We're open!

Considering we had 19 weeks to prepare and so many people to help why did opening day come round so quickly and surprise us all so much? I’m not sure either but that’s what happened. However, we opened on Good Friday without any major hitches or glitches and only a few wet patches of paint. Most of us were quietly confident that we hadn’t forgotten anything too important and we were right.

It was a pretty quiet day though; the rest of the week has been too, the weather hasn’t been great and it is very early in the year so things will pick up soon.

The Wallabies have surprised us over the last few days, at first there was one joey, then Denis saw two and then this morning Sonia and I saw three! All still in there mothers pouches but all looking healthy (their faces did anyway) and one of them has quite peculiar large blond eyebrows; very becoming.

The Fallow Deer have been testing our patience by creating holes in their fencing that you’d think they couldn’t get through but they do because they end up in the wrong enclosures and can be awkward to put back. After a short while and some minor repairs all the deer were back where they should be but I am anticipating further escapes; I’m not sure why though because the grass isn’t greener on the other side of the fence.

The otters are all doing fine. Hilda has moved back in with William and has him under her thumb again, a position which seems to suit him just fine. The little Asian Short Clawed female is getting on very well and comes out with the Family all the time now and demands to be fed just like everyone else, she is very cute.

The four cubs (Biggy, Smalley, Cinnamon and Leap (we decided that the name Spotty wasn’t very becoming)) are still at home at night but go to work every day and if it isn’t too wet or cold they go into their own pen for a few hours. They have two ponds and a stream to explore and seem to like it if it’s not too cold. We have been encouraging them to search for shrimps and daphnia which mainly entails the keepers getting wet and muddy and the otters looking on waiting for the goodies. However, as a reward for our efforts Biggy has decided that the fresh food is so nice it’s worth him making the effort to catch his own and he joined me in the stream this morning. He was very enthusiastic as he sploshed and splashed around my hands and feet and at last caught one of his own. He had a very satisfied expression on his face as he chewed it up but then thought his work was done and started whining because he was wet and the day was cold. Into my jacket he went and settled down in there very quickly, nice and warm see and he knew it. He was very unwilling to come out too.

Cinnamon is doing fine; although she does have the occasional try at biting a keeper she is settling down well and is showing us her nicer side at times. She has romps with Biggy and is a bit of a thug in a sisterly way. She has allowed me to touch her once or twice in play but I am very wary of her temper and her speed.

Leap is still giving us some concern as she is small and doesn’t always eat as much or as often as the rest of the gang. She is becoming very slightly bolder though and sometimes forgets herself and tries to play with a person instead of an otter. She has lost her instant temper and is enjoying life a little more I think. Her wounds are healed. I was looking at pictures of her with a friend of mine the other day and he pointed out that a number of her white patches appear to be in pairs, as though they were scars from bites in earlier attacks. Who or what might have inflicted this damage will never be known for certain but we speculated that a bigger sibling or even her mother may have been responsible. Or of course she might just be an unlucky little otter and have been attacked by some other predator.

Smalley is the cute one of the bunch. He is playful, cuddly and always pleasant and good tempered. His walking is much the same and that is worrying but he is such a bright little thing that I can’t help but be optimistic for him. He has been being picked on by the others but is now sticking up for himself a bit and I even heard him growl at Cinnamon for rolling him over the other day and she left him alone for a while after that. Good boy Smalley!