Yes, that is a kangaroo...
Friday, September 9, 2005
cortneyandjon in fairs

Cortney got a phone call this morning (thank you Annemarie!) telling us that we had to go over to the Saline Community Fair in order to see this one-in-a-million petting zoo on its last night there.  We were told that we would get to see a tiger and pet a baby zebra, that the fair was open until 11pm and that kangaroo.jpgzoo alone was worth the ten dollar admission price (we figured it had better be since we weren’t paying ten dollars to see the tractor pull).  In any case, we weren’t sure we would be able to make it.  We both ended up staying late at work, and then we had dinner with Cortney’s parents because her uncle is in town for the game tomorrow (go blue!).  In fact, as the evening got later and we were just clearing the table at 9pm, we decided that we were feeling a little apathetic and decided not to go.  It’s hard to say what made us make that drive over to the fairgrounds at 9:30.  zebra.jpgWe weren’t even sure the zoo animals would still be there that late, but the guy at the gate said they were, and offered to let us in for free because we were so excited about it (ha, all the tractor pull kids had to pay).
Let us just say that deciding to go was a fantastic decision.  We don’t usually go in for the small roadside caged animal kind of thing, but these animals were from a nearby sanctuary and travel for education purposes.  The man who owns the sanctuary was there, was very interesting to talk to,  and the animals love him nearly as much as he loves them.  In cages they had a beautiful white Bengal tiger, a North American Cougar, a Two Toed Sloth, Lemurs, and Baboons.  They all seemed relaxed and all were playing with toys (yeah enrichment).  Nilgai.jpgThe sanctuary owner got in and wrestled/cuddled/scratched with the cougar for a while.  But the real draw for us was the petting part.  This was no ordinary petting farm.  There was a very large enclosure housing llamas, sheep, pigs and goats, as one would expect, but also included was a giant turtle, baby cows and a baby buffalo.  In the pen next door was the baby Zebra (second picture), also housed with a baby Nilgai (from India; in the third picture) and a baby Oryx (from Africa).  Then, one final pen over, were two baby kangaroos (first picture), a couple of ducks, and a pair of small turtles.  Everyone was friendly, and everyone was soft!  We bought “feed cones” (those being your run-of-the-mill ice cream cones filled with seeds) and quickly became well-loved by all.  It was sheer joy all around.

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Article originally appeared on Cortney and Jon Ophoff's Family Site (http://www.theophoffs.com/).
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