After the Grizzly bears had their fill of Christmas tree branches to use for denning materials, it was time for some of the big cats here at the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary to enjoy some romping time with the seasonal enrichment items! For some of the cats, like Danvir and Sajani, this would be the first time they received the Christmas trees as enrichment, so we were very eager and excited to see what they would do! It is safe to say we were NOT disappointed by any of the cats - first time or not!
Noel was the first to receive his tree. We were very anxious to see his response, as last year, he absolutely LOVED it! As soon as Noel got to his tree, it was love. He rubbed and rubbed, laid on it, carried it around, and kept it close by the entire day! We loved seeing this big guy turn into a furry ball of mush all for the piney smell of his new enrichment item!
Danvir and Sajani, his neighbors, both enjoyed their first romp with the Christmas trees. Unsure at first, they both approached slowly, but, like Noel, they decided that rubbing all over the trees was the best thing! You can bet with as much rubbing as these two tigers did, they were smelling pretty and piney fresh!
Next came Makeen and Nayakahn, who both had pretty different reactions to the trees! Makeen, who prefers his enrichment enjoyed in private, picked it right up, ran, and took a dive straight into his house, tree in mouth! There he stayed, destroyed the holiday tree! Nayakahn, on the other hand, wasn't quite sure about his tree, circling it, giving it a few sniffs and pokes with his paw, before deciding "Hey! This might be fun!" Then, he took one chomp and when the prickly pine needles touched his tongue, Naya decided he had met his match. He laid down staring at the tree for a few minutes before deciding to come back later with a sneak attack when the tree might not be expecting him!
A few more trees to Zippy, Duke, Khera, Allie and Rasul, and we were having as much fun as the cats were! Rasul was one of the most excited. He ran straight to the trees and pounced. He picked the tree up, threw it around, and ran around his habitat shaking the tree all over! He couldn't get enough with just one tree, so he went and grabbed his sister, Allie's tree and had some fun with that one, too!
Kim, Karen, and Lexus came next. This little group is always fun with Christmas trees! Kim and Karen acted just like Rasul, sprinting around and pulled the needles and branches off little by little. They even took the time to find tiny little branches that had fallen off and destroyed those too! We found little green needs all over the habitat, including plenty in their pool and waters later that day! It seemed they had even more fun when we weren't looking!
Stay posted for more updates on how
the cats and bears here at IEAS loved
the Christmas trees you all donated!
THANK YOU to everyone who helped
make this enrichment possible!
You guys are wonderful!
Isn't it amazing how little it takes to provide so much fun and enjoyment to them and so much entertainment to us.
ReplyDelete