Animals in nature are always something to behold, but we don't always get to behold them. Ober Mountain in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, offers guests the chance to see local wildlife up close. This is not a global zoo, boasting of owning a collection of animals from all the continents. One does not find giraffes and lions here - only local fauna.
I was especially interested in the owl with a dead rat in its beak, the raccoons (including an albino) playing and trying to get comfortable, the otters that almost eluded my camera. The he turtles, the snakes weren't very active (I guess they never really are.), but the black bears were. It's not the same seeing them in a confined setting, but one might stand and appreciate the power and beauty of these creatures.
And yes, there is an average amount of cleanup of scat to keep these animals presentable to the public.
While inside the building where most of these animals are housed, one family simply refused to read, assuming they could tell each other all about what they were seeing. To them, the albino coon was an arctic fox (They didn't even question how the fox and the raccoons were getting along so well.) and the big turtle was something else altogether.
Another family was quite interesting to listen to. They were properly Amish and spoke with rich and thick Pennsylvania Dutch accents. I had to really pay attention to understand the dad in the group as he narrated to his young family, but it was intriguing to eavesdrop just a little bit on this culture that is very different from my own. I suppose we would find many similarities, as well, given the time and opportunity to sit and converse with one another.
And yes, there is an average amount of cleanup of scat to keep these animals presentable to the public.
While inside the building where most of these animals are housed, one family simply refused to read, assuming they could tell each other all about what they were seeing. To them, the albino coon was an arctic fox (They didn't even question how the fox and the raccoons were getting along so well.) and the big turtle was something else altogether.
Another family was quite interesting to listen to. They were properly Amish and spoke with rich and thick Pennsylvania Dutch accents. I had to really pay attention to understand the dad in the group as he narrated to his young family, but it was intriguing to eavesdrop just a little bit on this culture that is very different from my own. I suppose we would find many similarities, as well, given the time and opportunity to sit and converse with one another.
