Coast2Clouds

Well… it’s been a week since my last post, and things just continually get better. I’m posting a bit less because my trip no longer has a ‘vacation feeling’ to it… but more of an ‘I’m living out my dream everyday’ and I can’t post about everything 😉

This past week I’ve been in both the veterinary office and helping out the zookeepers. It’s really nice because the veterinary office is just below the staff room.. so I can hear when everyone goes on their breakfast break. It’s quite convenient because that’s when the coffee is made.. and that’s my cue to go upstairs 😉

Everyone here is so nice and inclusive. They all have very grounded, down-to-earth personalities, and are all very educated on the environment and animals (of course) and they all have such a passion for what they do. They also have a really good sense of humor… so there’s always a lot of laughter and smiling during work hours.

To name a few highlights from my week: I saw the wolves (finally)!  I helped clean up and check out enclosures with the zookeepers- and was up close with a Scottish wildcat.  I participated in a Pallas cat surgery.  I helped hold an old species of bunny for blood work.  I was able to learn about storks and birds in general and I did a necropsy on a baby stork.   I was able to watch how they train the leopards and tigers for poke sensations (ie. needles), and, among many other things, I was also able to see newborn urial!

And.. just so it doesn’t seem like I’m only doing amazing totally fun things, I also sorted out all of the veterinarian’s frozen tissue samples and bodies.  I organized their data onto a spreadsheet and then moved them into a new freezer. I also sorted through a lot of duck mouth photos and organized them according to the duck the photo was from, as well as created a progress report on the ducks’ mouths. But not going to lie… I also kinda enjoyed doing these things because I knew it was helpful and it was kinda therapeutic!

On top of all these things, I also had the opportunity to go explore the area!

I went to Smögen, Lysekil, Vamsriklandet, and Torp. Smögen and Lysekil are 2 tiny little harbour towns full of beautiful white or coloured houses. They were so fun to explore! And Vamsriklandet is an ecological reserve (and an island) that I hiked around. It was super neat because the terrain consisted of either flat rocks or meadows with cows. Some regions were covered in either yellow, white or pink wildflowers as well and it was beautiful!

I also went to an industrial town called Torp. This area had an IKEA.. and of course, I had to go into it. It was everything I dreamed of and more! They had vegan Swedish meatballs (better than the Canadian ones) and all their design rooms were full of plants and stunning wallpaper. The design rooms definitely had a ‘Swedish feeling’ about them.. and they were very different than the Canadian ones!

And last but not least, I walked around Nordens Ark’s eco-park. I saved this one for last because I think it deserves an honourable mention. The trail they created was so diverse and took you around some amazing places in the park. It took you to the fjord, on top of a mountain, to an old old graveyard, through fields, around sheep fields (with lambs!), and more! It kinda felt like the pirates of the Caribbean jungle cruise at times too with some of the forest terrain. It was also a very knowledgeable trail as Nordens Ark put a lot of effort into putting signs up with information about certain things along the trail, like trees, fields, history, etc. It was a great end-of-the-day hike!

That’s all for now!

These past 2 days were very cool:)

Yesterday I was given the day off to relax. I went to the zoo and explored around as a tourist! I wanted to see the Amur tiger and leopard, and, well.. all the cats for that matter.. so that’s where I went first. All the cats were sunbathing and.. being cats! Some were upside down soaking up the sun, some perched on the oddest ledges, and some roaming around. The Amur tiger, previously called the Siberian Tiger, was lying on its back next to its cub. They kept twitching as they dreamt and doing the odd stretch to reposition themselves better in the sun rays. They were too cute! The Scottish wildcat was the only cat that was active when I visited. It was roaming around its habitat and nudging all the branches. It reminded me of my cats back home. Then finally after about 10 minutes of bopping sticks with its nose and cleaning itself, it climbed up to a perch and slept.

Besides being so excited to see ALL the cats at Nordens Ark, like the snow leopard and the Persian leopard, I also loved to see the reindeer, the Przewalski’s wild horses, all the birds, and the red panda! There were many other amazing animals but these ones stood out to me the most:)

I wasn’t able to catch a glimpse of the Pallas cat or the wolves, however, but I hope soon I will be able to see them up close!

They also had a spring fair happening at the zoo and a large trail runs throughout the park. The vendors were all selling beautiful handmaid linens, jams, honey, cheese, or bread. It was a very European market:)

Skip ahead to today…

Today has been… well I can’t come up with a great enough descriptive word.. but let’s just say one of the best days of my life.

I have been shadowing the zookeepers today. It started off at 7 am.. all the zookeepers and I drank our coffee altogether, then Helena, one of the amazing zookeepers, and myself went to go prepare food. We prepared food for the urials, the Tadjik Markhor’s, and the tigers. We first went to the tigers and fed them. They are so much larger up close and so beautiful. Their eyes are what caught my attention the most. They were so large and bright. Afterward, we went to feed the hooved animals. We cleaned their enclosures and fed them grain. They had such personalities and were fun to be around.

Later, after breakfast break (because they have that here), we went out and fed the red pandas! I was given the opportunity to hand feed one of them some pear! They were so fluffy and so darn cute. It felt unreal to be so close without a barrier in between.

I switched zookeeper’s cars- from Helena to Kenneth-after cleaning out the red panda enclosure. We went to the Amur leopard enclosure and Kenneth, the zookeeper, fed them. I was given the opportunity to help with training- I poked the leopard behind with my finger and after it followed the command it got a piece of meat. This process is to help the leopard feel calm and get acquainted with getting a Needle in case it needs sedation or medicine. Kenneth was amazing at this and taught me a lot about how they train these wild animals.

Afterward, we visited the mountain reindeer. I didn’t realize how HEAVY the male antlers were! They can be up to 7kg! They are the only deer where both male and female grow antlers, however, the female antlers are much smaller and more “stick”-like.

Then we fed the snow leopard- it was a huge shock to me that they were SO FLUFFY and their tails were SO LONG! Their tail is almost longer than their body and is used for balance when they jump long distances.

We also fed and cleaned the Przewalski horses- which are the last wild horses around. They were very curious. Through all this, I was also learning about life as a zookeeper, their education, and what life is like in Norway, Denmark, and Sweden!

After lunch, Helena and I went around and checked each enclosure again, and also gave some enrichment to some animals- like the Wolverine- we gave him horse poop to roll around in, as well as a blood ice cube to gnaw on. We also gave blood ice cubes to the tigers. We fed the Mane wolves as well:)

All in all, it was a fantastic day! It was great to help out and learn about these animals from a new perspective, as well as learn about how they are taken care of by the amazing (and very hardworking) zookeepers.

So far my trip has been amazing! Getting to my final destination was a long one.. but thankfully the jet lag didn’t hit me hard.

The first day I got here I was able to help out with a goose X-Ray. I then went shopping and explored a real Swedish supermarket. It was very exciting to see all the new products and things I’d never heard of (like meat paste!).

The next day I was able to help out with a stork surgery. I was able to monitor a white stork as a foreign body was removed from its coelomic cavity. I also was able to watch a horse euthanasia.. which was not what I was expecting it would be like. And to finish the eventful day at the zoo up I had the chance to watch a baby stork get some medicine and fish.

Later in the day, I went for a 2-hour adventure out in the forest around my cabin (called the Hutlet). All the wildflowers are in bloom right now and so my walk was so beautiful!

The following day I was able to witness the zoo staff feed the baby storks. It’s neat because the fathers are the babysitters and help out lots in the stoles first few months! I was able to compare the eye of the baby stork from the previous day with a healthy baby’s eyes. Unfortunately, the baby stork from the day before was not healthy after all and had to be euthanized later in the day.

After the stole euthanasia, I was given the opportunity to explore the baby chick post Mortem and learn about its anatomy. It was very exciting to learn more about the anatomy of birds through this experience!

Who knows what will happen next, but I will keep you all updated:)

Hi there! I’m back!

Today I embarked on a journey to Sweden. An 8.5-hour journey to Amsterdam, and a small plane to Gothenburg, as well as a series of buses… I am finally here. Tomorrow I start an externship at one of Sweden’s zoos and I will be working alongside veterinarians and zookeepers to learn about endangered wild animals, their conservation, and the care they require.

I am super excited and very grateful to be on this new adventure. I can’t wait to share all of my stories with you.