the cats had a tiki luau party to close out the summer! they all got themed toys! tiki's, lei's, coconut cup drinks, and pineapple bags! (see previous post for tiger fun!) they had a great time enjoying so many things to choose from! happy, busy kitties :) ... pictured: jahari, amanzi, jahari, amanzi, amanzi (photo by lee), tunya, sukari (photo by lee), rigel.
see more photos from the fun here:
I love it that the zoo offers the big cats enrichment like this. I'm glad they care enough about their animals to go that extra mile. The cats look like they are having so much fun!
ReplyDeleteThank you SOOO much for doing all the enrichment for the animals! They have SO much fun with it, and I always hear the visitors saying how nice it is to see the big cats doing something, rather than just sleeping! I appreciate it more than I can tell you, and I KNOW the animals are grateful! You can see it just by looking at them!
ReplyDeletewhat a fun way to close out the summer! these enrichments are beautiful; what a treat for the cats AND the people who get to watch them. i can't imagine how many hours it took to create these. great job, ladies!
ReplyDeleteWOW!! Wish we had something fun like this in NY!
ReplyDeletethankx for all the great comments! ... elizion- the zoo itself only does enrichment "toys" for special events, maybe a handful of times a yr if that. this type of enrichment is an isolated weekly thing that my friend and i started doing with the keepers cooperation. it stemmed from doing two birthdays in feb and march and snoballed from there when we saw how much the cats loved it. ... nica- so glad you are there to join in on the fun! people do say great things about seeing the cats get their toys. you are right, i have thought that too, for this period of time, the cats are up awake and having fun. its good for them and for the visitors. ... hazel- the tiki party did turn out great! thankx for the crafting kudos! it is very time intensive, about 20-30 hrs a wk sometimes depending on the theme. ... anon- most zoo's do fun "toy" enrichment for halloween events, but we started doing it weekly for the cats and not only do they love it, they look forward to it! ... thankx again for all the comments!
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