Random Acts of Kindness
My Uncle Rick who lives in Arizona, is always sending me good stuff that he thinks I will find of interest, so I suppose he qualifies for the position of First Reporter. Uncle Rick and Aunt Janet used to live here in Leesburg, Virginia, and Uncle Rick worked for us at Everything & The Dog, and we still miss them a lot. But since Uncle is so good with the reporting stuff, I guess we forgive him for moving so far away from us.
So, this is a wonderful story that he sent to me last week and I wanted to share with everyone.
Keepers at Pocatello Zoo, Idaho, were worried when they noticed Shooter, a four-year-old elk, acting strangely at his water trough. Baffled, they watched as the animal - who is so massive some keepers are afraid to even enter his enclosure - tried to dip his hooves into his drinking trough, before attempting to dunk his whole head in the water.
But they were amazed as 10ft tall Shooter lifted his head from the trough clutching a tiny marmot - a kind of large squirrel - between his jaws.
To the rescue! Shooter pulls the hapless marmot from his water trough. The gentle giant placed the hapless rodent down and nudged it with his hoof, as if checking it for signs of life, before calmly watching it scamper off into the bushes.
Zoo staff caught the entire rescue on camera. "It really was amazing," said Kate O'Conner, Pocatello's education co-coordinator. "Shooter is such a huge animal - he stands at six feet tall without his antlers - which are another four feet, and he's pretty scary." 'Some of the staff don't like going in his enclosure with him - he's punctured car tires with his antlers before, so to see him being so gentle with a little animal was heart-warming."
'We all know he's a real character, but I think he must have a soft side we didn't know about." He was trying to dunk his head in the water, but his antlers kept
getting in the way." 'Nobody could figure out why he was trying to get his head in, and then he started dipping his feet in." 'We were all completely confused, until we saw the marmot in his mouth."
"I think he had nudged the animal away from the edge of the bucket with his
antlers and hooves so he could reach it with his mouth without his antlers getting in the way."
"It was very sweet."
Safe, but soaked: Somewhat shell shocked, the lucky marmot seems happy to be back on dry land.
Zoo keeper Dr Joy Fox added: 'We think Shooter sensed that the animal was in
distress and decided to help. "However, he could have just decided he didn't like having something in his way." "He spent quite a bit of time planning how to grab it."
The zoo plans to auction off Shooter's incredible antlers when they are shed later in the year.
I am so thankful that we do not have any Elks in our town. It is bad enough that I have to watch out for Bears before I can take a potty break...... can you just imagine coming outside at 6am and walking into Shooter? Oh My.
But Shooter has obviously done the right thing and you can never tell..... Maybe all the little marmots will come back and string Christmas lights on his antlers. HA. If the Marmots need some help finding supplies, they could always fly over to Holiday Designs and pick up anything they might need.
.
On the other hand, Mom says that if it makes me feel better she will be happy to order me a set of Antlers of my own and I can start wearing them on December 1. That way if I run into the bear, I will be able to scare him away forever.
I think this sounds like an excellent idea......... and I bet they would make me look quite a bit taller, too.
Love and Licks,
Bob
------ Random Acts of Kindness
----------- always a good thing
So, this is a wonderful story that he sent to me last week and I wanted to share with everyone.
Keepers at Pocatello Zoo, Idaho, were worried when they noticed Shooter, a four-year-old elk, acting strangely at his water trough. Baffled, they watched as the animal - who is so massive some keepers are afraid to even enter his enclosure - tried to dip his hooves into his drinking trough, before attempting to dunk his whole head in the water.
But they were amazed as 10ft tall Shooter lifted his head from the trough clutching a tiny marmot - a kind of large squirrel - between his jaws.
To the rescue! Shooter pulls the hapless marmot from his water trough. The gentle giant placed the hapless rodent down and nudged it with his hoof, as if checking it for signs of life, before calmly watching it scamper off into the bushes.
Zoo staff caught the entire rescue on camera. "It really was amazing," said Kate O'Conner, Pocatello's education co-coordinator. "Shooter is such a huge animal - he stands at six feet tall without his antlers - which are another four feet, and he's pretty scary." 'Some of the staff don't like going in his enclosure with him - he's punctured car tires with his antlers before, so to see him being so gentle with a little animal was heart-warming."
'We all know he's a real character, but I think he must have a soft side we didn't know about." He was trying to dunk his head in the water, but his antlers kept
getting in the way." 'Nobody could figure out why he was trying to get his head in, and then he started dipping his feet in." 'We were all completely confused, until we saw the marmot in his mouth."
"I think he had nudged the animal away from the edge of the bucket with his
antlers and hooves so he could reach it with his mouth without his antlers getting in the way."
"It was very sweet."
Safe, but soaked: Somewhat shell shocked, the lucky marmot seems happy to be back on dry land.
Zoo keeper Dr Joy Fox added: 'We think Shooter sensed that the animal was in
distress and decided to help. "However, he could have just decided he didn't like having something in his way." "He spent quite a bit of time planning how to grab it."
The zoo plans to auction off Shooter's incredible antlers when they are shed later in the year.
I am so thankful that we do not have any Elks in our town. It is bad enough that I have to watch out for Bears before I can take a potty break...... can you just imagine coming outside at 6am and walking into Shooter? Oh My.
But Shooter has obviously done the right thing and you can never tell..... Maybe all the little marmots will come back and string Christmas lights on his antlers. HA. If the Marmots need some help finding supplies, they could always fly over to Holiday Designs and pick up anything they might need.
.
On the other hand, Mom says that if it makes me feel better she will be happy to order me a set of Antlers of my own and I can start wearing them on December 1. That way if I run into the bear, I will be able to scare him away forever.
I think this sounds like an excellent idea......... and I bet they would make me look quite a bit taller, too.Love and Licks,
Bob
------ Random Acts of Kindness
----------- always a good thing
Posted by Daisy and Bob's Blog at 11/16/2011 8:00 AM 
Categories: Cool Stuff, All the News All the Time
Tags: Pocatello Zoo blogging pitbull American Pit Bull Terrier Everything and The Dog
Categories: Cool Stuff, All the News All the Time
Tags: Pocatello Zoo blogging pitbull American Pit Bull Terrier Everything and The Dog
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