Dinner for the Bears

 The past 2 days have been filled with  bear training, going to a concert, and rain, rain, and more rain.  The rain part was very much needed.  This was probably one of the first actual full days of rain.  The ground was getting really dusty with all the wind we have.  So this rain was a huge help.  2 days ago I started off my day by going across the street to pick some fresh fireweed for the moose calves.  This picture on the left is what you would call your neighbor's yard.  The dead trees that you see are from the 1964 earthquake.  The ground sank 10 ft. in portage.  That salt water came in and basically petrified the trees. 

I also gave Snickers some fireweed and an Alder branch.

The moose calves got their daily willow.  They buried their faces in the branches as soon as I put them in there.

 Gilly is on the right and Nelson on the left.












 At the end of the day we were asked to feed the big bears.  I have been here almost 6 months and never even thought to ask if I could feed the bears!  We loaded buckets up some donated Salmon that we got that day, and headed over to the enclosure.  Just as we got there a tour bus happened to be unloading.  The tourists really enjoyed watching the bears eat the salmon. 

 Joe Boxer was waiting very patiently for me to throw him some fish.

I had a huge chunk that I had a hard time getting apart.

 There was also a really big salmon head that I knew they would love.

Yep......they loved it.

 We also had a load full of Crabapple branches that were donated at the end.  We loaded up the truck and distributed the branches out.  First stop, the musk ox!

 Doug Lindstrand, the photographer for our center, sent me some photos that he took around the center.

He also wanted to get some photos of me training the bear cubs.  Shaggy and Taquka were doing very well in training.

The three biggest elk are just hanging out.  In a couple of weeks they will be in rut.  Which means they will be fighting all the time for dominance over the females. 

Taquka knows the command "up".  This helps us check out their stomach if we see anything unusual.