It's The Most Wonderful Time,... At The Farm!

This was meant as my Holiday post, hence the title, said in the tune of the Christmas song, It's the Most Wonderful Time, Of The Year.  Obviously, I didn't get to posting it that weekend, or even by New Years.

I visited the Farm for the second time since it had re-opened, and it was the best!   I got the unexpected gift that one of my besties Slider the Cow was out.  I was on my way out before the rain came, but stayed and spent over an hour visiting with him.  It was the first time being close to him in a very long time, extending before the Pandemic.

When Slider came to the Zoo, he was rotated into front spaces with a decent amount of regularity, even though never enough for me, or for the equal access factor.  He had been here about two years when the Children's Zoo got a new Curator, the access Slider had to certain areas ceased.  He spent most mornings in the sand corral, and then was moved to the back pasture for the rest of the day.  Spending four-six hours alone.  He had no visual of other Animals, only of the fence that separated him.  

It was so upsetting, that a few years ago, I came up with the idea for a "howdy" window,  so he could see and interact with others.  It took a year to get, but was a great success!  

See the video here: 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=g6qUirmEcUg

Now, what needs to happen is that fence needs to come down, and the back corral needs to be enclosed, so it becomes an inclusive area and can be a visual part of the farm and no animal will ever have to be isolated again.

Slider was born on a private farm and raised as a Pet.  He was basically a lap Cow, but got too big for the interaction he was used to.  The family that owned him, sought out a home for him at the Zoo.  He was used to being around people and other Animals, so being isolated days on end for long periods of time for the majority of the last five years, in my opinion, was cruel. 

Several months ago the Children's Zoo got a new person in charge.  Per the Zoo's new management structure departments will have Asst Curators only, and a few Curators to over see a handful of departments.  This Asst Curator steps into the boss role, replacing the former CZ Curator, who I hear is thankfully, not even overseeing the CZ anymore.  I have not met him, but I already like how he's handling things as far as the animal rotations.  He seems to get the concept that every single animal should be rotated around to different areas.  For the past five years that has not been happening especially or specifically with Slider as I noted.   

One of the things I liked about the closure was that the two contact yards were free to open up to Animals who may not have roamed freely pre-pandemic.  I was concerned with the reopening that would change and after 20 months of freedom, those Animals would have to be back in stalls.  Thankfully, that didn't fully happen!  I was happy to see that the gate between the two yards, was closed and the Yellow Barn side was still being used as a free roam area.  And, to my surprise, Slider was allowed in there!  

He was so happy to be at the gate, mingling with the peoples! He loves it!  When I approached him for some love talk, he had his face right up to mine, even sniffing my ear right away to tell me secrets!

See my video of most of the Friends enjoying expanded areas and available for viewing!

https://youtu.be/0BjjaR6OkZg

Except for a few one offs, poor guy was denied all those years.  The previous Curator did a complete disservice to Slider.   I'm not happy to hate on someone I liked and got along with, but my allegiance is to the Animals.  She did some good stuff to start, but her desire to pursue involvement with a department outside her own, left neglect at the Farm, in what I consider a serious Animal Welfare issue with Slider's hooves. I previously documented it in this post.

ReNaming Mini-Horse, Steer's Hoof Neglect and Spiteful Goat Naming

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2021/02/renaming-mini-horse-steers-hoof-neglect.html

Bravo to this new boss, who within the short time he's been there has taken care of Slider's hooves properly.  The way it should have been done five years ago. 

I hope this guy continues to do right by the Animals at the Farm.  

I made a previous post (linked at bottom) regarding my concerns about the re-opening of the Family Farm.  I also documented some things I saw on the first day it was open, in another blog post a week later.

From this post:

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2021/12/antwerp-zoo-hippos-contract-covid-first.html

This sign showed up a couple weeks after my blog post.

So if you know me, you know I got problems with this sign.  Thankfully some of my concerns, have been addressed in the first five of six Rules (yep, I had to spell it out for them once again), but seriously, why are the Rules in a type size that is five times smaller than the top information???  Good Grief, the Rules are more important!  Why aren't they a part of the lead-in?  I'm assuming the Graphics Dept designs the signs.  Why are they always a fail?  This sign should read:

Family Farm Rules

Please Read

Rules

Open ...

All text of equal size at the very least, but Rules should be larger or highlighted.

So sick of the most important information basically being buried on these signs.  It took a year and a half to get the right signage at Chimps.  Come on people, it's not brain surgery.

Related post here:

https://iamnotananteater.blogspot.com/2021/11/zoo-farm-re-opening-curious-timing.html

Ed note:  There was a slight error with the wrong screencap originally posted.  FYI just incase someone is re-reading.

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