I signed up to volunteer at Micke Grove Zoo for the day as the environmental project for Natural Recourses. There were three of us there that day. The first thing we were assigned to do it cut holes in the milk jugs
and place candles in them. The candy canes were also added into baskets
for the Zoo Lights event coming up. Unfortunately I didn't get very
far with this because I cut my finger open with a box cutter!! I
had to go through the first aid procedures and fill out an incident report.
After patching my finger up I followed David (a volunteer keeper) around.
We did some hosing out of habitats and raking. Here are the mountain
lions. They were pacing close to the barrier when I was watching
them.
After hanging up a some Christmas lights as decorations, I came back to help prepare some food for the monkeys, bats and Sea Lions. This picture features my hand scrubbing out the sink afterwards.
Feeding the sea lions was the thing I wanted to do most so I stuck around
a bit longer than required to do so. They each eat 9-11 lbs. of raw fish
and squid daily. This is Buster. He's the big one!
Buster again, swimming around. An interesting thing David told me was the fact that if any of the animals are considered social, it was mandatory to have at least two of them together. Buster if fairly old so when he goes they either have to find another companion for his son or not have sea lions altogether. That and the fact that the habitat size requirements keep getting larger. I hope they still have them. They are my favorite thing there!
When the feeding time came Buster didn't hesitate to come up and wait
for his food!
This is David tossing one of the many fish into their mouths! Since I tested negative for Tuberculosis I was able to come closer and toss some fish into their mouths. I've always wanted to do that! After that it was time to call it a day as the rain begain to fall again. I would do this again if they needed me.
Click on the Sea Lion Head to go to the Micke Grove Zoo Website!
