Bear and Veggies

Yesterday was a very busy day!  Where do I begin....Since we are down to only 2 interns left it was a full saturday for me and Jonathan.  Right away we knew we were in for a treat when the writer/Director  for 'Frozen Ground' arrived at the center.  The movie is in preproduction still, and he was checking out our animals to use for the movie.  They may also be filming at the center!  There will a few big actors such as Nicholas Cage and John Cusack!  I had to get the bears awake so we could show the writer/Director how big Joe Boxer was.  The picture on the left, as well as all the others in this blog, is from a very talented photographer-Doug Lindstrand. 

The next big task for the day was to feed the bears the donated veggies from the Palmer state fair.  The fair has the state competitions for the largest vegetables.  We even had a cabbage that was about 6 oz. away from breaking the world record!  It weighed 126 pds!!!!!  Mike, the executive director, drove the tractor in full of vegetables covered in honey and hotdogs underneath.  The bears were very interested in the veggies of course.  Joe Boxer is on the right and his sister, Patron, is on the left.  Hugo was off in the background waiting patiently for her turn. 

 Today, Sunday, I actually worked in the gift store on one of the most beautiful days we have had in a long time!....go figure....

Doug Lindstrand emailed me his latest pictures from the past 2 days. 

He has been trying to catch the elk bugling.  These are the sounds they make when they are in rut, which is breeding season for them and all the other animals at the center. 

 Here, he is hanging around one of his girlfriends for the day. 
















Finally, success!  Doug got a great shot of one of our elk bugling! 

The bears were not the only ones to get veggies.  The Wood Bison also got a tractor full of cabbage.

Here is a great picture of our Curator, Dr. Jordan Schaul on the left with writer/Director of frozen Ground, Scott Walker on the right. 

The moose calves are getting huge!  I don't know how much longer I can even call them calves.  They are officially getting 2 bottles a day, along with about 16 cups of grain, and willow galore!

The lynx are also settling in very nice and I am excited to work with them all winter.  They will especially love all the snow we will be getting.  Kaltag is on the left, and Venetie is on the right. 

Well, it's about midnight and I have work at 7:30AM in the ticket booth.   Another first for me and well it's extra money.....

Goodnight Lower 48,

ErIn