Wildlife in Winnepeg!

Monday, October 16, 2017

Oh what a beautiful morning!  The sun was out and provided the perfect day for a visit to the Winnepeg zoo.  The main attraction at the zoo is a “Journey to Churchill” exhibit, so we thought it was appropriate to check it out.  It was so fun seeing the display featuring the small city, bear traps and pictures of a place we had just visited.  But, we also got to see the polar bears swimming, which we did not get to see in Churchill.  What a neat exhibit and what a treat to see the bears frolicking in the water!   The zoo takes in abandoned cubs and raises them until they can be sent to other zoos.  They will also take in bears that have been caught too many times in the city of Churchill to avoid having to destroy them.  There were two cubs almost 2 years old who fascinated the crowd playing with a ball.  They look so cuddly!   We saw the arctic fox, and which looked just the same as it did in the wild!  I was happy to be able to see a snowy owl, an animal we didn’t see on our trip to Churchill.  We did get to see a live elk (the one we saw in Churchill was the leftovers from the bears’ dinner on the tundra.)  We saw wolves, muskox, bison, and plenty of other wildlife.  It’s been awhile since we’ve visited a zoo--what a great experience.

 

We also welcomed Bogart “home”.  Sometime during the trip, he ate something he shouldn’t have, and a large pit got lodged in his small intestine.  Luckily his parents recognized there was a serious problem, and took him to an animal hospital who did surgery at 4:30 am on Friday!  He seems to be recovering well and is glad to be home.  They retrieved the pit, and it’s been part of the “show and tell”.   Last night we had our Farewell Dinner at a great restaurant in St. Boniface, a suburb of Winnipeg.  The restaurant was a train car!  Everyone shared stories about the trip, and discussed what each is planning for the next trip.   There was a little wildlife at the restaurant too!