Category Archives: Creatures

New Bun.

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For quite some time I have know that our house rabbit, Tootsie, needed a friend. Many of her days are spent mostly alone, which can cause her time and again to be destructive and moody. She is often bored. She rarely plays, even with most of the house under her domain. So, I thought, another rabbit to socialize with might make her happy.

Scouring craigslist and searching shelter listings every day, we came up empty. Then, during a vet visit, we were connected with a little bun whose parents were rescued strays. Instead of paying up to $65 from a breeder for a bunny eight weeks or more, we adopted this little four-week-old fella for free.

 

 

 

Now bonding Tootsie and–the one for whom we have yet to find the perfect name–may take weeks. So far Tootsie has been territorial and somewhat paranoid, but I have a feeling she will warm up to him in time.

Weekly Creatures: Emu in Oregon

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In Wildlife Safari, Oregon, visitors can drive through the preserve to see native and exotic animals. This emu actually walked up to the car window. It was terrifying. These birds are enormous, and its red eyes looked very angry. Fortunately, we escaped with our lives and later saw American bison, a brown bear snoozing, lions, camels, and paid an outrageous price for an elephant to wash my car.

My hope is to return someday.

Phoenix Zoo: Part I

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Today is Tuesday, which is usually hiking-adventure-day. Instead, we spent the morning walking around the Phoenix Zoo. In the door at 7am, we took advantage of those few hours in the morning when it is not too hot, not too crowded, and the light is not so harsh. Since I ended up with more than five hundred exposures, I will post several batches as I process the images.

First, a couple of birds and some kind of deer that had no visible name plates.

Prairie Dogs: These little rodents were incredibly entertaining. They greet each other with kisses and have big bellies that squish all sorts of ways. It was breakfast time, so everybody was out chowing down on veggies, then stretching out for a nap.

Burrowing Owl

Golden Eagle

Iguana

Weekly Creatures: For Sale

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A few minutes ago, I happened upon this image from spring break last year. My (then) fiance and I drove to California to spend some time with my uncle and family who were also visiting. One day we decided to go see Chinatown. Apart from the LA traffic, we found everything you might expect:  gift shops, trinket shops, restaurants, more gift shops. While browsing each shop down the street I saw a teeny pet shop and jumped in right away. This little place had so many different birds and mice and ferrets, I was just giddy. There were a bunch of baby bunnies, all snuggled up with each other–I could hardly handle it.

But there was something terribly wrong. The shop was crammed with pets. Their cages were grimy and rusty. The baby bunnies were in a fish tank sized container that had severe cracks. They were all snuggled because there was no room to move around. As in this snapshot from my phone you can tell they are unbearably adorable, and in an equally unacceptable environment. I considered buying one, just to save it from the too-warm room and crowded pen. Who knows what they were being fed, there was no hay anywhere in sight…But I had my own rabbit at home to worry about. Who knows what kind of deseases these little fur balls might have? And I had nothing to transport a baby bunny, and my full grown rabbit might not have been compatible, maybe aggressive even.

All this, and now I still wish I had bought one. But that would have supported the store that mistreated these vulnerable animals. Instead I should have immediately called animal control, someone who had the authority to remove the animals from that environment. With that, I post this image in shame but with the resolve to never pass by the inhumane treatment of animals without action.

Forgive me, little ones.