Arriving at the brunch area

The bears do not come out on exhibit together and when we arrived Jouquin was lounging on his trampoline.

After an amazing brunch, which apparently no one took pictures of, the keeper called Jouquin to the night house and we were instructed on how to place educational food items throughout the exhibit for the bears. \240This process challenges the bears to hunt and keeps them mentally challenged.

Mica attempts not to fall while hiding the pine ones. \240 She was successful!

Tucker and Jeff hiding their enrichment foods.

The bears love to climb the trees to find food, so Steve hid a number of the pine ones in the trees.

Our group is very busy hiding the food items.

Several zookeepers provided instructions for hiding the enrichment foods and safety inside the exhibit.

Reiko looking for a place to hide her foods.

We all paid close attention to the keepers

A great group photo of Bane’s, Renshaw’s, Asp’s and of course Jed inside the enclosure. \240No bears present!

After we placed the food items,peanut butter on a pine cone is a favorite of Oja, she was released back into the exhibit. \240 It was interesting to watch her sniff out food and look at all the items we had hidden. \240 Most remarkable was how carefully she gently licked the peanut butter off of the pine cone. \240 No crunching or biting just gentle licking.

Sniffing out food

Would they really hide something in this hay?

How gently Oja licks the peanut butter off the pinecone, it took her \24010-15 minutes!

Fun fun fun, is something hidden up here?

Resting between all the food samples

After we watched the bears and enjoyed yet another Bloody Mary, we were all taken to the back area of the night house where the bears spend off exhibit time. \240Here the bears also work with the keepers learning needed skills so they can be properly cared for. \240The keeper uses target training and then rewards the bears when the appropriate behavior is exhibited. \240 The bears are always given the choice to,participate, there is no punishment only rewards! When the bear is done working with the keeper he/she simply leaves the fence. \240 I’m done for the day

The keeper has asked Joaquin to put his paws on the screen. \240 This allows the vet to look at his paws and make certain there are no cuts or other issues. \240The bears also will put their face by the fence so blood can be drawn.

The bears love this wooden tub

The nighthouse area also has a number of enrichment toys and a large tub that the bears like to relax in especially when filled with cool water on a hot day

The morning was perfect, it was a wonderful way to support our zoo, but especially a treasured day with great friends!

Oja also was kind enough to do a footprint for us!