Animal Escape Training

Yesterday was another day of volunteering at the national zoo.  

Im not sure if I have explained how my morning goes to get to the zoo, but I get up at 5am and leave the house by 5:45.  I take the 30 mile drive to the national zoo through rush hour traffic, which takes 45-55 minutes and usually get there around 6:30.  I don't have to be there until 7am, but honestly if I left any later it would take much longer to get there.  I park in one of the parking lots and walk across the zoo in complete darkness minus my flashlight....right by the cheetah enclosures where if I flash my light in the enclosure I can usually see the light of eyes staring me down.  Its very odd being up way before the sun, considering the sun doesn't rise until 7:20am.

Ok anyways back to my day...I started by making the morning enrichment for the sloth bears, then I took the food for the cats, otters, and red pandas down the hill to meet the other keeper.  There we checked the fishing cat yard for any problems in the fencing and picked up poo/bones.  Then we shifted out the male fishing cat who has to go through one yard to his own yard on the other side.  Then we shifted out the female and the kittens with her.  After that we went in the clouded leopard enclosure and checked the perimeter while picking up poo/bones in there.  Then we went and gave the male chicken for the morning, she also wanted to show me his training procedures such as giving her his tail and in return he got a ball of meat.  I was actually able to feel his tail and it pretty much made my day! Then we tried to shift him out into the yard, but for some reason he wouldn't come out.  Turns out he started to come out and found more chicken so he had a drumstick sticking out of his mouth when we came to see what he was doing.  We waited until he had finished eating and went to check on the female clouded leopard, who takes more time to get used to people, but eventually she came out of her den and chuffed at us.  Then we shifted out the male into the yard.  Next we measured out the food for the next day for all the animals.  After that we checked the perimeter of the otter yard and checked the water temperature before letting all the otters out for the day.  We then went down to the red panda yard and shifted them in and then fed them before going into the yard and checking the water for chlorine, picking up old bamboo, and picking up poo.  I then exited the yard and watched the keeper train the red pandas named Tate and Shama.  Then we tested the water and got rid of the bamboo.

Here are some training pictures I took:

Tate and the keeper

Tate closest and shama in the back

Tate standing

nom nom nom chewing

Tate standing and chewing, shama chewing

shama chewing...very adorably

wanting more food

watching the keeper

After that we went and cleaned the otter inside enclosures, picked out some bones from the clouded leopard inside enclosure, and cleaned the fishing cat inside enclosure.  Then we went and threw some fish into the otter pool and watched them come running.

Ignore the cookie monster reflection

Then we went and checked on all the animals before going up the sloth bear building.  When we went to check on the clouded leopard he saw the keeper and instantly came and stood on a limb right in front of her and started making noises at her.  He's super cute.  When we got to the building I helped clean one of the enclosures before I helped out with the demo for sloth bears.  We were able to feed Hana and then in the other yard Francois.  Then it was lunch time and the unit meeting.  At 1 pm many of the keepers had to go to what is called code green training so me and the other volunteer went too.  Code Green is for when there is an animal escape.  Well at the training they had set up a plan for if one of the tigers had escaped.  It was very eloborate, and even included bad mistakes from visitors or the random public, such as hitting the tiger with a car and then feeling bad and getting out of the car to see if the tiger is ok.  It was very informative, and they do this lecture training several times a year along with actual training by someone being the escaped animal and running around the zoo and seeing how the staff can deal with the situation.  All zoos have a plan set in place for escaped animals, all have different code names including code houdini (my favorite), escaped animal, code green, and so forth.  After the training I helped make the evening enrichment for the sloth bears and then put the items in the enclosures.  By that time it was time for us to be finished so I went and got my actual volunteer shirt for the zoo.  And drove home in rush hour traffic again.

Adorable otters

Yesterday was my 3rd volunteer day at the dc zoo, also a new volunteer started her first day there too.  

First thing in the morning I made the enrichment for the outside yards with Kahli's and Francois' food.  Then one of the keepers and I went to check the yards and put out enrichment.  After putting out the enrichment we took the cat, otter, and panda diets down the hill.  

There we met up with the other keeper and the other volunteer where I helped clean the otter pond/river.  We had to collect clam shells left by the otters, clean out wood wool in the pond, and bleach the algae.  Then we hosed the areas down to make sure the bleach/chlorine that was put in the water the night before would be out of the river/pond.  After all of that we found the keeper again and she let us watch the fishing cats while a photographer took pictures, then we went to see the 11 small clawed otters they have.  

After watching them for about 5 minutes and hearing the adorable squeaking the keeper and the new volunteer went to spray down the otter pool one more time and I was set up to clean the indoor enclosures for the fishing cats by myself.  She was like "I know you havent been trained in this section but I have faith in you plus the other keeper said its so nice to have someone who knows what they are doing"....which is super nice to hear.  After cleaning the enclosures I had the keeper check the locks and then I went with her to see that they had worked on cleaning the otter indoor areas.  After finishing cleaning the enclosures we played with the otters by putting the water hose on the outside of the enclosure on the floor and letting the water flow on the floor.  Then the otters were running around on the floor trying to catch the water in their hands...it was adorable.  

After that we went to help out at the demo for sloth bears where i fed mealworms through the tube to Kahli while one of the keepers did training with her.  After the training demo with Kahli we went to see if Francois would want to do a demo...turns out he did so the other volunteer fed him mealworms for that.  Also I learned a fun fact which is: Baloo from the Jungle Book just happens to be a Sloth Bear.

Then next was lunch followed by the unit meeting and then me and the other volunteer went to a PPE (personal protection equipment) and zoonosis lecture.  To say the least I didnt learn much other than they want everyone to get a flu shot.  

After we got back from the lecture I helped put together the evening enrichment for the bears and set up the inside enclosures then the day was over.

Sorry I have no pictures but I cant put the non public area pictures online.

Just kidding I found one of Francois at his demo:

Volunteering at the national zoo!

So today was my 2nd day of volunteering at the national zoo in dc.  Last week I started out by learning how to prep the diets for the 3 sloth bears named Kahli, Francois, and Hana.  Then I helped clean 1 inside enclosure, and then cleaned another by myself.  I also helped out at the sloth bear demonstration and then was finished for the day.  

This week I started by preparing the morning enrichment, which is made of their morning food inside boxes, bags, firehose pieces, and other items for the 2 bears that went outside in 2 different yards.  Then we took the enrichment with us to the yards.  But before putting out enrichment we first checked the yard for anything wrong such as broken hotwire or downed limbs.  Then we went around and hid the enrichment in treelimbs and behind rocks...we also left some out in the open so the bears wouldnt give up.  After that the keeper shifted the bears around so that only one was inside, then we began cleaning the inside enclosures.  We cleaned one together and then I cleaned 2 by myself and she cleaned one.  I also prepared the inside enrichment with their dinner inside and put it in the enclosures.  We then took the food for the otters, cats, and red pandas down the hill.  That is where I met mook the clouded leopard who chuffed at me....and they said she was shy...lol.  For those who arent cat talk aficionados chuffing is a happy greeting some cats give, such as tigers.  After meeting lovely mook the keeper wanted to take a meatball to the visitor area of the clouded leopards and feed it to ty the male clouded leopard.  The meatball was on a extremely long pole with a skewer on the end.  This is what resulted:

After this we went back up to the sloth bears and because we had 30 minutes left until the demo we measured out the next days meals for the bears.  Then I went to help with the demonstration, well Hana in yard 1 did not cooperate so we did the demo with Francois in yard 2.  I held mealworms in my hand and put a tube up to my hand that was connected to the inside of the yard.   Francois is an insectivore and they specialize in sucking termites out of termite mounds so to show this he sucks on a hole on the inside of the yard to which the tube is connected.  This is a really cool way to show the power they have...its like a mini vacuum.  After that we came back and I ate lunch and waited for the unit meeting. The unit meeting is where all the keepers are there and the curator comes where they talk about issues or possible changes to the animals and their habitats.  After the meeting we went to the cheetah area and  picked up some giant meat bones that nutrition gave to them.  The cheetahs are too delicate to eat them, but apparently the clouded leopards will tear them apart.  We put them into the cat house and then went to start shifting the sloth bears back to the nighttime areas.  I put the dinner enrichment in Kahli's cage and then the keeper shifted her over, then we prepared francois' cage with enrichment items and I logged all the enrichment items in the log.  I also learned the laundry tasks and where to put away the enrichment items after they are dry.

So that was my day....it was long...and I took a cat nap with my cat when I got home.