The
feeding of the lions was equally as impressive as the crowd followed the brave staffers from one containment area to the next as the beasts sensed that it was feeding time and began to train their attention on those brave ladies and their little red pick-up truck.
The food provided to them must have been very tasty judging from the sounds they were making while dining; I equate them to us humans saying
ummmmmmm,
yummy.
Smile! This area also came equipped with a circular graveled section with lawn chairs around the perimeter and circular brick containment in the center that could be used for performances or something else. In addition, no park would be complete without one of those stand up posters that you stick your head through for picture taking. The
Bobcats (not the ones that played in the NBA) were a no show like the primates who like to sleep in late.
I mentioned the very cute
baby lion cubs in
part I of this piece and they were still doing their thing wrestling each other and wondering who I was and what I was doing. Well, in addition to taking a break, I was reviewing my picture and video footage to ensure that I had captured enough for an intriguing and complete article. I also use this time to check my camera battery. I came more prepared this time as I learned while visiting
Disney World,
Epcot,
Hollywood Studios, and
Animal Kingdom; you cannot rely on these parks to have outlets or charging stations. So, I brought my own portable unit this time. I also use my break to plot my next moves using their site map which I will get to shortly.
Next up I got a chance to wish
Xavier -- a spotted
Leopard -- a
Happy 3rd Birthday, as the sign on his cage read. Another sign lets you know that he was adopted by
John and Mary B. I will tell you what that means in
part III of this piece. There appeared to be party favorites spread out all over his cage. Next to
Xavier was my favorite big cat again; his/her name is
Mystique, a
Black leopard (Panther) that was as majestic as beautiful while posing for my camera. This cat was adopted by
John and Susan S. Next up was a
Bat House but I could not quite figure out how to get into to it as I followed the signage. Maybe that was for the better as I am not that crazy about bats except when visiting
Bat Cave on our
QCT Fall Leaf Change Trip to the
Blue Ridge Mountains coming up in
October.
Now, it's back to their site map that I mentioned earlier in this piece while taking my mid-park break. I can tell when a park has their stuff together when they provide me with a colorful map that is easy to read and includes graphical pics that show me just where sites of interest are located. After all, I am retired from the military and deserve to take a permanent break from those very complicated maps that require an entire
8-hour block of instruction to understand. Help me out veterans! The next area was a bit of a break from their large ferocious cats and I could not help but think about that poor little terrified kid that I mentioned in
Part I. Here you can check out the
Red Kangaroo (Macropus rufus; minus
Chaka Khan,
Smile!) which is the largest species of marsupial (pouched animal).
This next area uncovered one of the mysteries that I mentioned at the beginning of this piece (
Part I) when I heard a dog barking as I pulled up and parked; that led me to believe that this attraction was actually in someone's backyard. Well, I heard that sound again and had to do a double take before realizing that it came from the cage of two white
Artic Wolves (canus lupus arctos). Did they swallow a dog whole? No, I will get more into this phenomenon in
Part III during my chat with caretaker
Bill. These puppies (no pun intended) weigh between
75 to 110 pounds, reach
3 to 5 feet in length (tail included), and can be found in
Alaska and
Canada. Ironically, I just watched a movie early this morning (Labor Day) that featured one getting caught in a much displaced trap but then was freed by the character played by
Tommie Lee Jones (
The Hunted; 2003).
I was so impressed at this point of my outing that I decided to hit (place money in) one of the many donation receptacles strategically placed throughout the park. After all, this non-profit attraction will not survive on goodwill alone. I am not a rich or wealthy person but that does not stop me from doing whatever I can, whenever I can, and however I can. So many times we here about SCAMS associated with non-profits/charities that it makes us a bit leery about doling out our hard-earned money so that some selfish, heartless, person(s) can live the life of luxury at our expense. This is not the case here as you can see, first-hand, where and how your monies are being spent. After all, God put man (men and women) in charge of all beasts and fouls.
The next sign did not click with me until my conversation with caretaker
Bill (Part III). It read
"Lil Wayne" the
Liger, adopted by
Wendy,
Brian, and
Shaw M. He said
"this cat was born while a song by the well-known rap artist was playing, weighs 900 pounds and because of his enormous size spends most of his time chilling and relaxing to keep his heart from over working." If you are not aware, theses beasts are man (person)-made after mating a lion with a tiger making them the largest of all large cats. Part of their story is very sad and I will tell you more about these big cats in
Part III (final) of my outing.
Well folks, that does it for part two of my three part
review of
Tiger World in
Rockwell,
NC. Check back next
month for part three with more exciting adventures, pics, and vids. I suggest
"liking" our
Facebook page to be notified when my
article is published.
<<<Back To Part I
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