Today was one of our shortest driving days, but we still managed to take most of the day to do it. We left our friend’s house about 10:30 and drove to the Victoria Park in Cobourg to see the beach.

We headed north and passed through several towns and more farmland.

A bit of a jog westward took us near the town of Orona and the Jungle Cats Zoo. They work extensively with zoological societies around the world to save, protect and breed endangered animals. All of their animals have been born in captivitiy, either at Jungle Cats or other zoos and all have been hand reared. They are not tame by any means, but are comfortable in the presence of people. They did not have really large enclosures but every animal was very healthy looking and any that were walking around did not exhibit the tense pacing we have seen in some other zoos.

So today’s blog is comprised of critter photos. As always with wild animal enclosures you have to try navigate the fencing – so try look past the greenish shadowy-stripes in some of the pics.

Two female white lions. The pale colour (sometimes pure white) is from a recessive gene. The white lions were revered in Africa and found primarily at Krueger National Park, South Africa. It is thought that there are no longer any white lions left in the wild. All of the surviving ones are in zoos or preserves. Jungle Cats has three white adult females, a female cub and a male.

A Kestral, smallest of the birds of prey.

Red fox

Wolf cubs. There were four – two tan, two black.

They were playing keep-away with a stick.

The male white lion.

Serval – a small wild cat from sub-Sahara Africa. Protected in most areas of its range.

Several species of tiger are now extinct in the wild. I think the sign named four different ones. Even though they are protected and critically endangered they, and other endangered cats, are still hunted. The stripped or spotted coats are still prized and the parts of the cats are used in traditional medicines. A small farmer in India can feed his family for years from the sale of one skin.

Arctic wolf.

Black Jaguar

Hyena. They have the strongest jaws in the animal kingdom. They can crush the femur of an elephant. You can buy a ‘Behind the Scenes’ ticket and a staff member will take you to feed some of the animals. One of them had a container with banana pieces and grapes and couple was there to feed the hyena through the bars. The hyena loved bananas and gently took pieces from the woman’s palm. But it rejected any grapes that were offered until it saw that all the banana was gone.

Timber Wolf

This wolf is 14 years old and drags his back foot a bit when he walks, but otherwise moves around really well.

Delilah, the other female white lion and her cub. She quit nursing the cub when it was young so they took her away and bottle fed it and later reintroduced the cub to momma. She was happy to see her, so now they are in an enclosure together.

Cougar. They are very solitary and are rarely spotted in the wild.

Leopard

Bobcat

Madagascar Lemur

Ring-Tail Lemur

Napping Spider Monkeys

Tomorrow we drive to Owen Sound at the bottom of the Georgian Bay. We are spending two nights there just to look around the area a bit more than we did in 2014; then it is up to Bracebridge on Friday.