Wild Wonders

This is a bit of an old post that I forgot to put up, but enjoyable enough that I wanted to post it. Back in May some of the team from my work took a field trip to this fantastic place called Wild Wonders. I was one of the few that went.

Wild Wonders is a licensed and insured wildlife education organization that travels throughout the United States, providing exotic animals and animal trainers for shows, parties and events. They have a facility in Fallbrook which is about an hour-and-a-half north of San Diego. At this facility they house a beautiful collection of animals from all across the globe. They are not a zoo, it's a private company that takes animals in that were abandoned, abused, abducted or planned to be tested upon. They strive to provide the utmost in care for these animals; from diet and nutrition and affection training to behavioral enrichment. All of their 120 animal ambassadors came to them from other educational facilities, were confiscated/reliquished as they were illegal pets, or non-releasable native wildlife. NONE HAVE BEEN TAKEN FROM THE WILD. I took some of this info from their website--for more information visit www.wildwonders.org

Onto my experience. First we arrive and they want to introduce us to Victor the Cheetah. He was in a very large enclosure--probably the same size as the Wild Animal Park's exhibit space. He came right up to the trainers and started rubbing against the fence and purring. A Cheetah purr is very, VERY loud. It's cute still, but it's a little intimidating. Just a little. We got to reach in and pet him and he loved it. We talked about animal conservation and how there are some 2,000 cheetahs, and if measures aren't made to protect and support the cheetah population, there might not be a population to protect in the near future. Anyway I'll get off my soapbox and continue. Victor was great. Loved him. Next we saw their other cats, a bobcat and two Siberian Lynx. The lynx were very lovey and social, where as the bobcat literally growled at me. I was the last to leave this are and as I walked by him he gave out a very loud but harmless growl.

Next was my personal favorite--binturongs! Binta-wha? Whoozi-rang? No--binturong. Binturongs are probably one of my favorite animals. Per Wikipedia:

The Binturong (Arctictis binturong), also known as the Asian Bearcat, the Palawan Bearcat, or simply the Bearcat, is a species of the family Viverridae, which includes the civets and genets. It is neither a bear nor a cat, and the real meaning of the original name is lost, as the local language that gave it is extinct^[3]. Its natural habitat is in trees of forest canopy in rainforest of Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Nepal, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.^[1]

It is nocturnal and sleeps on branches. It eats primarily fruit, but also has been known to eat eggs, shoots, leaves, and small animals, such as rodents or birds. Deforestation has greatly reduced its numbers. When cornered, the Binturong can be vicious. The Binturong can make chuckling sounds when it seems to be happy and utter a high-pitched wail if annoyed. The Binturong can live over 20 years in captivity; one has been recorded to have lived almost 26 years.

visit wikipedia's page on the binturong for more information.

We didn't get to touch them but I sure wanted to. I wanted to crawl in there with them and bite their little ears and kiss him on the face! I think they would have not have enjoyed that and would have demonstrated their dislike in a number of ways.... I digress.

Now that I hit the high note, I'll summarize everything else up quickly; next we saw a myriad of foxes. They were so cute! We saw a tortoise and alligators and snakes and lizards. They were not as cute. There were some beautiful (and loud) birds. They were loud. We also saw a hedgehog (that I got to pet!), chinchillas, rabbits, and some little monkeys. All were very cute.

It was a good day. Very cool. Signing off.