Hope everyone is staying cool during this heat wave! We're keeping the tigers cool by providing them with bloodicles (frozen blood and water, yum!), fresh water in their pools and occasionally a shower with the hose. Even Alexis, who doesn't swim, enjoys a misting with a hose. When we are not doing tours, we give all the animals access to inside where there are fans and more drinking water. If the animals are not in their pool you can find them sprawled out on their back snoozing.

Last night when the heat subsided some, Gracie and Thor were making up for lost play time. Both girls were running around the yard  chasing each other. Gracie was even stalking Thor and made a graceful leap in the pool scaring Thor. Her name isn't Gracie for no reason! Thor enjoyed playing with her "Tiger Tug" (a tug-of-war game made from fire hose). She loves to pull the rope all around the yard and then sit on it so no one can pull it away from her. Gracie is still curious about the Tiger Tug but still isn't sure how to play with it.

Izzy is practicing his finger painting skills this week to prepare for his big masterpiece. Izzy has completed one painting before that we raffled off on Earth Day. He's is trying to be more creative and would like to have more practice for his next painting. To help Izzy practice we are training him to put a paw on a white piece of paper. Although Izzy is very smart, it can take some time for him to learn a new behavior. To start we rewarded him for looking at the paper on the ground. Then as he figured this out we are rewarding him for putting his paw on the paper. So every time he accidently steps or walks on the paper we reward him. He hasn't quite made the association that his paw is supposed to be on the paper but he is getting there. Izzy seems to know it has to do something with placement of his paws but not quite exactly where to put it. Once he has learn to put his paw on the white paper we will add some non-toxic finger paint for him to smear around. While Izzy was practicing with paints the other day he really liked the smell and feel of the wet paint and started to roll on it! Izzy's next masterpiece will be on raffle July 9th on our FREE Day! So come check it out for yourself!

Mohan, the father of Gracie and Thor, enjoyed his father's day snoozing in the shade.

Thank you to all of our visitors yesterday! We were very busy! All father's recieved half off of their general tour ticket. Hope all the father's out there had a great day!

Here is a funny video of a lion trying to "eat" a baby. It's not as bad as it sounds, I promise! THe digging behavior the lion does is very similar to what our lion Alexis does. Enjoy!!

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/81585622/

I have started a Youtube channel for the tiger sanctuary. You can visit our channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/CRidgeTigerSanctuary. More videos to come!

The interns have made a new enrichment item for the tigers! Using a long fire hose they constructed a tug-of-war rope to play with the tigers. Of course we never win, but they like to chase the rope as we pull it. Alexis pulled the rope against the tree for leverage (as if she needed it) and refused to let go. Gracie and Thor pulled it onto their platform. Thor held it in her paws like it was all hers and Gracie used it as a pillow. I do have pictures and a video of Alexis playing tug-of-war. I will post the pictures and a link to the video soon.

We also tried to put goldfish in Izzy's tank. He never noticed the fish but he did play with the lilypads we put in it. The fish mostly hid underneath him. Today we switched the fish to Mohan's pool but we haven't seen him get in yet. Mohan doesn't react to much so he might not even noticed. Although we did have fun chasing the fish around Izzy's pool trying to catch them. Eventually an intern caught both of them with his hands. If tigers are allowed to play we should be able to play too!

The tigers are loving their pools right now in this heat. We hope to see you on Free Day July 9th! Stay cool!

Free Day is coming up July 9th! This is a perfect day to bring your whole family to see the tigers, enjoy snacks, games, facepainting, music and more! This is the only day of the year that EVERYONE can get in free. This is our largest event of the year so we also need help. If you are interested in volunteering July 9th to help run a booth, facepaint, direct traffic, etc. please email Jeri Meeker at jmeeker@crown-ridge.com. If you would like to help we will find something for you to do! We may also need help before July 9th in preparation for the event. Details about this will come as Free Day comes closer. We hope to see you there!

The tigers are all enjoying the shade and their pools this weekend. Saturday and Sunday we had VIP tours, which allows guests to make jungle boxes to throw to the tigers. So the tigers have also been treated to jungle boxes (stuff with meat, leaves, paper and scents) all weekend. Izzy and Thor shredded them into small pieces, Gracie sniffed hers but otherwise left it alone. Raja took her box to her platform for everyone to see and Alexis chased hers as we threw it. After a busy weekend the tigers will have a few days without visitors. We greatly appriciate all the supporters who came out to visit us!

We now have some available spaces for our June 11th Tiger Feeding Tour at 2:30pm.  These special feeding tours include a guided walking tour of the sanctuary, access to the observation deck, assisting in the preparation of the tiger’s diets, participate in feeding the cats, and exclusive look at our newest outdoor enclosure. Feeding Tours are $35 per person, maximum of 10 people per tour. Must make reservations, so give us a call at  (573)330-7334 . Spaces are filling up quickly!

In other news, our two new interns have started for the summer! They will be blogging about some of their experiences here as well.

Mohan has found a new napping spot. There is a small patch of clover in his yard that he loves to lay and roll in. I think that it's nice and cool and must be soft. So next time you visit look for Mo in his clover patch!