Sprinkle Bear
Bailey Bear is so excited about her new sprinkler! Both bears love the water and can often be found splashing around in their ponds or laying out in the streams. #bear #brownbear #sanctuary

What is this?
Fiddler is checking out his “popsicle” created by animal caretaker Madison. Just like us, the animals enjoy special popsicles created just for them. Depending on the species sometimes they are fruit flavored or blood flavored

Ice ice Beary
The Brown Bears get lots of ice when the Summer temps start. Otto loves to crush the ice cubes and eat them up. We often add in some of the bears favorite treats like frozen blueberries and blackberries. Making sure the animals are happy and comfortable is always a priority

Bear Play Wrestling Match
These bear wrestling matches are always so fun and intense!!! Bailey and Otto love to play and wrestle any chance they get. Is this something you’d see bears doing at an open to the public zoo? Not likely, these bears are happy and healthy, living life at the sanctuary without the constant annoyance of people walking by.

Bear bubbles
Otto Bear blowing bubbles in his nice clean trough.... of only it would stay that way ? we can’t blame him, when it’s hot we all need a cool down and he’s so cute doing it!

Lemurs, Lemurs, Lemurs...
Our Texas A& M Pre-Vet and Wildlife and Fisheries Volunteers created a fun puzzle feeder for the ringtail lemurs! Lemurs are primates that need constant enrichment and new items to keep their busy minds working. Oak Creek has 8 Ringtail Lemurs, most of which came from being previous pets. These lemurs did not know what they were and it took a lot of introductions and time to get them comfortable within a troop.

Spotted Hyena foraging
Our sweet boy Dusty practicing his foraging skills after we scattered food in a section of his habitat. Dusty had an injury when he was a juvenile that caused him to lose half of his tongue. Thankfully that didn’t slow him down or stop him from living out a full life. Dusty came here from Berkeley University in 2014 and is now almost 24 years old! #Oldman #dusty #hyena #spottedhyena #sanctuary

Raccoon mealworm enrichment
Enrichment is so important to provide for captive animals. We presented the raccoons with a partially rotted log stuffed with mealworms. This allows for natural behaviors seen in wild raccoons. Unfortunately, these two raccoons were taken from the wild and kept illegally as pets. Because they are so dependent on people and didn’t learn the necessary skills to survive on their own in the wild, they are now forced to live out their lives in captivity. If you find an injured wild animals it’s important to contact a wildlife rehabilitation facility immediately to get the animal the proper care. Wildlife rehabilitators have the training to care for these animals without desensitizing them to humans. This will give the animal a chance to return to the wild where they should be. Please educate yourself and others so we can all be better friends to wildlife.

What does the fox say?
Tigli, an Arctic Fox, working on a puzzle feeder created by some of our volunteers. Tigli is currently losing his plush white winter coat and will soon have a more grayish coat for summer. Tigli is the first Arctic Fox we’ve had at Oak Creek. We love his energy and trying to find new ways to keep him cool ? one way is by dumping tons of ice in his tunnels for him to lay on! He loves to be with his other fox friends and we’re so happy he’s here!

Popsicles for carnivores
Casey receiving a “bloodsicle” for enrichment today. The temperatures are reaching those mid summer highs as we work to find different ways of keeping the animals cool.