tony in the house!

you may have read in the news that tony had overstayed his last visit to the moat in his yard. the way it was reported in the media i have to say really bothered me. i really took offense to the title using the word lazy to describe him. a title that has now made national news. he wasn't being lazy, there was something else going on. maybe becuz of his age there was a physical or mental limitation. using the word lazy is degrading. i also have been bothered by ignorant comments i've read. opinions from people based on knowing nothing. sure, after seeing him down there two days in a row, it made me nervous, but you can't take a big step involving what it would to extract him, without giving him some time to possibly make the move on his own. if your house-cat didn't want to come in from the yard, would you dart it after a day just to bring it in? believe me, his keepers take great care of him and were monitoring him constantly. ... the info as i witnessed it > after almost three and a half days, for his own good, he had to be tranquilized and brought inside. although he was eating and a bit playful, tony celebrated his 18th birthday the weekend before and for a tiger, that makes him a senior. he passed his recent routine exams with great marks, but after a certain point there was cause for concern. never faced with this situation before, the zoo requested assistance from the SFFD in project tony lift. everything went smooth and tony is out of the moat and temporarily residing full-time in the lion house (night quarters). tony shares the outside yards (grottos) with the other two tigers. the three of them rotate the two yards and the night quarters several times during the day. in light of tony's adventure and that one of his roommates, padang, is 20, one of the yards will be adjusted to accommodate their geriatric needs, which will include not having access to the moat area. when that is done, tony will be able to go outside to the yard again. ... here are two pictures i took of tony while he was on holiday in the moat. i was there two of the days, trying to give him a pep talk and keep an eye on him. he is such a sweetheart! when he looks at you with those eyes that are the color of lemonade, you just want to melt. i wanted to capture those eyes in the sun, but when i snapped the pic, he gave me the kitty hug blink! and with his cute tongue out! you can see his gorgeous eyes in the other pic. ... love ya sweet tony! glad you are out of the moat and safe!

break dancin' bear!

ulu bear was having a party today, rollin' about and scratchin' her back!

penguin faces

while waiting for the lion house to open today i got some great snaps of the penguins. the composition is nice in the way i've captured the black and white on some and they have cute facial expressions goin' on! enjoy! ... #182 is howard ; #4B is scooter ; #155 is pippin

padangs puppy

padang got a stuffed puppy doll in her gift bag and a blood sickle and meat treat! she came in and had her snack first, then checked out her bag, knocked it over, teared it open and grabbed the puppy out and carried it to the next room and dropped it on her bed for later! she is so cute with her stuffed animals. a couple weekends ago she was sleeping with her head on one. sooo cute!

leanne and her new playmate

no there isn't a new tiger in the house, but she had a sheep head in her bag of goodies! its alittle too much nature for me since i love the barnyard buddies, but its all natural for these carnivores. she was sooo funny to watch. when she first got to the bag, she got out her meatloaf. the head was wrapped and when she got it free of wrapping, it kinda rolled and she jumped back. then she proceeded to run from it, stalk it and pounce on it! she had a great time playing with it, although she never tried to eat it. i kinda think she didn't really know what to do with it, but that made for a great enrichment for her! she got alot of exercise in the game she made of it.

grrreat birthday bash for tony!

it was an awesome time with the tigers today! tony's birthday is tomorrow, but we did a celebration today! lee and i brought him and his gal pals some special enrichment items for the bash. tony got a paper mache ball i made and he also got a HUGE birthday bag. all three tigers got flowered (in honor of it being the first day of spring) bags as part of tony's celebration. i painted the ball with an 18 for how old he will be and some flowers on it. cat keeper barb filled all the bags with goodies each tiger might like. ... when tony came out it took him awhile to come to the front to check out his presents. he stood near the bday bag and gave us a look, then without bothering with them too much more decided it was nap time! we circled around cat corridor for almost couple hours waiting and while reviewing our photos, all of a sudden tony was up and going toward the ball! he sniffed it, then picked it up in his mouth and carried it a bit over and was ripping into it! yay! tony loved the ball! i actually got to bring it home, so i not only have something i made and gave a tiger, its got tonys big tooth puncture in it! pretty cool! he never got to his bags, opting for another nap. ... happy to be a part of your birthday sweet tony! ... thankx to barb for putting out our card, filling the bags, and generally making it happen and again for letting us take part! ... i'll do the other two gals separate since i took so many pix! also chk the photo site for the complete collection. > http://gooberssfzoofriends.shutterfly.com/

cats in the sun

it was a gorgeous warm day at the zoo yesterday, with the elusive miss sukari making an appearance and my first sighting of ming wah doin' a tunya! complete with baby do! style bunny feet! ... in case i haven't made the reference before, a "tunya" is when an animal is asleep on its back with its legs in the air, ala tunyaman! tunya has made this pose famous as he is the lounger in chief among the big cats and this is his favorite position!

annie on a mission!

per the previous post, bears go green, here are some of the pix from annies mission to get the ice cake to the nest so her man can have a treat! you are precious sweet annie! i wish i had gotten a snap of the kiss!

bears go green!

yesterday at the zoo all the bears got special st patricks day enrichments! the goods were great! kudos and thankx to deb (bear keeper)! i stopped at annie and wishbone first, then at ulu, then andy and pike, then the grizzly girls. all were entertaining so i kept going up and down the bear corridor checking to see what they all were doing. these are the highlights... annie found a frozen jello/yogurt cake ( i call it such since its about that size). she worked hard to lift it out of some tree trunks and then roll it to the den and carry it up the steps to their nest! it was incredible to watch i had no idea she had the strength! about 40 minutes later after having his treats of yams, and/or carrots, an icee, and some romaine lettuce, wishbone moseyed on over to the nest where annie then stood by close while he uncovered (she covered it with hay) her offering! she was looking at him adoringly like "i brought you a treat!" then he turned to her and gave her a kiss! it was precious! ... ulu pretty much stood in the same spot the whole time, eating grub from her pot o' gold! she was sporting her green, which makes her, the true st pattys day bear! ... andy and pike went for the goods at the same time, but pike stayed on that first box, while andy went over to the other and then took off with it in her mouth and headed for her night quarters! ... kachina stopped at the patty's day box in front of where i was standing and kiona stood up and put her hands on the shamrock stuck to the window and licked off all the sweetness (prob either peanut butter or honey)! ... these pix cover the highlights for the polars and grizzlies, but to get annies determination, the spectacles will have the post following this one. also check the photo site as well, i took looks o' pix! > http://gooberssfzoofriends.shutterfly.com/