A Journey of Pants

Let's play a game...

What is on my pants?

This may sound like a strange thing to talk about, but animal care staff get a wide variety of things on their pants throughout the work day. It's not because we're slobs... OK, we are a little bit. From things we're stepping in, to things being tossed in our general direction, to things we wipe on them to attempt to "clean"our hands... our pants certainly have a story to tell.

Which of these things was not on my pants today?

1. Mud

2. Poop

3. Some combination of mud and poop ("pud" or "moop", depending on which team you're on)

4. Grass stains

5. Blood

6. Frosting/dressing

7. Rotten produce sludge

8. My lunch and/or coffee/tea/hot cocoa

9. Animal hair including: horse, bear, lion and cheetah

10. Paint

If you guessed Number 8: "My lunch and/or coffee/tea/hot cocoa" - You are correct! My own food and beverages are among the few items I manage to keep off my clothes. But, as you can see, there is quite a variety of fun things I come home wearing. These items, and the quantity of such help us determine if our pants are "day 1 pants" or "day 2 pants". We rarely see "day 3 pants"; they are usually too gross to last that long and be socially acceptable. Day one pants you might be able to wear out in public. Day two pants means you definitely can't use your pants as a napkin (darn). It's always good to have at least a two-pant rotation, with one spare.

Since my first post about the housing situation, many of the interns have moved out and different cubby spaces have become available. That said, I am happy to report that I no longer have to sleep on a couch! I was able to score a king sized pillow top mattress (with two twin box springs!). I think the mattress alone is bigger than my previous cubby, and I still have a foot of space at one end and 2-3 feet in another (woot!). Needless to say I have actually gotten sleep, which is excellent since cheetah/carns interns worked 5x10s this last week (whoops).

Working 5x10 hour days was rough at first. But by day 5 I hardly noticed. Despite the fact that every day seemed like a week (what did I do this morning????). The park hours changed from 10-4 to 9-5, so the carnivore and cheetah departments come in at 7am and stay till closing which usually ends up being between 6-6:30pm. The park closes at 5, but since its a drive through, that's when they let the last vehicle in, and it takes about an hour to go through the whole park (so basically we are there closer to 12 hours with an hour for lunch). Some days are better than others.

I realize that I have been posting for a few weeks, and I feel like I should introduce my department a little bit, since I will be mentioning them by name from time to time.

The Carnivore/Cheetah Department do a lot together, including cross training, so I will just lump them all together for the sake of simplicity.

Supervisor for both departments - Sarah

Carnivore Lead - An

Cheetah Lead - Arielle

Keeper staff - Jordan, Bo, Sierra, Danielle, and Melissa (she just started this week).

Carnivore Interns - Me and Suz (she lives in a trailer on site)

Cheetah Interns - Alyssa and Emily (they live at the intern house with me and 8 other interns; we usually carpool)

That said, we as interns tend to get thrown around between departments. On Tuesdays its just Alyssa and myself, so we tend to end up doing all the diets for everyone together: bears, lions, cheetahs and Saigon (the one, the only - 18 year old tiger).

Yesterday was no different. We spent three hours sorting produce for bears, and cutting meat chunks for the cats. Bears are usually easy, except when you're out of produce and the Costco haul for the day consists of 5 mangos and 2 apples (like today, there was a ton more stuff donated but nothing we could use). Our bears are picky. The girls like mangos, artichokes, berries, lettuce and celery. The boys love apples, oranges, pears, berries, and lettuce. The black kids (black bear juveniles) pretty much get whatever's left. Everybody loves grapes. OMG do they love grapes! If they could eat a diet solely comprised of grapes they would be over the moon. Of course thats..... 96 servings of grapes.... (12 servings of produce for each of our bears, currently feeding 8 bears), and we will probably increase their caloric intake soon anyway (bears can eat up to 50-75 thousand calories a day in the summer!). After produce, we had to cut meat for the bears, lions, cheetahs and Saigon. There are 22 cheetahs, 2 lions, 1 tiger, and 8 bears. Bears love the fatty meat. Lions and Saigon eat just about anything. But the cheetahs... you have to trim off all the fat because they can't digest it and have sensitive stomachs. Sometimes the donations we get are SUPER fatty and this means arduous, tedious trimming. This also feels like a lot of wasted meat. The actual trimming of the meat isn't so bad, I almost feel like I'm preparing a fine cut steak for a gourmet fancy restaurant. Except that its going to cheetahs. And they wont think twice about it before scarfing it down. The thing I hate about cutting diets is how cold my hands get. It is one of the worst feelings... makes me think my fingers are going to fall off. Or get frostbite.

I will share more excitement in my next post!

Also, if you are reading this: Welcome! I realize that I may actually have an audience now that I've had my blog advertised on Facebook (mine and my mother's). You are more than welcome to comment and/or ask questions if you want. That said, don't feel obligated to comment, if you don't want to or don't have anything to say. But either way - Welcome! And thanks for visiting!

The Personalities of Trucks

On the first day of my internship, An (carnivores lead) tells the interns that if you stall a truck, its ten push ups. Well, if a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound???

On Monday Jordan (carnivore/cheetah keeper) and I were getting ready to bring the bears in for the night, and he told me to take outside (outside means closing off the hot wire to the outer ring once the girls were back inside, and then opening guillotines to the culverts to let the boys from the island into the ring to get to the huts). We got everyone inside, and Jordan calls down from the huts,

“You’re good to drive the truck up here.”

Oh crap. I think to myself. This is the gray truck. I’ve never driven the gray truck before.

Panic sets in, but I knock the block of wood out from behind the back wheels, throw it in the truck bed and climb into the drivers seat. Exhaling deeply, I start the car. The engine roars: this is a good sign. I can totally do this. I pop the car into reverse, and it gently rolls backwards. I shift into first gear and play the game of letting out the clutch enough to get the gas to engage, and it dies. Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod. I start the car again, and repeat. Same result. This is bad. This is very bad. I’m never going to get there. They are going to fire me. Then, I realize the emergency brake is still on. WHY DO I ALWAYS FORGET THE E-BRAKE! I pull the lever to release the brake and try again. The engine roars with life, and I move an inch before the engine dies again. One more try. Another. No dice. Frustrated and embarrassed, I swallow my pride and call Jordan.

“Hellooo?”

“Is there a trick to this truck? Because I am having some trouble.”

“Yeah, the clutch is a little tricky. It’s ok, I’ll just walk over.”

I can’t even describe the sinking feeling in my stomach. I have failed. He is judging me. I realize the only reason I even got the car to go in reverse was because it was parked on a hill. Sigh.

The next day, Alyssa (cheetah intern) and I arrive to work at 8am, and radio the keepers to see where we should go (they come in at 6:30am). Jordan tells us to drive the blue truck out to bears. Oh heck yes! A chance to prove myself! Dammit, I can drive stick!! We pile in the blue truck and head out to bears.

So, the gray truck has a tricky clutch, and a shotty e-brake. The blue truck… Well, before turning this truck on in the morning, you have to pump the gas three times before it will start. Another quirk is that you can start it in second gear, because in first gear the car acts almost like it’s an automatic. And since we never go higher than second gear, this makes it incredibly easy to use. The trickiest part seems to be to remember the e-brakes have a stomp thing to turn on, and a handle thing to release them. And then, when you want to shut the engine off, you have to pull a tab out from the steering wheel console as you turn the key to off. Fun quirks.

Anyway, I drove us out to bears, successfully. And later that day when putting up bears, Jordan puts me to the same task.

“You’re going to drive the gray truck in. You can do it. I believe in you.” Well, thanks, Jordan. That does help. “Just don’t put it in reverse. Drive forward and around the loop.”

Ok, well. That should be fun. It’s uphill.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate rolling backwards in stick? It freaks me out because I feel like I have no control. At least there would be no cars behind me to crash into. Just a hotwire fence… So we get the bears in and I jump in the truck remembering both e-brakes (the block of wood and the hand release). I start the car and the engine roars with life. I release the clutch and engage the gas and just rooolllll back wards… and the truck dies. No, no, no, no, no… I can do this! I stop to collect myself and take a few deep breaths. I start the car again. Gas it up and release the clutch and suddenly I am moving forward! Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod!!! Ha!! Heck yes!! I was praising myself all the way around bear drive through and back to the huts. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!

Oh, and that ten push-ups thing? He really did say that, but it’s not a real rule.

"And don't look away. Father will know if you do."

Q: Why am I sticky?

A: Horse blood.

We played a game of Cards Against Humanity at the intern house last week. One of the black cards was: Why am I sticky? And the winning white card that was played read: Horse blood. Which was mine (thank you, thank you). It was picked purely because of the appropriateness to our daily jobs. In the carnivores/cheetah department, we do feed our cats raw red meat, so it's still pretty bloody (they love it). So, that's that.

And now I know you are all dying to know the answer to the obligatory blog question of the day/week/month/year, Why do tigers have whiskers?

Tigers have whiskers because when they are biting the necks of their prey, their whiskers can detect the pulse of their prey so they know when they are dead. Wow, cool story, Tanda. Tell it again!

The last few days at Safari have been pretty interesting. A typical day in the life of a Wildlife Safari Carnivore intern looks like this:

Start trucks and check fluids. Check in with keeper staff and grab keys, radio, etc. Open lion drive through and clean up drive through exhibits. Then kick out lions, and clean their holding space.

We leave lions, and drive through the park to QB (quarantine barn) which is where we prep diets and enrichment for our animals. We pick up morning enrichment for the bears, and head back through the park to bears. 

We pass black bears on the way to brown bears (and we check if they are still sleeping - they haven't really come out of hibernation yet). We get to bear drive through and unlock the gates. We drive in and set up the morning enrichment around the two sections (ring and island). Usually enrichment for them is like frozen fruits, peanuts, salads (with yogurt and dressing and fun things). Sometimes we have toys or boxes for them to play with. Then we go into bear huts and kick out bears. We usually end up cleaning bear huts right away since it takes a while to dry the floors.

After that we sometimes go do training with the lions and/or bears, otherwise start prepping PM diets. The carns/cheetah department have arranged for Costco and Walmart to donate produce that they would otherwise just throw away. So, usually we have a docent or volunteer who can pick this up for us during the week, except for Sundays when the interns do it! We take all the donations and sort them based on what we can use for bears first and foremost (we pick up and sort, so we get first dibs! Plus, we have 11 bears, and they eat a lot!), then we ask other departments if they want anything, and we see if we have it for them. Then we sort the rest and usually end up putting the bulk of it into compost (which we sell to local farmers!). So, doing Costco is fun, but also kind of gross (rotting produce sludge, yum!). But its also great because we don't have to buy bear diets!

We usually sort after lunch, and then finish up bear diets. Then we go out and train if we didn't in the morning, check for any encounters, and set up huts for the night. Then once we get the call for last car, we follow them through the park and close gates, and put animals away for the night. And that's about it! Sometimes we get to do fun things, like take cheetahs on walks!!!!!

Yep, that's right! I guessed the lucky number and got to be second on a cheetah walk (which means you get to be the second barrier, the first being the keeper). Probably the most exciting win ever. This is Khayam.

On that note, I leave you with this photo of brotherly love (of frozen elephant poop!!):

Enzi on the left, rubbing his face all over it, and Tsavo on the right, licking it.

Q: Why am I sticky?

A: Horse blood.

(This will be explained more in the next post)

Here is a random assortment of pictures from my first week at Wildlife Safari.

Here at Wildlife Safari, we only have stick shift vehicles. Every morning, first thing the interns do is start all the trucks, and check the fluids. We leave them running to warm them up and defrost the windows. This means we have to show up 15 minutes early.

This is me driving the janky old truck. Each of our trucks has a different personality and quirk that helps you start, drive, and park them. Don't forget the e-brake! Or, the block of wood to use as an e-brake......

Bear enrichment! This is Oso.

Sam and Danielle walking McHumba. She and her brother Khayam were hand raised, and are two of the ambassador cheetahs. They are about 2 years old. Wildlife Safari offers lots of animal encounters, including but not limited to brown bear talks (Big Bear), lion talks (Lion 101), Cheetah Photo, Cheetah Strolls, tiger and cheetah feeds, giraffe feeds, etc. This is an example of a cheetah stroll. Each staff member here represents a barrier between the animal and the guest. Always have two barriers!

This is Victor during training. He is really good at this Big Bear behavior!

Showing teeth is another trained behavior, that we use so we can examine their teeth. Mak (far right) is a little goofy.

This is Enzi. He and his brother Tsavo are founder lions from Qatar (meaning, they have really rare, and really awesome genetics, so they are ideal for breeding). They are also about 2 years old. Enzi is really sweet, but also enjoys stalking....

The brown bear boys (grizzly bears) enjoying their fruitscicle. They get the coolest enrichment. The boys, Victor, Mak and Oso are not brothers, but are all about 9 years old. We also have two Alaskan Coastal brown bears, Russell and Claire, both girls, who are about 27 and 25 years old. Additionally, we have 6 black bears, but they are technically still hibernating.

This is Jack. He and Taryn are our two white rhinos. Taryn (nicknamed Terrible Taryn because she has a terrifyingly long and pointy horn). He is fond of chasing trucks, and poking his horn into chain link fences.

I finally have my first day off, and it was so nice not to have to get up at 6:30am. My two days off this week will be spent doing laundry, grocery shopping, applying for jobs/internships and trying to get that darn Obama Care. Our days off will be switching again next week for the daylight savings thing, but we (interns) might not get 4-10s, but instead stay as 5-8s. I hope they figure out what the heck they are doing with us soon, because its a little frustrating being changed so much. We still probably have to come in at the butt-crack of dawn...

Anyway, not sure what else is terribly exciting this week. But there will be more to come!

Obligatory blog post question of the day/week/month/year:

Why do tigers have whiskers?

Tune in next time to find out the answer!

Thwarted by a rhino

Busy days, long hours, manual labor... I am so tired. It's only been two days.

I will recap some fun things soon. It's been a lot of information in a short amount of time. Right now we're working 5-9 hour days, starting at 7:45am with one hour for lunch. When daylight savings happens, we will be switching to 4-10 hour days, starting at 5:45am (for about a week, then we come in at 6:45am).

I'll bet you're wondering about the blog post title. "Thwarted by a Rhino". An (carnivores lead) and I were checking on the black bears (still very sleepy from winter) to see if we needed to bring out diets. We had left the truck outside the exhibit on the road with the gates locked (as opposed to driving it all the way to the huts). Our rhinos have free range of certain areas of the park, and Jack (male rhino) happened to be standing on the other side of the fence from us as we were leaving. He was about 5 feet from the truck. Jack was sort of stalking us and tried pushing against the fence at us. With him being so close to the truck, we couldn't safely exit the exhibit so we had to wait for him to walk away. Jordan (another carns keeper) was driving a bobcat (golf cart type vehicle), which the rhinos hate, hoping to encourage Jack to move along. Well he moved alright. Right up next to the truck. The fun thing about rhinos and trucks.... Rhinos have sharp horns and trucks have tires.... Hmmm. Fortunately we avoided a popped tire incident but Jack was all up on that truck like it was a new toy in Christmas Day. Eventually he moved far enough away that we could unlock the gate and make a run for the truck. Jack realized we had escaped and then starting chasing us.... Turns out the truck is pretty fast in reverse. 

Oh and because I know you're all wondering... I passed my "driving test".

More later!