The Urban Pantheist

This odd-looking but handsome creature is a takin, a relative of goats and sheep that is native to the Himalayas.


When I passed through the nicely refrigerated penguin building, one of my zookeeper conference colleagues was getting an up close and personal encounter!

One of the most exciting things that happened when we zookeepers visited the St Louis Zoo (as part of our conference activities) was celebrity baby orangutan Ginger came close to the window!


She really hammed it up.


It's amusing to see people who work with animals for a living get all squealy and excited to see yet another animal. (I was squealing right along with everyone)

Our first morning in St Louis we went poking around for breakfast and found a listing for a place called "The Mud House." That sounded pretty good, so we ended up in a quaint neighborhood calling itself "Cherokee Antique Row." I quickly found a non-human animal to cozy up to. His truncated ear tip indicates that he's part of a managed feral colony, neutered and vaccinated, but otherwise allowed to roam. I'm not a fan of the practice, but it's better than doing nothing.

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