Feather Zone

The Carolina Tiger Rescue is overrun with black vultures. It makes sense with all the dead animals, leftover food, poop, etc., but it can be a bit of a pain. They swoop everywhere, have no fear of humans, crap in the water pans and in general are a nuisance. Luckily, every now and then we find something worthwhile that comes from them... Today that was their feathers. A couple of bamboo mobiles, some feathers and a few squirts of Calvin Klein perfume later (lots of pheromones), the other interns and I had cat toys to hang from the top of the enclosures of the small cats.

Most of the day was spent with the two male interns, Josh G. ("the hunk" according to many of the volunteers, who does indeed want to run a zoo) and John (who wants to be a veterinary neurosurgeon). We cleaned a whole bunch of small and large cat enclosures, scooping poop and dead food animal remains (including the maggots that accompany them), and moving around the objects in their enclosures to shake things up. We also hooked the mobiles onto the ceilings of the enclosures while we were in there, and after unshifting the cats into the clean sides, we got to observe them batting, leaping and rubbing on everything around the mobiles. The Calvin Klein was definitely a success, and the feathers helped to stimulate their natural bird-hunting instincts.

I took some really great pictures, but unfortunately my phone died halfway through the day and it somehow lost them all! I think I might need a new SD card.

I also helped to put up some fencing for one of the new enclosures today. The rescue is always taking and moving big cats around, and they have lost a rather large amount of animals in the last year just due to old age. This makes openings for them to rescue from closed-down private zoos or exotic pet seizures. But they build their fences very sturdy and to last, with huge enclosures, and the 15+ foot chain link fences that I mentioned earlier. To get the panels of fencing up, they have a pulley system with ropes running from men on the ground, over the enclosure poles and to the top of the chain link fence, which is then hoisted off the ground and adjusted into place, then affixed to the poles and cemented in to the ground. Due to the weight of the fencing, you have to do it in 20 foot sections or it is unmanageable. So today they got two more panels up, and my job ended up being the one weaving the panels together to keep them sturdy- all the way to the top. It was very interesting to be a part of and to see the painstaking detail and strategy taken to get everything ready.

But most of my day, morning and afternoon, was spent just cleaning enclosures- not all that exciting but very, very necessary. The cooler also got fixed today, which was absolutely fantastic.

My evening ended with making dinner for the boys. Josh was out at an ultimate frisbee game, but Bill and Geoff were home and enjoyed my famous chicken marsala. It takes about an hour to make, but it is worth every minute of it! Maybe I am bragging, but I enjoy my own cooking. :) I made enough for at least 5 people and there was barely a serving left (they saved it for Josh so he knew what he missed out on). If anyone wants the recipe I am happy to share!

I am definitely going to miss these guys though- after two weeks of spending quite a bit of time with them they have become good friends, and I have enjoyed getting to know them in all of their older-brother teasing attitudes.

Anyway, that's all I got for today. Pretty tired after all day doing physical labor in the sun!

~Rich With Life~