Friday, July 6, 2012

An Inspiring Week in Review!

It was a short holiday this week, but never-the-less, we still provided some great upbeat blog postings for you to enjoy!

Monday's blog posting was about our Poetry Cats as we remembered their journey from Poetry, Texas to our facility in Wylie.  It was one year ago when we received an urgent plea from the family to help relocate 20 big cats (cougars, tigers, and lions) after the passing of the animals' owner.  Click HERE for the rest of the story!

On Tuesday, we reported a special trip to the Dallas Zoo where our interns and volunteers had a terrific opportunity to learn about their veterinary care and nutrition center.  Click HERE to read about he rest of their adventure at the Dallas Zoo.





Happy Independence Day everyone!  On Thursday we posted a short patriotic poem and pictures in honor of our 4th of July holiday!  You can see this posting HERE.


Yesterday's posting was all about getting our blog readers motivated either at work or while they are on holiday after watching our "Good Morning" video!  You can see this fun video HERE.



Cheetah Enclosure Update

Despite the rain and now the hot temperatures, the cheetah "Fast Track Habitat" is finally taking shape!

Let's take a look at the work in progress!







We are excited about the cheetah habitat progress and look forward to the day when it's finally finished so the cheetahs can explore their new home!

We pray everyone had a terrific week and will make plans to join us once again as we bring you  stories, pictures and videos of our beautiful exotics animals.  Remember, we are open for tours and we would love for you to meet the animals you see featured on this blog.  For tour information, click HERE!  


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Thursday, July 5, 2012

Good Morning!

This next video is dedicated to all our blog fans who are either at work or on vacation and need a little boost to get this day started!



We'd like to extend good morning salutations to all our blog readers, nationally and internationally.  So many US cities and international countries visit our blog, it's hard to recognize everyone! 


We hope this video inspired you to "get-up-and-go" out and do something amazing today!  So get up, get up and have a great day!

We'd love to hear from you, so feel free comment and don't forget to click on one of the reaction buttons below. And as always, don't forget to share your favorite blog postings with family and friends! Thank you!


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Wednesday, July 4, 2012



I Am Old Glory

I Am Old Glory:   For more than ten score years I have been the
banner of hope and freedom for generation after generation of Americans.
   
Born amid the first flames of America's fight for freedom,
I am the symbol of a country that has grown from a little group
of thirteen colonies to a united nation of fifty sovereign states.
  
Planted firmly on the high pinnacle of American Faith
my gently fluttering folds have proved an inspiration to untold millions.
   
Men have followed me into battle with unwavering courage.
   
They have looked upon me as a symbol of national unity.
   
They have prayed that they and their fellow citizens might continue to enjoy the life,
liberty and pursuit of happiness, which have been granted to every American as the heritage of free men.
   
So long as men love liberty more than life itself;
so long as they treasure the priceless privileges bought with the
blood of our forefathers; so long as the principles of truth, justice
and charity for all remain deeply rooted in human hearts, I shall
continue to be the enduring banner of the United States of America.

Originally written by Master Sergeant Percy Webb, USMC.


May you have a wonderful safe 4th of July holiday!


Tuesday, July 3, 2012

In-Sync Exotics Visits the Dallas Zoo!


In-Sync Exotics not only educates the public about exotic wild animals under our care, but we also take the initiative to learn different animal care techniques and how to improve upon our animal enrichment program from various animal organizations.  At the start of the new year we visited Fossil Rim Wildlife Center.  Now that we have new interns, it was time to go on another road trip! 

So, last week several In-Sync Exotic volunteers and interns visited the Dallas Zoo, where we learned about their veterinary care and their nutrition center.

First off, we’d like to thank Senior Veterinarian, Tim Storms, who took us on a behind the scenes tour of “The Wilds of Africa” and “Giants of the Savanna” habitats. We had a wonderful opportunity to see these ecosystems where a large number of exotic wild animals live together.  We are truly thankful for the time he took out of his busy schedule to spend time with us!  Thank you!!

Okay, sit back and enjoy the tour…

Normally, in order to see many of the animals living in these two exhibits, one would have to travel by monorail.  A specially designed Monorail Safari takes guests on a one-mile tour through six habitats — bush, desert, forest, woodland, river, and mountain environments.  But there was no monorail trip for us! We had the opportunity to see the animals up close and personal as we watched the zoo keepers care for the animals under their care, all by foot.

As we made our way towards the Giraffes’ Barns, Dr. Storms explained to us how the zoo keepers introduce the animals to the habitats each morning. During the conversation, we noticed several impalas jumping, kicking, and running right past us!  They were really cute to watch! 

When we arrived at the Giraffes’ Barns, the keeper-on-duty greeted us and took us on a tour of the barn where we learned how they house and care for these beautiful animals.  We were shown various forms of enrichment and the zoo keeper explained to us the special nutritional needs of the giraffes.

Dr. Storms explained, much like our exotic cats’ training, their giraffes learned how to walk through vet shoots in order to venture outside.  In the event a giraffe requires veterinary care, their animals normally feels comfortable enough to enter the vet shoot for medical treatment.

We also learned from Dr. Storms how to safely administer anesthesia to giraffes without harming the animals, as they are laid in their enclosure.  Everyone found this information very interesting!  To our amazement, while we were learning about the giraffes, some of these amazing animals came up to the fence to check us out!  Dr. Storm allowed us to feed some grain crackers to these curious creatures—the giraffes were truly awe inspiring close-up! 

Next we went into the Lion and Cheetah Barn where we had the honor of watching a lioness receive medical treatment for a minor injury.  We were able to watch as the vet and several vet technicians worked together as a team to monitor the lioness, clean her wound, and then preparethe wound for suture. Wow!  Talk about timing!   

After the minor surgery we discussed with Dr. Storms various forms of enrichment we use for our exotic big cats.  As it turns out, their various forms of enrichment are very much like our own.

We wanted to learn more about their cheetah enrichment because we were having some challenges getting our cheetahs, Sam and Kodi, to participate in our program.  Turns out our cheetahs are like most cheetahs—they just not into it!  So, Sam and Kodi’s lack of interest in our enrichment program is perfectly normal.   Whew!

Needless to say, this opened the door to many questions such as how the Zoo determines what types of enrichment programs are appropriate for their animals.  Turns out, all enrichment for the animals goes through a panel of decision makers which includes the zoo keepers specializing in a given species and their animals’ veterinarians.

Next we visited the elephant barn and where we witnessed an elephant in training. Training is very important because in the event an elephant become ill, the elephant would know what to expect and not be frightened by the human and medical equipment activity around him.

After our trip to the elephant barn, it was time to see the Zoo’s nutrition center.  To give you an idea of how big the center is, picture this:  just one of their three freezers is about the size of our commissary!  They’re huge! 

The freezers are set up side by side with adjoining doors from freezer to freezer to simplify the process of rotating meat from frozen to thawing to the last stage which is normal refrigeration.  The store room is spacious and the commissary preparation area is amazingly HUGE.  The primary zoo keeper in charge of the nutrition center explained how each animal's nutrition is discussed between the zoo keepers that feed (and learn what each animal likes or dislikes), the vet, and their nutritionist.

This panel of experts determines exactly what type of food and how much an animal receives at dinner time.  All of this information is kept in a huge binder and as you can imagine the contents of the binder changes daily.  With over 2,000 animals and hundreds of species, I would say this is a pretty big job for this zoo keeper!

Next we visited the inner offices of the veterinary clinic, which also houses a library and offices.  The interns agreed they could easily spend months in the library learning more about exotic wild cats!

 As we viewed the animal holding areas, Dr. Storms explained to us how an animal, depending on its species, is transported and received into the vet clinic.  The vet clinic can receive any type of animal, from a tiny bird to an adult gorilla!

The zoo has three primary veterinarians and a multitude of zoo keepers and veterinarian technicians.  We were shown how the zoo keeps its animals records when a sick or injured animal arrives at the clinic.  Records are posted outside the animals’ enclosure so that anyone on duty will know the their health status at any given moment.  We were shown into the surgery and imaging center, as well as the laboratories and pharmacy. Dr. Storms showed us how they maintain their pharmacy records and talked about the importance of tracking medical records to compare what works best for each animal.

At the end of our visit, our interns and volunteers were asked what their favorite part of the tour was—and it was unanimous—their favorite part of the tour was watching the minor surgery on the lioness!  Coming in a close second was learning about the types of enrichment given to the giraffes, elephants, and their exotic big cats. 

We learned a lot about (and were in awe of) the organization of the veterinary clinic and its pharmacy.  It was amazing to learn how the animals are transported, received, treated, and returned to their habitats.  

Needless to say, we were all just a little envious of the nutrition center (huge!) and amazed at what it takes to feed such a large variety of animals!  Our interns all agreed that it was a treat that Dr. Storms took so much time out of his schedule to spend with us.  It was an honor to say the least! 

Thank you, Dr. Storms!  To learn more about the Dallas Zoo, click HERE!

Blog posting submitted by Elizabeth Chambers, In-Sync Exotics' Intern Coordinator.


Please note!  We will be closed for the 4th of July holiday but will be open for tours on Thursday - Sunday!  Come out and visit our beautiful animals this weekend!  For tour information, click HERE!


Have a safe and wonderful 4th of July holiday everyone!




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Monday, July 2, 2012

Our Poetry Cats--Remembering Their Journey

It's amazing just how fast time flew by since the arrival of our Poetry big cats. For you see, it was just one year ago when we received an urgent plea, from a family living in Poetry, Texas, located about 40 minutes from In-Sync Exotics, to help relocate 20 big cats (cougars, lions, and tigers) after the passing of the animals' owner.  Not knowing what to expect, we agreed to make the journey to Poetry.

Please take a moment to watch this video of our Poetry cats as we remember their journey they took one year ago...


While the journey continues for Aramis, Aurora, Eve, Layla, Chloe, and Spike, we pause to remember precious Kane and Howard.

Both cats have very special stories that we would like to share with you.  The first blog link gives you an idea of the cougars' health condition when they first arrived.  The next blog link is the announcement of Kane's passing.  And last but not least, this is the link to our beautiful memories of Howard.

If you are new to the blog, you may want to read our first blog posting about the Poetry 20 big cats by clicking HERE.   

We cannot thank our supporters enough for helping us provide a wonderful home to the Poetry lions and cougars.  Without our supporters, we would not be able to fulfill our mission of caring for special animals in need.  

So again, thank you very much!!

If you are new to In-Sync Exotics' family and would like information about making a tax-deductible contribution towards our mission, please click HERE. Your gifts represents a vital contribution to In-Sync Exotics' entire mission of providing a caring safe haven to some of God's most beautiful creatures.  We will always put their needs above our own.  Thank you for donating!


We would love to read our volunteers' special memories of our Poetry big cats.  If you were part of the cats' relocation or provided care to our special animals, please add your memories to this blog posting by filling out the comment box below.  You don't have to have a Google account to leave a comment on this page.  Just click on "anonymous" and remember to include your name at the end of your posting.  Thanks for sharing!

We hope you enjoyed today's blog posting!  Let us know what you think by clicking on one of the reaction buttons below and don't forget to share today's posting with family, friends, and co-workers!  Thank you!

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