I was glad I stayed! It was awesome seeing them all and showing them the animals here and telling them stories of why the animals are here. It was very nice to see familiar faces once again. We finished up with the walking tour and in an hour, my friends had come and gone. I was grateful that they could come and visit for a while. I think they liked it- except for the part about the mosquitoes. Today was hot, 71 degrees, and not very windy. It was the worst mosquito day since I have been here.
After they left, I went to the garden and finished planting some cabbage plants. I then watered all the plants in the garden. I didn't get a chance to plant the remainder of the plants- the broccoli. I will get to them at another time. I was needed to go gather alder and willow branches with Vanessa on the flatbed pickup across the highway again. We were gone for a good hour cutting down small willow and alder trees to feed to the moose, porcupine, muskox, and black-tailed deer. They all love when fresh branches are brought in.
After the willow and alder drop off, Vanessa and I loaded up the four wheeler with fruit that was donated from local grocery stores that had recently expired. We first rode to the wood bison enclosure. They are the only animals at the center who eat lemons. We threw probably two dozen lemons, oranges, and grapefruit into their enclosure and they slowly lumbered their way to them and munched away at them. They are north America's largest land mammal at nearly 3,000 lbs. for the bulls. I guess you don't get that big being a picky eater. It is funny watching them eat lemons.
We then threw fruit to the black bears. They especially like papayas for some reason.
After that, we went to the elk habitat. The elk are tame enough to eat out of your hand. We fed them oranges, grapefruit, grapes, tangerines, and apples out of our hands. The big bulls and larger of the females were the only ones brave enough to come to the fence to eat out of our hands. They are much bigger when they are at the fence than when you see them from afar. It is so fun to feed a large animal like that out of your hand. We occasionally tossed fruit out into the small herd that was a ways away from the fence. I lobbed one into the crowd and accidentally smacked a cow elk in the face with a half of an orange. I felt bad but it was funny at the same time. It made a funny smacking sound, much like the noise that would happen when you smack a human being in the face with half an orange.
We then moved on to the muskox and threw lots of grapefruit and oranges in there for them. Vanessa told me that one time she threw a grapefruit into the muskox enclosure and it landed smack down on a muskox's horn and split in two. That would have been awesome to see. It was cute watching the little calves investigate the strange colorful, sweet smelling orbs that suddenly appeared in their enclosure.
Lastly, we went to another wood bison enclosure and threw in the remaining lemons, oranges, and grapefruit. It is funny seeing them bite into them and watching the liquid explode out of them.
After that, I came back to the cattle trailer to bottle-feed the moose calf. He wasn't interested and was more curious about what my face smelled like. He is so darn cute- like a skinny, clumsy version of a baby cow/great dane. After this, I went back to the owl and bald eagle enclosure and fed them- a red salmon patty for the bald eagle and a baby quail each for the two great horned owls. I came back to the moose at 7:30pm and he ate most of the bottle this time. We were both happy at that point and I finally felt like I was done for the day.
Good news came at the end of the day when I found out that myself and two other interns were getting the day off tomorrow to go on a Prince William Sound cruise! I am pumped because I heard about what an awesome time the interns who went today said they had. My camera is ready for some serious use tomorrow!
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