Ok, well, now back to the Friday and Saturday. Summer is now off to a start! The tour busses are rolling in, the gift store is busy, and the smell of pastries, soup, and churros are filling the air. The animals are moving about, calves are chasing each other, and most of all interns are running around crazy! Yesterday was the hottest day of my stay so far! I know I know, you think there is no way Alaska can have a hot day!. Well, when you add about 12 hours of afternoon sunlight and thousands of mosquitos you feel like you are in Texas on a summer day in August. I never thought that I would get so many bug bites and a very nice sunburn so soon. It was Jack's 3rd birthday yesterday. Vanessa set up a table with a few items for people to look at. She had his first tooth, moose hair, last year's antlers, and visitors could even make Jack a birthday card. Vanessa also had a donation box available. The moose have the most expensive grain at our center. Each bag costs about $30 and they go though a bag every 2 days! Speaking of moose.....
we have a moose calf!!!!!! We just got him in today (Saturday), but I will get back to that!
Back to the subject of food. Our bison go through about 700 pounds of grain a day!!! In addition to about 3 bales of hay. Our center is a non-profit organization so we depend on donations, ticket sales, and gift store sales to feed our animals.
We were giving the coyote some hotdogs on Friday. He just turned 7 years old this month. He is in the same enclosure as the 3 brown bears. They do fine together, and it also helps both the bears and the coyote to not get bored in there. They are always staying aware of the other.
So friday ended with a cookout/meeting. We had some very yummy BBQ, roasted corn, baked beans, and cole slaw. I felt like I was in Texas.
Saturday was off to a quick start. We had 2 tour buses rolling in at about 8:30. We were literally running out the door to hop on the buses. I gave about 4 tours on the buses. The day was perfect compared to yesterday's weather. There was enough wind to keep the mosquitos at bay, and the weather was a little cooler. We were also preparing to receive our moose calf. We cleaned out the trailer, added straw, and cleaned the bottles out. The moose calf finally arrived and he is adorable!
This is scott, a new intern.
We will be feeding the calf about 5 times a day for now. I am very excited to get to help raise him.
Later, mike was loading up the tractor with halibut and hams to feed the brown bears.
I was trying not to laugh......
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