Troop Care Packages from IEAS!

Happy Memorial Day to all!

Especially our past, current, and future U.S. soldiers!

American soldiers have always and continue to risk their lives for all of us and here at IEAS, we want to do as much as we can to repay them. Between now, Memorial Day, and the 4th of July, the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary will collect as many items as we can to send lots of care packages to our troops who are currently protecting our freedom. It is our hope that the supporters of IEAS - like YOU! - will help us to reach our goal of collecting these items!

IEAS will be making some videos and gathering pictures of some of wildly entertaining and funny animals that are sure to put smiles on the faces of all the troops! We have some ideas of the other items we'd like to collect and have listed some below, but if you think of any more, we are definitely open to ideas and suggestions, so send in anything that YOU think would be great to have.

IDEAS: Phone cards, magazines, books, movies, hand warmers, foot warmers, tooth brushes, mouthwash, febreeze, body wash, body spray, pringles, crackers, cookies, beef jerky, comic books, travel size games, decks of cards, memory cards, suntan lotion, non-carbonated drinks, uniform t-shirts (which can be ordered online from AAFES), underwear, pictures from home, hard candy, blue and black pens, notebooks, envelopes, fly paper, a multi tool or good folding knife, travel size toiletries, powdered drinks (gatorade), blank writable cd's, crossword puzzles, etc...

We have a few ideas of specific troops, platoons, and areas to send these packages to but if you have a soldier in mind, send in the address and (depending on how much we collect) we will send a package their way!

We thank you all for your help in supporting our troops, but most importantly, the soldiers will thank you! It is a great way to show your appreciation for them!

Well, we made it through the storms!

The Sanctuary made it through the storms and we hope you did, too!

The last few days and night here in Boyd, TX have been full of tornado watches, tornado warnings, and big storms but we made it! Last night, we had a tornado warning, with one headed toward Boyd from just west of us. Most of the animals were snug and dry in their houses and calm as could be but as usual, there were a few who were out and about! They love water too much to hate the rain. It's just a little different than sitting in their waters or playing in their pools!

A few of the staff members were a little less collected than the cats and bears! Being in "tornado alley" is new for most of our interns and can certainly cause a big of a scare when the prospect of such a big storm is headed our way. The tornado did miss us, thank goodness, and we hope that everyone who was affected by these storms is safe now!

The next step for us is clean up! With some branches down, waters full of leaves and rain water, and some muddy washouts, we're all set for a busy few days!

We hope to see you all out at the Sanctuary now that the weather is clearing up!

Tours every day at 11 AM and Saturdays also at 3 PM!

See you soon!

HUGE Week for Tours!

Here at IEAS, we always expect a large number of school tours and love to show students around. It really is exciting to teach them about the animals living at IEAS and how to help their wild cousins. This week in particular is going to be a very busy week for the Sanctuary. With over 400 students visiting IEAS in the next few days, the cats and bears will see lots of friendly faces, eager to learn about them!

Conservation Education tours for students are a great way to get kids involved with animals and the environment. At IEAS, we have witnessed first hand how seeing a tiger lounging in the shade, laughing at bear cubs playing in a tree, and hearing lions roaring can truly connect a child to the animals. You wouldn't believe how wrapped up and intrigued the students visiting IEAS become after emotionally bonding with a playful leopard or curious grizzly bear. Seeing these connections is one of the MANY reasons IEAS loves to have school groups come out!

Rainy Days!

It's been a rainy few days here at the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary. All of the animals have a safe, warm, dry house to spend their time in but you'd be amazed at how many of the cats were lounging on their perches enjoying the cool air and rain! We even saw some of our more adventurous felines rolling around on in their thick grass getting as wet as possible! It must have felt pretty good after last week's hot afternoons!

The sun as started poking out now that the morning clouds have burned off a bit. The playful animals here are ready to bask in the sun and dry off, laying on their perches and with their bellies up in the air!

(Photo by Amanda Cone - IEAS Intern!)

REMINDER: VOTE FOR US ON PEPSI REFRESH! Check out our Facebook and past Blog entries for more information!

Titan Update!

Titan, the newest resident of IEAS, has moved into his permanent habitat! He has lush grass, a pool, a house, trees, perches, and plenty of toys to keep him occupied and happy. He seems to really be enjoying his new space. He has gotten the hang of our routine and gets excited when he sees the gator coming to feed in the morning. He has been in his pool and playing with toys already, although his favorite part of the habitat seems to be the the thick grass. He's made himself a few nice bed spots that he loves to lay in and loves to roll around in the greenery in the morning. We are so happy to have given Titan this space of his own, and we are so glad that he loves it so much!

As a REMINDER: Vote for our project on Pepsi Refresh!! We want to win $50,000 to put towards educating people as to the importance of conserving the American black bear! Voting is SO easy. It takes just a few seconds and if you vote once a day every day, we could move up in the rankings! The contest is open until the end of the month and right now we are in 70th place. The top 10 projects will receive $50,000! Help IEAS and help the animals both here and in the wild! Thanks so much!

URGENT: $50,000 for Pepsi Refresh!

Do you think it's important to educate people about the importance of American black bear conservation and reintroduction? Well, so do we! We have been accepted as a potential recipient of $50,000 from the Pepsi Refresh Project in support of our efforts to carry out this education project and we need your help to win it!

Voting is open NOW and will be open until May 31st!

You get five votes a day, but you can only vote for each cause ONCE A DAY!

CLICK HERE TO GO TO OUR

PEPSI REFRESH PAGE TO VOTE!

There are a few WAYS TO VOTE:

You can log in to vote through your Facebook account, which makes the whole thing that much easier - no signing up, no e-mails, just voting!

You can vote from your phone by texting 106151 to Pepsi (73774)! Set a daily reminder on your phone so you remember every day!

And hey! Do you drink Pepsi products? If you do, you can help even more! Under the cap of specially labeled Pepsi products is a code that allows you to POWER VOTE! This gives you extra votes (up to 100!) so be sure to be checking for that Pepsi Refresh label and code! Click HERE for more info about Power Voting!

Remember, we need all the help we can get so spread the word!

Share this link on your Facebook, Twitter, with family and friends!

This voting takes almost NO time and can make a HUGE difference!

Imagine what $50,000 could do for IEAS!

Don't YOU want to be a part of making that happen?