Saintless

My company chose Hogle Zoo for our Annual Family Breakfast this year. We enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the American Express Event Pavillion with coworkers before heading out into the zoo. Our friends met us there, so we had quite the group – 9 of us in all!

I’d like to shout out to @Hogle_Zoo for some tips on things to do at the zoo, including the Meet The Keepers events.

The one thing I really, really hoped for at the zoo was to pet a snake. I didn’t think that was going to happen, but we got lucky! After we left the Madagascar exhibit, there were two guys with a boa constrictor talking about it, and they let us touch it’s back. I adore snakes, and will probably add one to my own zoo eventually.

The other thrill for me was the Elephant Encounter. I knew that Christie was pregnant, and due soon, so when they brought her out I was pretty happy. I get my love of elephants from my grandmother, who also loves them. And I have fond memories of being scared to death as I rode the elephant at Dickerson Park Zoo in Missouri as a child.

Speaking of elephants, a while back I discovered a site selling paintings by elephants. You read that right – paintings by elephants (not just of them)! There is even video explaining how they do it, and why. The whole thing was very fascinating!

So, while we were at the Elephant Encounter, I discovered that Christie the elephant also paints, and they had pieces of her paintings for sale in the gift shop. Preston, my 9 year old son, really wanted one. We didn’t get one while we were there this time, but I’m hoping to go back soon and purchase one. I wish that Hogle Zoo would put out a video of the elephants painting! I bet that would greatly increase the demand for a “Christie Original” painting!

I asked my sons to write about the visit to the zoo, so I could post it here. First up is Preston’s:

What I like about the zoo are the two babies, the Madagascar exhibit, the conservation carousel, the train ride, the beastro, wild zootique, the big marble, flavor burst cone, Christie, the animals, and the elephant’s paintings. Because of the two babies were so cute. The big marble wouldn’t stop. The flavor burst cone has lots of flavor in it and tastes good. And the elephant’s paintings are cool.

For the uninitiated, the big marble is a giant round marble floating on water, and the kids get to go spin it and get very wet!

And here’s what Drake, my 11 year old, had to say:

When we went to the zoo we got some T-shirts from my mom’s work and tickets for the zoo. We ate breakfast at the zoo because my mom’s work gave breakfast too. After we ate breakfast we waited for my mom’s friends. We went to the new Madagascar and saw cool turtles and when we went out to go to the primate forest we saw two people holding a snake not venomous thank the lord we got to touch it and it was slimy and scaly. We went to the primate forest and got to see the same species as Dexter from the Night at the Museum and we saw a new born monkey that was born May 1st 2009. then we saw kangaroos jumping on each other it was funny. Then we went to the small animal room and it had reptiles in there to. Then we went to the primate building and then we ate lunch at the Bear Grotto. The great apes building then we went to the conservation carousel. Then we saw Giraffes. Then the last thing the zoofari express. It was fun till we had to leave.

I should also mention that right next to the kangaroos jumping on each other were two turtles, mating rather loudly:

Here’s Preston petting the snake:

Oh, and this little guy, which I think was the Brown Tufted Capuchin Monkey, was pretty fun! He crawled down and made some pretty creepy faces at us!

Tags: Hogle Zoo

Corbin is a beautiful male Rhodesian Ridgeback, whose owner, Jesse, is a soldier who has served twice in Iraq.

Last October, Corbin ran scared from a friend’s house in Tuscon, AZ. Phone calls to shelters and other routes came back empty. Corbin was chipped, but that wasn’t of help, either. Jesse, who lives in Phoenix, spends every weekend checking shelters and following up leads.

Local Utahns have been involved with the search for Corbin, including his breeder, Erin Coogan, and Beth Lockhart, who has made 2 trips to Tuscon to help find Corbin.

On January 6, Beth hit the shelters again, and was told there hadn’t been any Ridgebacks in. When she pushed them, she was told about a Rhodesian Ridgeback found in the area (Irvington and Pantano) on November 25.

The Humane Society won’t give her the information for the person who had called in the sighting, but they did try to call the person, and got no answer.

So, Beth headed over to the Pima Animal Care and Control to see if they had the same report about the Ridgeback. After some begging and pleading, they confirmed the same report on the same day.

So, Jesse called the Humane Society to beg for the caller’s information. He was told that they had no such report of a Ridgeback. Apparently, that didn’t make Jesse too happy, and he pushed. So, they found the information and wound up giving him a phone number.

They used reverse lookup to find the address, and Beth headed over to check it out.

They were able to confirm through pictures that it was Corbin, who had lived with the family for almost 3 weeks before goign missing again in the middle of December. Apparently, the family never took him in to check for a microchip, because they figured if the owner was looking, animal control would call.

Except no one called them. The family reported having found Corbin to Humane Society and animal control, and Jesse reported missing Corbin to these same places. Why didn’t these places connect the dots?

There were ads placed on CraigsList and PennySaverUsa before Christmas about a dog having been found in this exact area, who is brown with gold eyes, a mohawk and a green collar, but apparently they were deleted. Erin was able to send an email to them before the ads were deleted, but has heard nothing. (Rhodesian Ridgebacks have a line of hair down their back that grows differently and so it stands up – that’s the “mohawk”)

So, we have a soldier, who is waiting for his dog to return home, instead of the other way around.

This is really sad, and I pray that Jesse and Corbin will be reunited soon. It’s awful that both animal control and the Humane Society would let this slip through their fingers.

Dax and I have been trying to find a Rhodesian Ridgeback to adopt, and they are rather hard to find. There aren’t many breeders for them, and they are very large dogs. If they aren’t given training, they aren’t happy dogs and can cause a lot of trouble. But, when they are given training, and lots of love, they are amazing creatures.

One thing I’ve found, since we’ve tried the Rhodesian Ridgeback Rescue and local shelters to find a puppy, is that there aren’t a lot of stray Ridgebacks out there. They are very loyal animals, and I think that because of their expense, and the fact that their breeders usually take lifelong responsibility for them, most Ridgebacks that don’t stay in their original homes go back through the Ridgeback Rescue or their breeders to find new homes. And breeders aren’t likely to let their pups go to just anyone.

Doesn’t the shelter, or at least animal control, have any sort of obligation to come check the dog out? It seems very unjust that an animal that was micro-chipped would have a tale such as this one.

If anyone reads this and has information about Corbin, please contact Erin Coogan of Aegis Rhodesian Ridgebacks. Her web site will have the latest information.

Tags: animal control, Humane Society, Rhodesian Ridgeback