Arnold’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center, Okeechobee, Florida

Today my friend Mary Lou and I went to Arnold’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Center. I posted an album with today’s photos and also lots of videos. The videos are located near the middle of the album. Mary Lou gave me the pictures she took, which are added to my album, after the videos. The sun was out when we arrived, however, it rained after we were there a while. We still had a great time feeding the animals treats, and walking around the grounds. I have 5 photo albums on my albums page from my visits here over the past year or so. I’ve been coming here when I could during the past 7 or so years, but I only started posting albums in 2011 when I started my website. Here is a video of Zeke: MVI_2710.

When Mary Lou and I arrived we were greeted by the baby Muntjac deer. We gave him some mini frosted shredded wheat cereal and watched while he enjoyed eating them. We took the box of cereal, a bag of mini marshmallows, and a bunch of lollypops with us as we walked around the  wildlife center. Not all of the animals get these treats, from being here many times, I know which animals can have what treats. Of course, we try not to give any one animal too many, even though they keep wanting more.

Last time I was here, I took lots of still photos. This time I decided to take videos too because it was really fascinating to watch the animals take the treats and enjoy eating them. The raccoons put their paws through the cage to gently take the cereal out of our fingers. Then as we walked by the Australian Cocaburra’s cage, Sue Arnold made a sound rolling her rrr’s which set the birds off making their famous sound. Here is their song: MVI_2619.

 

When you watch the videos of when we were feeding Zeke the Capuchin monkey his orange pieces, you will hear the birds in the background, I’m guessing that Sue was showing others how the birds could sing. The Lemurs would also make their noises when they heard other Lemurs sounding their calls.

The Chinese Pheasants are so colorful and beautiful. I love looking at the patterns and colors of their feathers. There was a large tub of zucchini and one of the peacocks thought it was just for him. It was funny watching him peck at the squash to eat it. One was not enough to try and eat at one time, he kept reaching in the bucket for a different one. Peacock eating zucchini: MVI_2676

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s interesting watching the animals interact with each other. They have distinct personalities. I also noticed that like humans, they have food preferences. When I was here the day after Christmas, the Marmosets liked eating the shredded wheat cereal. When we went to give them the cereal today, they didn’t really want it. They wanted the mini marshmallows instead. It was so funny watching them hold the marshmallows and eat them. We did leave some extra marshmallows, and also cereal inside the cage so they could snack later. Mary Lou and I walked around and gave the Lemurs lollypops. Like previous times, some chomped on the pops, others licked them slowly.

Videos of Marmosets and prairie dogs eating treats: MVI_2652 MVI_2664

The prairie dogs aren’t as fussy… they ate both the cereal and the marshmallows. They are quite the show animals, they made cute sounds while they were asking for and waiting for us to give them more treats. I think you can hear their sounds in the videos.

 

 

 

 

 

Foxy Brown the endangered fox squirrel is also interesting to watch. She also likes eating oranges. There are stories about her in previous Arnold’s Wildlife Rehabilitation Centerstories that I have written. Foxy Brown is getting to be another one of my favorite animals to see when I come here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We made sure to stop by and visit Zeke the Capuchin monkey, and the friendly Lemur who lets us hold his hand and pet him through the cage. Next time I come here I need to be sure to visit these two animals first. They could see and I’m guessing smell and hear us feeding treats to the other animals. I could see them moving around their cages watching us. Zeke was not so quiet about it. I saw him and heard him throwing his metal food dish around the cage letting us know he wanted attention and snacks. Since he has no teeth, see December 2013 story to find out why, he got orange slices and a lollypop. Zeke really loves the oranges and fruit. He looks like a small child when he is savoring the orange pieces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Llamas and deer were another experience that was very special. The two Llamas were laying down in the field when we got to the bridge that goes into the field. I called them and they got up and walked towards us. So did the deer. These animals are definitely not shy. They come right up to us, put their heads between the railing and take the treats right out of our hands, gently. They kept wanting more. Being large animals, they can eat alot. We still limited the number of pieces we gave them. Petting them was okay with them too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we were getting to the cages with the rare and endangered Indonesian Jade Peacocks, it began to rain. I still took some pictures, but they didn’t come out as good as I would have liked. I think they were trying to move so they wouldn’t get as wet. As Mary Lou and I were walking to the covered tables to get out of the rain, we noticed that the peacocks that roam loose on the property were running and squawking as they ran to get under cover and out of the rain. I also got some videos of this as well. All in all, as always, it was an extraordinary experience.

 

 

 

 

 

Before leaving, I found Sue in the clinic area, and we saw large plastic tubs with the tortoises in them. There was a cold front coming at night, and the animals that can’t endure the cold temps, and/or didn’t have heat lamps in their cages were being brought inside. Some of the cages outside were being covered with tarps to keep the cold air off of the animals. Many of the cages had heat lamps, blankets, etc.  Sue, Freddy, and Angela take exceptionally great care of all of the animals. It’s obvious how much they love the animals.

Along the side of the road leading to the wildlife center, there are orange trees. Since they are Sue’s trees, we stopped and picked some oranges that we knew we would be feeding to the animals. When we were looking at the trees, we noticed that a palm tree had an orange tree growing in it. We saw the oranges near the top of the palm tree. Other nearby trees were a very close cluster, looking like one tree, that was really 3 trees growing tangled together.