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Day 38 Ottawa (Parc Omega)
We started the day by a walking back to Parliament Hill to take photos of the Parliament buildings that we did not take the night before due to the poor light in the afternoon.
Then crossing the bridge over Rideau Canal to walk around the area known as Byward Markets. The area now has many restaurants and boutiques but there is still one small section with lots of fresh fruit and vegies on sale.
On our return we discovered 3 boats starting to move through the 8 locks that will take them from Rideau Canal down to Ottawa River. The boats slowly move into the lock and tie off alongside. The ropes are on a pulley so they can be eased out as the water and boats drop in the lock.
Once the water has lowered to the level of the next lock the gates at the back are manually closed and the front are opened. The boats move forward and the process starts all over again. It takes three and half hours to travel through the eight locks.
We then walked back to the car and popped into the grocery store to buy a couple of bags of carrots before heading to Parc Omega an hour east of Ottawa. You drive through the park in the comfort of your car while the animals come to you to be fed.
We were told we were not to feed any of the animals on the road with antlers. These were the males and as it is mating season they were not to be trusted! Amazingly they accept you winding up the window and driving on past them.
Vince was lucky (lol) and had the dribbly deer on his of the car. You are given a map showing the way the road winds through the park so you know what sort of animals you are passing. Some of the more aggressive animals are behind fences: - moose, bear, wolves, coyotes, caribou, musk oxen, wives.
There is an area you can park and hand feed some deer. Here one became quite upset with Margaret when she stopped feeding it. This deer who took a liking to Margaret had decided she had more to offer it. The video is available for review. Another pawed at Vince when he tickled it under the chin.
It was also in this area that they had a bird show where they had three birds of prey flying above our heads. These birds included an owl, a falcon and a bald eagle. Each of the birds would fly from one post to another where they found food. In some instances, they would swoop over the audience to land on the post. In addition to these birds they had a vulture that lost a wing as a result of a road accident, a snapping turtle and two young Sanglier wild boars.
From here we walked up the trail a hundred metres or so to see the Timberwolves. The keeper talked to us about the structure of the pack. As she did so she would throw chunks of meat into the group. As is the case with dog packs there is an alpha male, in this case a 13-year-old male. The Beta male is only one year but is already a large strong male. The alpha female also is dominant in the pack. There are three omega dogs in the pack. These dogs stand back and they are happy to wait until last in all aspects of pack behaviour.
We continued on through the park seeing and feeding more animals. Towards the end of the day we were feeding alpine ibex (mountain goat - both in name and action). As these goats are not as large as the deer we were feeding earlier, they have a bad habit of placing their front hoofs on the car door to get to the carrots. As a result, we were throwing the carrots out the window if a goat looked like it would place its front hoofs on the door. The duco on the front doors took a hit. Fortunately, we were able to buff out most of the scratches. Definitely do not drive a new car to this park. Otherwise we had a great day. We then headed back to Ottawa.
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