IEAS Participates in the Grapevine Parade of Lights!

IEAS will have its first-ever participation in the 37th Annual Grapevine Parade of Lights on December 1st! The Grapevine Parade of Lights is the largest lighted Christmas parade in North Texas since 1979. Interns and Keepers have worked on float preparations for nearly two weeks. Our float theme is Winnie the Pooh's Winter Wonderland and Friends to describe the diversity of our resident animals at our Sanctuary. Most of our float has been built with reusable materials that have been found around the sanctuary, for example our molds to create Pooh, Tigger, and Piglet are made from chicken wire and paper mache. Then these molds were painted to bring our animal friends to life! Participating in this parade will allow us to promote our Sanctuary name and the educational tours we have everyday at 11 AM and an additional tour on Saturday at 3 PM. So, please come and join us at our first enrollment of the 37th Annual Grapevine Parade of Lights!

Charlotte painting Tigger to life.

Tigger is ready for the parade.

           

Kate working on Piglet.

                                         

Kate paper mache Winnie the Pooh's ears.

37th Annual Grapevine Parade of Lights

Date/Time:
Thursday, December 1, 2016
Beginning at 7:00 p.m.
Historic Downtown Grapevine
Parade Route: North on Main St. from Hanover Dr. to Northwest Hwy.
The parade is FREE to attend. No tickets required for viewing the parade!

2016 Theme: "Famous Christmas Characters"

Fun Facts About Our Bears!

Currently there are 8 remaining species of bears in the world. These include:

1) North American black bear             5) Andean bear

2) Brown/Grizzly bear                        6) Panda bear

3) Polar bear                                        7) Sloth bear

4) Asiatic black bear                           8) Sun bear

Here at the International Exotic Animal Sanctuary we are the home of three of these species with a total of 30 bears. We have the North American Black bear, brown/grizzly bear, and Asiatic black bear.

Sunny

Twinkle

North American black bears are what most people in the United States think of when they hear about bears in the wild. They are the most common bear in North America. A common misconception about them is that they are always black. This is false, black bear coats can change colors throughout their lives and be both black and brown. This is also true about brown/grizzly bears. Both of these species are omnivores, which means they eat both meat and vegetable matter. Their diet is majority vegetable matter and a small portion is meat. Twinkle (pictured above) loves to eat grapes! Black bears range from Florida up to Canada and Alaska. Brown/grizzly bears have a smaller range across Europe and also Alaska, western Canada, and parts of Washington, Montana, and Wyoming.

Willy

Willy and Papa

Here at IEAS we have 7 brown/grizzly bears and 22 black bears. An easy way to tell black bears and brown/grizzly bears apart is to look between their shoulder blades. Grizzly bears have a large hump of muscle between their shoulders and black bears do not. Grizzly bears use that extra muscle for digging and our family of grizzlies use theirs to get into mischief in their enclosure. Brown/grizzly bears are typically larger than black bears but there are always special circumstances for individuals who might be a little smaller or larger than average.

Asia

Asia and Ashley

Asia (pictured above) is our only Asiatic bear. They are also commonly known as moon bears or white-chested bears. Asia is a very special girl who loves her sweets and is quite sassy. Asiatic black bears have long black fur with a white crescent shaped patch on their chests. They also have a longer patch of fur around their necks, which makes Asia extra cute. Asiatic bears are found in deciduous tropical forests throughout Asia. Like the other bear species, Asiatic bears are also omnivorous. However, they are more carnivorous than the other species. The majority of their diet is made of meat and only a small portion of vegetable matter. Asia's favorite food is the avocado!

http://bearwithus.org/8-bears-of-the-world/

http://www.kidzone.ws/lw/bears/facts-asiaticbear.htm

More Than a Holiday!

This past week at the sanctuary there was much excitement over the upcoming Holiday. However, Halloween was not the only thing that was going to be celebrated. This Halloween included a birthday celebration for our youngest resident, baby Nahla. Many of Nahla’s human care takers and all the interns helped Nahla celebrate her very first birthday. Being her first, Nahla was showered with presents. She got multiple pumpkins, one with a special Happy Birthday message and another carved out and stuffed with meat for her to snack on, as well as a large ball to play with.

Nahla investigating her first ever pumpkin.

Nahla is one of our many resident Tigers here at IEAS. She arrived here a few months ago after being found roaming around the streets of Conroe, Texas. Animal Control picked her up and found her owner but discovered they did not have all the proper permits. Therefore, Nahla was confiscated and was soon after given to us.

Nahla is a wonderful addition to our family here at IEAS. While we would prefer she be free in the wild, we are happy that we can give her a nice loving home at the sanctuary. For more information on Nahla or any of our other residents please visit our website and her page www.bigcat.org/animal/nahla. Nahla, along with many of the residents, are available for adoption. To learn more about this process and other ways to help please do not hesitate to contact us at (940) 433-5091 or visit www.bigcat.org/adopt-an-animal.