Happy Groundhog Day!

We were back at BEAR HOLLOW this morning to see our local weather-predicting groundhog, GUS THE GROUNDHOG, tell us whether or not we would have an early spring. People gathered around Gus's cage, hoping to catch a glimpse of the groundhog, but alas, he was a bit too shy. Reaching into his little wooden house, the park ranger pulled out a little scroll that Gus wrote his prediction on and one lucky family was chosen to read his prognostication...

















Afterwards, we met this little friendly DUCK who was walking around Bear Hollow greeting everyone. According to the zoo volunteers, they found the duck in the park pond being picked on by the other ducks. They soon discovered that the duck's wings weren't fully developed. They theorized that the duck was probably a house pet that was released into the park when the owners no longer wanted to care for it. It never grew proper wings probably because it was raised on nothing but "human food" (bread, bread crumbs, etc.) and didn't get the proper nutrients it would have in the wild. Another reason they thought the duck was domesticated was because of it's friendly disposition and comfort around people. He didn't mind being carried or petted and he seemed to love the attention. When he met Missy he pecked at her hand and kept sticking his head up her sleeve! The volunteers explained that he was trying to GROOM her...

















Afterwards, we ducked into the REPTILE HALL. Missy got to pet a RAT as soon as we came in. I wondered if the rat was actually a resident of the zoo or if it was FOOD for one of the few snakes they had in captivity...





































Back outside, we saw this women with a BARN OWL. He had a very interesting face...







Surprisingly, the BEARS were out and about on this brisk morning...







While we were at the zoo, we ended up "ADOPTING" one of the BEAVERS, donating money towards their care and a new habitat that will be built for them. In lieu of a real beaver to take home, they gave us a surrogate PLUSH BEAVER as a thank you. We figured that it was the least we could do...the Bear Hollow Zoo at Memorial Park is FREE to the public, which is amazingly lucky for us here in Athens. Also, the zoo only houses animals that have been injured or abandoned, so they are doing good work...