Yesterday was the big day! I got up at 5am, arrived at Little Zoo at 7am, and we took the animals down to the Environmental Fair.

But first, an emergency!

Shortly after I arrived, Claire called us into the office, and her voice sounded worried. There was a lot of banging around going on inside a crate when we got in there. Claire carefully pulled the animal out. It was a baby deer! She was so little and sweet. Claire said she was afraid the deer might have just had a seizure, and with the way the little fawn wobbled and shook and was so unsteady on her feet, Mallory agreed. While the two of them assessed the littlest baby deer and tried to get her to eat, they asked if I could bottle feed the other baby deer. It was incredible. I've actually seen people bottle feed deer and other animals on t.v., and now here I was, getting to do it, too. Awesome! The deer was so cute; she liked pawing a lot while she drank.

Mallory called Anna, the owner of Paso's Zoo, to ask about the littlest deer (Anna owns Paso Zoo and Little Zoo, and was in town to help with the displays at this fair). Anna was already on her way to the fair. Anna stopped at Ralph's to buy some karo syrup, and Claire asked me if I'd mind picking it up. I didn't at all, so set out for the store, and on the way, Claire called me.

"This is going to sound so bizarre, but Anna was really worried about running late. She left the bag of karo syrup at a lamppost, in a bag." I busted up laughing. It sounded so underhanded... pick up the bag, at the first lamppost on the left. the cow flies low at midnight.

Anyway, I found the bag with no problem and brought it back. I set it on the counter and saw that the tiny deer was doing better. "Hi, baby!" I said to her, and squatted down. She ran over to me and started licking my fingers and sucking on them, hoping to find some milk. Then she head-butted my hand which completely startled me. I laughed, while Mallory said not to worry, that that was just a "baby thing." Then she listened to Anna's advice on the phone and said, "Perfect timing. Hey Meghan, hold out your hand." She poured karo syrup on my fingers and I let the deer lick it all off. Then Mallory asked if I minded staying with the baby while she took care of some other things. Mind? I think not!

(Incidentally, that is one reason why I love and adore Mallory and Claire - they always ask if I want to do things, if I'd mind doing that, could I please help them with this other thing. They never just treat me like, "You, volunteer girl - do this!" They also thank me frequently throughout the day for the tasks I do, and well, it's just cool. They're really awesome people, and I love working with them.)

So I just sat with the baby, letting her suck on all my fingers, checking for milk in every one. When none of my fingers provided milk, she tried my chin and my nose! She even head-butted my chin, but luckily, not too hard!

I pet her for a while and she got kind of sleepy, resting her head against her side (while still standing), and closing her eyes halfway. I loved petting her soft fur. She even let me put my head against hers at one point. She is a really sweet little thing. I wish I knew her story, but with all the things going on, I never really caught why we had her in the first place. Just that she came to us from Texas, along with the nilgai and other baby deer. I'm going to miss her if she goes to Paso Zoo!

It was funny at one point when Claire silently motioned at me to follow her. It was like we were on some secret mission. We walked outside and she just pointed and that's when I saw the nilgai. She is so pretty! She didn't even come over to see what we were up to, just relaxed on the ground. What a neat animal!

Anyway, I changed into my brand new work shirt they gave me while they loaded up the baby deer (so that we could feed her every four hours), then we headed out to the fair.

It was a crazy day! Luckily, Anna and Maddie had already set up two tents side by side as well as the animals. We arrived and jumped right in. Throughout the day, I handled Giant African Millipedes (for the first time ever!), the marmosets, the king snake, the African Pixie Frog, a chinchilla, the bearded dragon, Rufio the red-ruffed lemur, and a 3-banded armadillo.

The most commonly asked question of the day award goes to: "What is that?!"

The most repeated conversation of the day award goes to:

"What is that?"
"These are marmosets."
"Marm, oh, sets?"
"Yes."
"I thought they were monkeys!"
"They are monkeys. They're a type of monkey called marmosets, just like capuchins or squirrel monkeys are other types of monkeys."
"Marmosets?"
"Right."
"Okay. They're CUTE!"

It was a little disturbing the number of people I had to convince that the marmosets DO NOT make good pets (thank god for the many people who said, "Oh, of course not!" when I said they weren't good pets; unfortunately, there were just as many who didn't get it). Many people looked confused when I said they weren't good pets and asked, "Why?" Or, I could just tell what they were getting at, because they'd ask how long they live, and what do they eat, and are they friendly. When those questions are asked in quick succession like that, I KNOW what people are getting at. Those are the questions I asked pet store employees about all the little pets I wanted as a kid. I told people that they're illegal, they pee everywhere they go, they can become violent with no warning, they get into everything, they hate being touched, they make a really loud, high pitched whistling sound at any time of the day, whenever they feel like it, and that in the wild they live in troops of 100-200 marmosets. If none of those seemed to deter their reasoning that if it's cute and small, it MUST be a good pet, I went another route and said that the illegal pet trade is a horrible thing, because people will illegally bring in huge shipments of animals, many of which die or get seriously ill from abuse and neglect. That was the kicker that got one girl to finally say, "Oh," in a defeated tone. Thank god SOMETHING I said made her seem like she no longer wanted one. It was so crazy. I wanted the marmosets to hang out on me, but I didn't want people to think just because they're sitting nicely on top of me (and licking yogurt off my fingers) that they're nice pets. I totally understand how it's hard to believe they're terrible pets when seeing them behave like that. But it's also sad that people think living in a cage in their backyard would be just as good a life for them as living in the wild. It's not, people. It can never match up. They deserve to run around in the rainforests and live in huge colonies and be wild animals. By the way, the reason Little Zoo even has these guys? Illegal pets that were confiscated, because neighbors were complaining about the loud whistling. Busted.

Speaking of the loud whistling, I did not actually know they did that until yesterday morning. I was standing there with the monkeys on my head and I hear this loud whistle! I turn my head, looking around like, "What on earth is that sound??" And then people laughed, and said, "Wow, the monkeys made that sound!" I'm like, "They did?" and then Mallory jumped in to say, "Yes, that's one of the vocalizations they make in the wild." Learn something new everyday.

Early in the day, it was funny, because Claire was trying to keep the Pixie frog from hopping away (he's escaped before), while I juggled the armadillo that tried to run off the table, and the bearded dragon that tried to run off my shoulder! It was madness, I tell you! We did well, though, and eventually the frog and bearded dragon were switched out with some other animals.

There was also a really big alligator that Anna brought so that people could get thir pictures taken with him. That was pretty cool! I never got around to taking my picture with him, but I did get one of me and the boys:

We gave away stuffed animals, I saw an armadillo wrap into a ball several times (once on Claire's fingers! ouch!), I entertained adults and children alike with my crazy trivia and stories. I even took a picture with one visitor while I held the snake and she pet it!

I explained how chinchillas actually DO make good pets, and told them about their need for dust baths, and how cute it is to watch them spin in the chinchilla dust. Actually, come to think of it, that might make a fun exhibit!

I also got to see a slow loris up close and personal for the first time. He is awesome! He never likes to go anywhere without his blanket, so his name is Linus. So cute!

While on a break, I even got to sit and watch the band play. They were so funny, like a real rock band, except made up of nerds. The only song I heard them sing was, "Storm Drain."

You wash the car, and all the dirt and suds
go down the STORM DRAIN!

It was kind of funny. I moved, though, to someplace where I could sit and enjoy a more quiet break. Damn, those amplifiers were loud!

After many hours, we wrapped things up, packed it all away and headed back to Little Zoo, where we cleaned up a few enclosures. Mallory and I then went and visited with Simon, who was all amped up. He is excitable in the afternoons/evenings for some reason, and he really couldn't decide whether he loved me or hated me. He was truly confused about it. He wanted to lick my face and groom my hair (which he did), but he also wanted to seem tough in front of Mallory, and get her to gang up on me with him. She didn't, but he did, running at me to slap me in the face. He did it more than once, too! We ignored that behavior, and then ended on a good note, when he licked my face, then settled down into Mallory's lap for a couple minutes before we left. Crazy monkey.

I'm glad we had such a nice day. I drove home smelling like marmoset pee with animal poop on my pants, and honestly couldn't have been happier.

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Updates from last time: Phoebe went back home to Paso Robles, and is no longer at Little Zoo. I miss her!

Spring the wallaby had been feeling sick, and we were a bit worried, but now she's all better and back to normal. Woohoo!

I got to handle the harris hawk! Claire let me put her on the glove, and it was awesome carrying her. She is super cool, and incredibly beautiful. Yesterday, I got to feed her. I just tossed a dead rat at her and she caught it with her talons. It was pretty incredible to watch. I was glad I didn't mess it up, as I've been known to do in my day. Thank goodness for coordination!

Another new animal at Little Zoo yesterday was the bald eagle. I don't know if she's staying here or going to Paso Zoo, but wow! She's so cool! And a baby! She's full grown, but she doesn't have the white feathers on her head yet. Which means she's some age below 4 or 5, we don't know. She's got lots of brown feathers and looks a bit like a golden eagle. I've never seen a juvenile bald eagle before - so cool!

Also, remember how I said we had a reindeer visiting from Paso Zoo in December? Well, here's a picture of me with her (ignore the messy hair!). Yay, I love Temoc!

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Disclaimer: I am trained and authorized to handle wild animals. Most of the animals described in these posts are NOT PETS and are ILLEGAL to own as pets. All content reflects the opinions of the author and is not necessarily the opinion of Little Zoo or its affiliates.