The Wild Park

This past Saturday, the family and I went to the Wild Park. It's like the zoo in that animals are caged in and separated by species, but it is done in their natural habitat. They have extremely large spaces in which to roam which is the biggest differentiating factor between the wild park and the zoo.

We had the option of purchasing a bag of little food pellets which we could feed to certain animals. It doesn't seem safe in my head, but if thousands of kids do it than surely I could too (of course, I do blame the US for their overabundance of rules, regulations and restrictions. Now I'm afraid that everything will hurt me). So to the left is a picture of me and a mountain goat and, needless to say, I had never touched a mountain goat before. They pretty munch inhaled the pellets while dropping loads of spit onto my palm. The look of disgust on my face should just give you an idea of how that felt.

Some animals left me unimpressed (like the bear. A bear's a bear) but the moose was another story. I had never seen a moose before and to have one so close was a surprise. I expected all large animals to be weary of humans and choosing to graze at the farthest edge of the fence (like the bear). Yet, there was the moose, gentle and unafraid. I was in love with its large body and awkward legs. It just struck me as such a humble creature. So, naturally, moose became my favorite animal.

One of the more interesting creatures were the albino deer. For one, they were deer and I never see deer, and then for two, they were freaks of nature with no pigmentation. Of course I'm going to adore them. As you can see by the pictures, the animals tend to follow you around, especially if they are hungry and no one else is in the park. It's common for the alpha male of any animal species to push the females and babies aside and hog all the food. In fact, the male ram would actually headbutt the bodies of any other ram that was being fed. This immature and selfish behavior ensured that no males got fed by me. Take that, testosterone.

All in all it was a great experience. I have a tendency to realize the extent of my ignorance once I'm placed in new situations. The family thought I was a riot to go nuts over squirrels and raccoons (which were just as cute as my stuffed animals!!!) I suppose I'd better live this momentary fascination up before garden pests and cold weather become jaded.