Back Stage Pass at the Zoo

Jared surprised me with a back stage pass tour at the Zoo.We went on Feb 15.. I am a little behind on my blogging (again).

We got to feed, pet and take a picture with a Bear Cat. She was sweet and it took her less than one second to take the grape out of my hand. A photographer followed the group around during the tour and took pictures.

We got up close and personal with a wolf. His name is Kenai. We even got to hear him howl. This particular wolf is not an Alpha Male (leader of the pack) so we, the audience, had to howl first and he answered us. Not many people can say they've heard a wolf howl in person. It was incredible.

This is him howling



Eventhough he could eat me, he has a sweet face.


We met the Zoo ambassadors. A Cheetah(Karroo) and Dog(Sven Olef) pair that are super sweet. We got to pet the dog but not the Cheetah. She was a happy cat though. She was purring so loudly when we took the picture with her.

Sven the dog... so cute!

There are about 12 hand raised Flamingos in a back stage area. We were allowed to go to that area and meet/feed them. Timmy, one of the male Flamingos, decided I was his favorite guest. He only ate from my cup and stood by me most of the time. The guests were sitting so when the Flamingos were standing in front of us, we were eye to eye with them. The trainers even commented on how Timmy stayed by me.


Meet Timmy

I think the highlight of the day was meeting the Rhinos. We met two of them. They are brothers and both weight about 4200 pounds. You would think an animal that large would be intimidating but really, they were very sweet and gentle. We got to brush, feed and pet them. They don't really have teeth ,besides a couple moulers, so feeding them wasn't too scary. You did get a hand full of Rhino slobber though. Thank goodness for hand washing stations!




We met a lot of differednt animals that day. it was a great experience and a lot of fun. We knew it was supposed to rain that day but it didn't rain during the tour. After the tour, the heavens opened. Even though we had an umbrella, we got soaked. We didn't care though! We got coffee, snuggled under the umbrella and enjoyed walking around the empty zoo in the rain! It was a fantastic day.