Volunteer Keeeper Week 21 & 22

Week 22 - worked with Denise on Orangutan string. Snuck away for a moment and one of the elephant keepers invited me to feed Reba some peanuts. That was really cool.

Reba
Photo courtesy Phx Zoo

Week 21

Sad day. Found out Gladys, one of the Hamadryas girls, has an in-operable form of throat cancer. She'll be put down tomorrow, just a couple of weeks before her 30th birthday. :-( We put extra Behavioral Enrichment in their night house just for her, since it will be her last night there. *so sad right now* I'm in total agreement with Denise when she says, "I'm tired of watching animals die". It is an extremely depressing part of this job.

Didn't get to see my RedRuffs today, but did spend a little time at Stingray after all the work was done. Met up with Mike there, hung out for a bit, then had a really nice dinner at Philly's. Even when everything else in my life seems hopeless, I can always rely on Zoo Sundays to remind me of what it's really all about - and that it's really not all that bad.

Stingray Bay