So sorry....

I apologize for not updating the blog for so long. So much has been going on that I just haven't been able to do it. Our cougar cub has grown. I will try and get newer photos of her soon. We will also be getting some new animals in the near future. I will post photos of them as soon as can (after they arrive of course!). In the mean time, please take a look at some photos I've posted on Flickr. They include photos from my vacation to visit family in Idaho (including photos from Pocatello Zoo and Utah's Hogle Zoo) and from our first ever Spotlight on the Species. For this we focused on our Cheetahs and Anatolian Shepherd Dogs.

The day was spent doing keeper chats and educating people on Cheetahs, Anatolian Shepherd Dogs and on the cause we were raising money for. That cause was Cheetah Conservation-Botswana. All of the money raised (~$850.00 US) during the event was donated to them for a mobile vet clinic. The clinic will treat not only the Anatolian Shepherd Dogs working on the ranches but also other domestic pets owned by the ranchers. When they did this in January, they sterilized 24 dogs and immunized many more! Both of these things are important. By sterilizing them we are helping reduce the feral dog population and by immunizing them we are helping protect African Wild Dogs. So many diseases that affect the domestic dog also affect the African Wild Dog (in particular, canine distemper). By immunizing the domestic dogs we are helping prevent the spread of the diseases to the wild animal populations.