Unbeknownst to me, we have been living in the vicinity of an unbelievable place.
The Barry R. Kirshner Wildlife Foundation is an exotic animal sanctuary that rescues and rehabilitates injured or sick exotic animals that would otherwise be put down.
So, I made an appointment for a private tour and surprised Clint for his birthday. (However, he knew where we were going as soon as we turned off the main road- turns out he had installed the alarm in their offices and knew where it was. Bummer)
But never the less, we had the most amazing time. Our guide was a really nice guy with a ridiculously awesome British accent who took us around telling us all about each animal. It was practically magical.
Unfortunately all we had was cell phones so the pictures aren't of the best quality and it was hard to get a good picture through 2 chain link fences, but it is what it is.
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| A bengal tiger, I believe he was partially blind. But so sweet! |
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| Hard to see, but this is a lion laying out on his back. He was rolling around playing. |
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| Chuffy the white tiger |
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| A lioness |
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| Gabby the ocelot. She was sticking her paw out and whacking the guide in the shoulder to get his attention, lol. So cute! |
These bears were adorable! They were running around playing tag and jumping in and out of the water.
There were so many more animals, but we were to enamored with them and their story to take pictures.
When we finished the tour, out guide took us over to the house/office area where the owner lives and they keep more animals. We were in store for a special treat.
They let us hold a snake and some lizards. It was fun! But we were in store for something even more....
It was a slow day and their wasn't many people there. Since we were just 2 responsible adults-they let us in on something that very few people will ever get to experience.....
We held.a.baby.lion.cub.
Did you hear me?
We got to HOLD A BABY LION CUB!!
It was crazy awesome. The little chubster was heavy and kept rubbing on my neck wanting loves. It was so cute!!
So let's get back to seriousness now. That day was actually and entirely life-changing. All the people there are 100% volunteers and they do such good things. They operate completely on donations.
When we walked out of this place I honest to god had the thought of wanting to go rob a bank just to give them money.
As soon as we get out of debt I plan to send them money every month. Someday we want to sponsor an animal.
I guess this post got off track (it could be because I am watching HIMYM while writing....) but the point is the same.
Clint had a fun birthday.
We had a great experience. I can't wait to go back.
Wow, that seems really fun! You took great pictures - especially for them to have been on a cell phone!! And I most appreciate the pictures of the animals you did take, as I love love LOVE wild cats. I think I would really enjoy going to a place like this, and I'm sure my boyfriend would too.
ReplyDeleteAnd wow, you're some good ones for holding that baby lion, lol.. Not sure I could do that! But pretty cool that you guys did and were able to live to tell about it, hehe..
Also, the part about you trying to surprise your husband reminds me of a month or so ago when I tried to surprise my boyfriend by taking him to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra (which he'd commented once before that he really loves) after work. I had him close his eyes for most of the ride as I drove to the venue, located in the downtown part of the city we live in, but then had to have him open 'em once we were in the area to make sure I didn't drive too far past it and he could help me figure out the best place to park (I suck at driving downtown, which is one reason I often stay away!). I thought if he just knew the venue, he wouldn't necessarily know what would be going on there, but pretty much as soon as he found out where it was, he guessed it. I tried to say "maybe" but it was a done deal at that point. Come to find out, I totally hadn't considered the fact that he passes the venue's electronic billboard that advertises its upcoming shows every day during his bus ride to work :-/
I'd even made sure I never used his computer in looking into going to the show and getting the tickets, to ensure he'd have NO CLUE until when he stepped foot inside the place...so needless to say, I was quite annoyed!!
Well thanks for reading!
DeleteHey, if you ever find yourself in the boones of Northern California, let me know. I have an empty guest room and can take you to see all the big cats you can handle. Do you look at the Kirshner's website link? They have like 20 cats. It's awesome. When the weather clears up I'm gonna go back and take better pictures.
That sucks about the surprise but man I know what you mean! The Mr and I are notoriously bad at ruining each others surprises. He once bought me a gift at the same time as some random household things I asked him to get and when he got home he handed me the bag with the receipt in it, lol. I have also meant to text a friend about something I was getting him and accidentally sent it to him instead. There are many more like that....
But hey, he still had agood time, right? At least he didn't find out until you were just about there.