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My horrendous cold eventually cleared enough for me to start doing stuff! The park was very different from when I had visited last. The volunteer house is continually beng developed and improved upon and, due to the fact there were very few volunteers, it felt very quiet.
This meant that I spent the majority of my time at Rescue helping look after the macaques, birds, binturongs and rabbits as well as helping feed the leopards to give big cat team a hand. I'd missed most of them so it was great to see them again! Not going to lie though Jam still scares the crap out of me. And I saw Chutneys psycho side this time when he grabbed me a few times hahaha! He did get a back scratch now and again though. Trouble is still the cutest wee sweetheart ever! Wendy and Sydney are still lovely and the new birds and bunnys are lovely too.
Due to the lack of volunteers I also got to do a bit more with the elephants! Jim, Jum and Pon are as gorgeous as ever! Made them food enrichment mainly which I think they enjoyed, their trunks were always out looking for the pumpkin rice balls or their feet ready to smash up their ice lollies! Pon is also 10 months pregnant!!! (only 14 months to go!!) She's got a bit of a baby bump already which the mahout let me feel as well as her wee elephant boob...Not something I ever thought I'd write let alone experience!
I wanted to work on the bear project while I was there but couldn't do much due to lack of people to do the daily jobs. I did manage to make food enrichment for the bears a few times though and go and see them. Pineapple jam sandwiches were a big hit!! The size of the Asiatic Black Bears always amazes me but when you give them their treats they're so gentle. Mitzu, the Sun Bear, is just always so excited to see a different face and comes right over. It's so depressing seeing them in their tiny enclosures, it just makes it all the more important that the bear retirement home happens!
Had a couple of days on cubs. Busy and tiring as ever but the cubs are great. Louie the tiger is a menace! My own fault for playing rough from the start but everytime I opened that gate it was like he went into demon mode and immediately started stalking me and going for me with his teeth! Great fun haha! Got a few bruises from him and Chakina the wee leopard gave me a cracker of a bruise on my arm from where she sank her teeth in! Missed seeing the baby lions but Chanel was lovely and at 4 months it wont be long before she heads up to Big Cat Garden!
I got to spend a bit more time on BCG and learn about their daily routine which was good. And, also it was all my cubs from my last visit that are up there now! Cubs no more! They are big! Bella is friggin' huge and Lily and Sakura aren't far behind! Rosie is as gorgeous as ever. Still love her wee chuffs!! Larcy, Deena, Smoothie and Juicy are all there too and have grown a fair bit! Impossible to tell them apart now. At least for me! It wont be long before they all graduate to Safari zone!
It was good coming back and seeing how some thing have improved and what's in the pipeline for the future.
One night in Bangkok in a pretty cool hostel that I got free supper in and I'll be off to New Zealand tomorrow!!! Holy Cow!!
Lx
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