A rare opportunity...(picture heavy)
I live close to a zoo that recently closed due to financial difficulties. When I saw it was happening I started looking for where the next closest zoo to me was. Turns out the next closest zoo to me is the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo, the one featured in the Animal Planet series The Little Zoo That Could. While perusing their Website I noticed something very interesting advertised...Tiger Encounters. :o
Hubby (and I) have always wanted to play with tigers, but as average citizens the chance of that happening is next to none, so I snatched up the phone and started calling. We managed to reserve a slot for the two of us (and Gavin) for yesterday (the last day children under the age of 13). We got the first encounter of the day at 10 a.m.
We headed out to the zoo and got there about 30 minute before they opened so we did our best to keep Gavin preoccupied.
We were keeping a close eye on the weather because there were signs of a thunderstorm moving in. While waiting we also saw the sign about Outback Encounters and Lemur Encounters. We decided to see if we could add those in as well (they didn't need reservations). The woman who does the outback encounters was out so they weren't happening, but we were able to get tickets for lemur encounters.
There were four ruffed lemurs - two black and white named Tarzan and Jane and two brown ones named Tiki and Twitter.
NOM, Nom, nom!
Lemur kisses
The lemurs were very childlike, jumping this way and that. The loved chewing on my watchband and giving lots of kisses. Their fur is very soft (reminded me of alpaca wool) and their hands are incredibly warm to the touch. We hung out in the lemur tent until the weather started getting bad and the zoo worker was asked to bring the animals indoors to somewhere safer. We headed to the spot that our tiger encounter was to happen to wait.
They brought the tiger cubs to an area know as "The Pit" in a kennel carrier. The cubs weren't real keen at getting out at first.
They gave the cubs some time to get used to the pit again before coming to get us. Gavin played follow the leader through the glass.
We eventually got to go in and were told to sit down and try not to be to rowdy. The rowdier the people are the rowdier the cubs get. They are 8 week old snow white Bengal tigers, the rarest of the four Bengal tiger color morphs. The boy had darker face markings and is named Kashmere. The girl (who has very little in the way of face markings) is named Kismet. Their stripes are as dark as they are going to get.
NOM, Nom, nom! Kismet was very "mouthy".
I was surprised by how much their behavior resembled that of house cats. And holy cow, the size of their paws. Easily the size of my palm. Their fur is coarse. It reminded me of horse hair.
Kismet was sleepy by the end of the encounter.
I also have a short video you can hear Kashmere talking in. If I can figure out how to get the video off the other digital video camera I'll try to add it as well since it's longer (about 6 minutes).
Hubby (and I) have always wanted to play with tigers, but as average citizens the chance of that happening is next to none, so I snatched up the phone and started calling. We managed to reserve a slot for the two of us (and Gavin) for yesterday (the last day children under the age of 13). We got the first encounter of the day at 10 a.m.
We headed out to the zoo and got there about 30 minute before they opened so we did our best to keep Gavin preoccupied.
We were keeping a close eye on the weather because there were signs of a thunderstorm moving in. While waiting we also saw the sign about Outback Encounters and Lemur Encounters. We decided to see if we could add those in as well (they didn't need reservations). The woman who does the outback encounters was out so they weren't happening, but we were able to get tickets for lemur encounters.
There were four ruffed lemurs - two black and white named Tarzan and Jane and two brown ones named Tiki and Twitter.
NOM, Nom, nom!
Lemur kisses
The lemurs were very childlike, jumping this way and that. The loved chewing on my watchband and giving lots of kisses. Their fur is very soft (reminded me of alpaca wool) and their hands are incredibly warm to the touch. We hung out in the lemur tent until the weather started getting bad and the zoo worker was asked to bring the animals indoors to somewhere safer. We headed to the spot that our tiger encounter was to happen to wait.
They brought the tiger cubs to an area know as "The Pit" in a kennel carrier. The cubs weren't real keen at getting out at first.
They gave the cubs some time to get used to the pit again before coming to get us. Gavin played follow the leader through the glass.
We eventually got to go in and were told to sit down and try not to be to rowdy. The rowdier the people are the rowdier the cubs get. They are 8 week old snow white Bengal tigers, the rarest of the four Bengal tiger color morphs. The boy had darker face markings and is named Kashmere. The girl (who has very little in the way of face markings) is named Kismet. Their stripes are as dark as they are going to get.
NOM, Nom, nom! Kismet was very "mouthy".
I was surprised by how much their behavior resembled that of house cats. And holy cow, the size of their paws. Easily the size of my palm. Their fur is coarse. It reminded me of horse hair.
Kismet was sleepy by the end of the encounter.
I also have a short video you can hear Kashmere talking in. If I can figure out how to get the video off the other digital video camera I'll try to add it as well since it's longer (about 6 minutes).