Just a few pics :]

[balaa]

Won't bore ya guys with a wall of text so will just say some local friends and I (Matt, Jennifer, Scotty and myself) drove to Bandon, Oregon to see the animal Safari there. All I will say it was totally worth driving through the night to get to! Baby leopard and lion petting was the best part of all. Ive never seen baby cubs this close up and I realllly did not want to leave! They also had Binturongs(will post pics later)! I'd never seen one before that!

These pictures are all taken by nimirpard, just so I am not unjustly taking credit for such lovely shots. I post processed them and now I'd like to share them all with you. The leopard's name was Bentley and he was just the biggest ball of energy and LOVED children (or rather tackling them and clinging to their faces ;D..but all very gently and without ever retracting his claws).

More pictures from the trip may follow, for now have a biased entry featuring primarily Bentley.





Thas my hand on the left x).



Oh look some capybara too.

and back to cats, but o'course! I can't remember her name but she was a darling and at only 2 weeks older than Bentley, already a fair bit bigger than him!

Thats all for now, back to catching up on stuff. To those waiting on e-mails, I apologize for the delay x__x.

Comments

[anodyne-geno.livejournal.com]

These pictures are absolutely precious! Thank you for sharing!

[lazalanti.livejournal.com]

Bentley is love. XD
I'm glad we all could go to Bandon. It's a place of good memories for me.

[puzzelo.livejournal.com]

^.^ I'm in oregon, up in Corvallis. I've never heard of this place, but now that I know it's sort of nearby, I'm demanding my b/f that he take me here so I can see the kitties!
...It's only fair me being a zoo major and all.

Thanks for sharing=D

[justblieve.livejournal.com]

http://xxbalaaxx.livejournal.com/85713.html?thread=2133201#t2133201

[redra.livejournal.com]

Aww, the cubs have a floppy quality to them, how precious.

Good to hear an update from you.

[uniformgrey.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for posting these beautiful shots!

[wolftale.livejournal.com]

aww, I love those pictures :D

[dolphiana.livejournal.com]

OMG, how adorable! *steals the kitties* >XD

[moonykins.livejournal.com]

D'awr, lookit them noses and big floppy paws! ♥

I wish I could go there, too!

[felix-carni.livejournal.com]

Aww.. Too cute!! *short circuits*

[justblieve.livejournal.com]

I hate that place. I loved it when I was younger and got to play and pet baby bears, lions, tigers, cougars, caracals and many other animals there.. but then I started working at a zoo and learned what a bad place it is.

They're pretty much a baby factory. They breed so they can draw in people. They keep their animals in bad conditions and a lot of their cubs die. Exposing baby animals (we've held 7-8 week old bear cubs there before, as an example of how young they start doing this) to so many people is really harmful as they can pick up things. Plus, within the zoo community, that's kind of looked down upon. You don't want animals that are going to be coming up to people all the time and stuff. Those are the animals that end up killing their keepers/trainers. They're not accredited by any zoo society (like AZA) or the like either because they won't adhere to standards and I know that the USDA has gotten after them a few times.

Sorry to rant, I'm sure you had a good time. I just hate to see people go "it's such a great place!" when it's not really :/