Wild Wonders is home to one hundred and thirty unique animals all with their own backgrounds. You will soon discover is that no two animals are alike.
At Wild Wonders we love working with and training our animals! Every day, after the hard work is done, we spend time playing with the whole zoo! For example, one of our long-term volunteers Becky loves to train our serval, Siri. In this video, Becky convinces Siri to play and exercise! If you have a pet cat at home, you know how hard it can be to get your cat to exercise, especially in the summer! But Becky has a great relationship with Siri, and convinced her to move around and play…at least a little!
If you want to meet Siri or any of our animal at Wild Wonders, feel free to contact us! You can come to us for tours or camps, or we’ll come to your school, library, event, or even birthday party! Or if you want your wild experience to be a little longer, check out our volunteer and intern programs!
Everyone needs exercise. We often take animals out of their enclosures to get some extra exercise, sunlight, and experience a different environment. This helps keep our animals healthy and happy.
Wendy, one of WW’s keepers, took Siri, the serval, out for a walk around the compound. Siri likes to walk along the plants, smell everything, and explore. In the Savannas of Africa her long legs would help her see over the tall grasses. She can also use them to reach into burrows to catch prey animals like rabbits or rodents. On her walk she found an interesting burrow to explore. After a fruitless search with her paw, she tried to stick her head in there to see if anybody was home!
Siri looking for lizards in the ice plants
Her big, sensitive ears heard something!
Taking a closer look into the burrow
Then Brian, a keeper, and I took our 12 foot albino Burmese python, Pugsley, out for a slither in the sun. He seemed to enjoy exploring and tasting the new environment.
Tracy, a volunteer, next to Pugsley
Other types of animals go into outside exercise enclosures. Some of the ones that can stay outside all the time come inside for a change of scenery! We want to treat these animals in our care as well as we can, and I think we do a pretty good job.
-Casai
Nothing is better than after a long morning of cleaning than spending a little time with Siri, the Serval. This kitten is a handful and can be easily distracted, especially when it involves a toy.
Servals, like Siri, are medium sized wild cats from Africa, they are slender with long legs to help them reach deep into rodent holes. Servals have the longest legs relative to body size of all cats. Watch as Siri stretches her long legs out in front of her to catch her toy. Servals also have large ears that they use to listen for rodents moving underground, if you watch closely you can see her ears move towards the noise. These are just two of the features of the Serval that allow them to be great hunters, getting nearly 50 % of all their attempts.
As fun as she is to watch, we must remember that theses cats as well as may others are disappearing in the wild. Help to keep this beautiful creatures with us. Visit Zoofari.net to see how you can help.
On Thursday a special guest arrived at the Wildlife Center in Bonsall. Savanna, a 5 month old lioness made herself at home in Siri‘s exhibit, while Siri kept the barn animals company. Savanna came to Wild Wonders for a special TV appearance in Los Angeles. She flew all the way to San Diego from a small town just outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She makes her home in Pennsylvania at the Wild World of Animals, Wild life Center, who specialize in educational animal presentations as does Wild Wonders Inc.
Savanna quickly fell in love with the weather and was considering becoming a Chargers fan, but after yesterday’s display I am sure she has changed her mind.
Savanna returned home to Pittsburgh safe and sound on Friday afternoon. Her overnight stay was certainly the buzz of the weekend around our wildlife center. Siri really enjoyed all the new smells in her home and she spent all day exploring and remarking her space.
It was a great treat to have such a special guest. Thanks to everyone who made it happen.
Overall the New Year’s Event at Wiens Winery was a great success. We were able to sell a few items at the silent auction and the Splash artwork was a big hit. All those who attended enjoy great food, champagne, and some real jiving music. Thanks to all those who came out to support.
A hand-ful of animals from the wildlife center made it out for the New Year’s celebration. Siri started the night off right with her energetic personality. We of course brought with us multiple toys to keep her attention focused including a christmas tree branch (we never like to waste at Zoofari). She was definitely a show stopper. Meadow, the grey fox, was also a popular one, even among the Southern California Hunting club (Who would have guessed).
Cappuccino the adorable baby hedgehog was also in attendance. He of course loves the spotlight and was rarely curled up in the usual scared pose of the hedgehog. Gumbo, the North America alligator, and Pinky, the boa, were also there representing for the reptiles.
Victor, the Cheetah, was also present for a very special show during dinner. Jackie, Wild Wonders owner, and Victor have a great relationship and they are always fun to watch together. Victor is often great at presentations but as with all animals they are never predictable. The presentation was set for 15 minutes but after about 10 minutes and with all the camera flashing, Victor decided he had had enough. He is very sensitive to lights, movements, and sounds, and at this particular event the cameras seemed to be too much, especially when one cameraman started to move around. At least we all got 10 minutes with this amazing creature.
With our animals in attendance and everyone looking for a great night, 2009 was definitely off to a great start. Lets hope that this will be a sign of all the great things to come for Zoofari in 2009.
