Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center

I would like to thank those of you who checked in to make sure I had not been eaten after my last post with the grizzly bear pictures.   And no, I do no have a zoom lens, nor can I run that fast, but my Sony has 24 mega pixels so I could get some nice pictures without being in paws reach.  So yes, I did take those pictures and for those of you that are trying to figure out how I could have taken them and not been eaten, the answer is simple.  The Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center.  Located about 45 minutes south of Anchorage sits 200 acres of Alaska land that belongs to the Conservation Center.  They take in injured and orphaned wildlife year round, and give them a safe home until they are rehabilitated and released, or forever.  They have spacious fenced in enclosures, with room to walk around under the open skies.  It's bittersweet for the bears.  If a bear is orphaned, it can come to the center and be cared for.  But a bear that has been fed by humans will return to populated areas for food...and get shot....so if a bear is taken in, this becomes it's forever home.  An adult grizzly in the wild can roam ranges of up to 800 miles...obviously they can't accomplish this at the center...but, it's better than the other options available for orphaned bears in my mind. 

So what else is at the center?  Well, there are elk.  A fair number of elk...20 or so I would guess.  These two are quite young.  Yes, there is a baby nursery for orphaned little ones of all shapes and sizes.  If an elk calf is born too late in the year, the mother will abandon it knowing it can't survive the winter.  Many of these elk are those late bloomers.

Just a snapshot of the area the elk have to roam around in.  If you notice the two very dead trees behind those cute and fuzzy faces and bums, there is another story to tell as well.  This land is the site of a former community called Portage.  Alaskans still call it Portage, but it was destroyed in the earthquake of '64 and is no more.  The earth dropped several feet here, so the trees which were once part of the forest now had their roots in salt water.  They died off, but have remained an eerie reminder of the events of 50 years ago.

More elk.  They are just so cute!

 

 

Also found at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center is a whole herd of wood bison.  These bison are pretty special for a lot of reasons, but the first reason is because...they're Canadian!  Wood bison were extinct in Alaska, but this herd is an attempt to reintroduce them to Alaska.  Alaska has been caring for and allowing this Canadian herd to breed an multiply at the center since 2005.  A herd of 100 will be released 300 miles west of Anchorage this spring.  These bison, some weighing 2, 250 lbs, will be trucked to Anchorage's Ted Steven International Airport, and flown by Hercules military aircraft to their new home.  A system of pens similar to this has been set up, where they will be kept while they acclimatize to the area...and then they are free to roam for good.

 



Also on site is a special little porcupine named Snickers.  Snickers gets a lot of visitors, and is quite used to being fed by humans by hand every day.  Snickers eats veggies, and apparently has a thing for peanuts.  All of the animals at the center are available for "adoption."  Admission to the center was only $12.50.  But you can donate to a specific program and in principle donate an adoption fee for an animal to help pay for their care if just want to do more.   Which you just might after you meet all these gorgeous little (and big) critters.



I should also mention that Snickers often visits schools, part of his life in the limelight since he became and internet sensation and has over 4 million views on his YouTube video.  Snickers puts my little blog to shame.  Here is his video...bet you didn't think a porcupine would jump and twirl and just want to be held.

THIS...is a muskox and it is waaaaay fuzzier than I imagined.  Little secret about muskox, if you brush them, the fur that they shed makes incredibly warm wool that is as light as silk.  In fact, it's the warmest fabric in the world.  It's called quivit and you can purchase such garments at some of the local stores.  I know what you are thinking....will I be chasing a musk ox with a brush and don't muskox have horns?  No.  And yes they do but this one is a female.  And I think her name is Mukluk.  I can tell she's female because...

This is her cute and fuzzy baby.  If it weren't for the hooves...I think I could pass it off as a puppy.

 

 

Here is your more typical looking muskox...shaggy, with horns...and are those cloven hooves?  I think so.  Because muskoxen are part of the goat family.

 

 

 

Here we have Adonis, a bald eagle with who was a gunshot victim...he lost a wing.  Adonis will live out his life at the Conservation Center, and while it's sad that he can no longer fly, it's also interesting that 2 other free bald eagles check in on him.  Maybe they are old friends. 

 

A wild bald eagle that chooses to hang around the Conservation Center

 

There are so many stories at the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center that I am going to end here tonight and carry on again tomorrow.