Musk and an Elk?

I said that yesterday I would post pictures from the bear cubs' surgery.  This first picture is
during Shaguyik's surgery.  Melissa, on the right, is visiting from Montana.  She works for Bear Trust International.  She had to continually monitor Shaggy's breathing to make sure it stayed normal.  Also, we checked for any signs of waking up.  Meredith, my roomate is in the middle of the picture.  We were both in aw of our opportunity to work so close to a brown bear. 

Photo by: Doug Lindstrand

The hardest part seemed to be actually loading and unloading the cubs.  Here, we are unloading Shaggy into her recovery pen.  We made sure to provide about 3 bales of Straw for cushion. 

 We have been checking on her every few hours since to make sure she always has snow available for hydration. 

Tonight I gave her some tangerines to help with hydration as well. 
Photo by: Doug Lindstrand

This morning started off with some abnormal excitement.  The youngest male elk hopped the fence into the musk ox enclosure.  He then started challenging the musk ox.  Immediately we made sure visitors stayed in the gift store or that they didn't drive around to the area they were working to remove the elk in. 

Elk and musk ox photos by: Doug Lindstrand

Once the young elk was removed; it was decided that it was time to combine all the elk. 

You can see that even before they were put together the Roosevelt elk,on the left, was already trying to fight the breeding bull through the fence. 

Photo by: Doug Lindstrand

Then the action really started!  Brawny, the roosevelt elk fought the breeding elk all day long!

Photo by:Doug Lindstrand

I had a special treat left over for snickers.  It was the last avocado paid for through a donation. 

 Snickers wasn't the only animal to get a treat.  The Wood Bison were very excited to get some more donated pumpkins. 

Kuma also got a pumpkin, or two,  along with a few tangerines as a treat.  Later, Uli even made an apperance after a few weeks of hibernating.

I went to check on the bear cubs.  Taquka is finally beginning to act himself.  He is still a little sore, obviously, but he is coming around. 

As often as I am chasing away these pesky birds; I stopped to get a few shots of one particular Magpie. 

We have filming with Jack on this Wednesday.  We are loading him up in the trailer for practice.  We also want Jack to be used to the trailer. We loaded him up today and drove around the center.  He did very well.  I was able to visit him 2 times today with donated bananas and bread. 

Tomorrow is my day off!  I think I will be heading into Girdwood for a nice cup of coffee and a book to read.  We may even try to walk a nice trail.  I hope to get some good outdoor shots tomorrow.  Guess what....ski season starts in about 2 weeks!  I guess it is time to get the Go Pro camera out!

Goodnight lower 48 and Hawaii,

ErIn