… and some lion cubs too! Does it sound fabulous? It was! Okay, here’s my story. There are two Wild Animal Parks in the area. One about two hours away, where the animals roam free and you drive through in your car. The other is a half hour south of here in Bandon – yes, the Bandon of many golf courses – and you walk thought that one. We had planned to visit both, but while in Bandon last week test driving our new RAV 4, I got into a conversation with a woman sitting next to us at lunch. Yeah, I know – I do that a lot. Anyhow, she and her family had just come from the Wild Animal Park and she told me that she got to hold tiger and lion cubs. She advised me to hurry because they usually take the babies off display in August.
We got to the park and it was both amazing and sad. Many of the animal, big animals, like lions tigers, bears, bison were all in cages. The cages were pretty good sized, but…I hate to see animals in cages of any size. Many of them were pacing, a sure sign of distress. While there were critters in cages, there were many roaming free, too. Deer, goats, peacocks, and mini-goats were wandering around free. They were all very friendly and looking for food. Of course, we had to buy some food and feed the obviously starving creatures. Yes, that’s a joke. I loved being so close to the deer! They nibbled gently at my fingers and let me pet their heads and stroke their velvety antlers.
The keepers brought out lion cubs to interact with the crowd. You had to line up and then only had a few minutes with the babies. We saw the lion cubs first, a male and female from the same litter, only six weeks old but boy did they have big feet! They were very feisty and vocal. There were some soft plush toys in the enclosure for the cubs to play with and I was amazed at how both of them went right for the throat of the toy animals! Talk about instinct. I waited my turn and then sat on the sawdust and got to cuddle the lions! There fur was soft and a little stiff and they had spots! I guess they remain when the lions become adults but are covered by fur. Too soon, I had to give up my place and leave.
We walk around, carefully – lots of loose animals trotting around, until the keepers brought out the tigers. There were three males from the same litter, and they were only four weeks old – yup, big feet too. They were more cuddly then the lions and wanted to rug their faces against yours. We were told not to pet their heads, nor let them lick our fingers. Hey, they’re babies they could get yucky human germs and get sick! I sat on the ground and the keeper piled all three boys on my lap. Boy, did I want to take them home, but of course, they grow up.
Altogether we spend a couple of hours at the park then headed back to Coos. When we got home Dukie ran over and started sniffing the front of my pants. He flopped back on his butt, looked up at me with the funniest expression on his face as if to say, “How could you?” then he continued to sniff and walk around me – I guess he thought maybe I had a tiger in my pocket!
So ended another wonderful Oregon adventure
Real cute story, Carlene. Coos Bay looks more and more enticing….Jean