Friday, May 05, 2006

Blogging for Radical Fun Day

Brownfemipower created Blogging for Radical Fun Day! It's a great idea: instead of blogging about all the suffering and injustice in the world, take a break and blog about something you love or love to do. Surf on over to her site to see the bloggers participating today.



On Tuesday, we went to Northwest Trek, a wildlife park that has the distinction of having free-roaming herbivores. Very few things make me happier than nonhuman animals, and thinking about them is my idea of a very fun time. I won't talk about how the kids at the park responded to the animals, and I won't talk about the conservation work the park does, because wildlife conservation is a depressing subject. Instead, I'm just going to be grateful these animals exist.

I'm a sucker for for these animals, so I couldn't bear (hee hee) to shrink these photos down. Click on the thumbnails for a larger image.











Only one week old!










16 comments:

Me said...

Absolutely stunning! I am a huge fan of the Grizzly bear and that guy is just beautiful!

Thank you for the wonderful pictures

Anonymous said...

Northwest Trek! You are in my neck of the woods, Spotted Elephant. :)

I love Northwest Trek, too; thanks for the beautiful photos.

Heart

noncommon said...

i love it! we're animal crazy at this house. and a couple of weeks ago, i looked outside in time to see a fox run across my front yard. thanks for the fabulous pictures!

brownfemipower said...

oh my gosh, that bears tugging at my heart strings!!!!!!! what a beautiful old guy!!!! (although he needs a good tooth scrubbing :> and i'm just postive that he'd love for me to do it!!! :>)

Sage said...

Great pics. (But the bear kinda scares me.)

Blue House Studio World HQ said...

You need to be out in my neck of the woods (pun intended). I have deer in my yard regularly and leave most flowering weeds and other stuff that people usually cut down for them to eat. I have seen a brown bear once while hiking (30 minutes away) and we have a small herd of bison in the valley about 10 minutes away. In that same area there is a preserve on a local farm for a large flock of trumpeter swans (they're huge!)that winters here. Plus a gazillion blue herons and lots of eagles.

Not bragging, just think you might like it.

The pics are wonderful, though, especially the bear. How do you feel about moles? I have lots of those, too.

spotted elephant said...

BFP-Definitely needs a tooth scrubbing. Probably some flossing too!

Sage-I agree, but it turns out he was begging, not being ferocious. Right after making those faces, keepers arrived with food and he went running over. OTOH, he may have thought I'd do for a snack. ;)

Julie-I like moles. And just so you know, I'm packing our bags and we will be there soon.

People who live in rural areas find my fascination with deer strange. But seeing a bear, and bison! OK, back to packing.

Anonymous said...

Wow, amazing photos Spotted E! That's incredible!

Bamboo Lemur Boys Are Mean To Their Girls said...

I'm impatiently waiting for Bumble Monday to arrive....
What is he doing right this moment?

spotted elephant said...

He just ate his morning treat (Critter Carrot) and is now eating hay. :)

Anonymous said...

WOW!!! For some reason I am very very afraid of grizzly bears. What beautiful pictures. You are really brave! And, how nice to have a break from serious posting to just read some lovely, fun things. I am sorry I missed it. But then again, all of my skydiving posts have been a break from the more serious worries that we all usually tackle.

Thanks for sharing!! And for making me reconsider the whole NYC thing...you aren't the first person who has told me how great Seattle is. I was in Portland 2 years ago for a month and HATED it, but I never made it up to Seattle because of bad driving conditions. Perhaps I should take a little vacation and do one of those Northwest Trek things! :)

spotted elephant said...

Yes, come to Seattle! :)

The bear was safely behind a barrier, but when he first looked at me, I immediately wondered how strong the barrier was.

Kim said...

I love the 3rd to last bear picture--he looks kinda like a big sleepy BABY here. And of course, I love the deer! :)

Kim said...

I just went back and clicked on the sleepy baby bear pic--holy crap!
His claws!

spotted elephant said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
spotted elephant said...

Kaka-That sleepy baby was playing in the water pretty hard before I got that shot. And yeee-those claws are just terrifying-especially when shiny from the water.

The other bear-the one out of the water-was doing things-messing with plants, walking around, but when I took too many photos of the bear in the water, the dry bear planted himself between me and the bear in the water. If I moved far to the side (trying to shoot around him), he moved with me. So I got *plenty* of shots of Mr. Jealous.