When I say Water Buffalo, I mean Scottish Highlands Bull.
When I say emu, I might mean ostrich.
When I say llama, I could mean alpaca.
It dawned on me this morning that my whole plan for weekly nature outings totally got shoved to the wayside in the pre-holiday preparation shuffle. I had such great intentions, but somehow we ended up (almost daily) at Goodwill or Target instead. Enough of that!
Today, we went to Henry's Ark Petting Zoo out in Oldham County (the county next to ours). It only took about 10 minutes to get there, and what an amazing find! In the midst of all of the really, really nice homes that the county is known for, there is a little winding country road with farmland all around, and then BAM! I spotted a camel. And some deer. And emus. And freakin' water buffalo. I could hardly contain my excitement as I pulled in and parked. I got Lewis situated in the stroller and grabbed our carrots (I'd read on their facebook page that you can bring carrots to feed the animals).
By the parking lot is a pasture with llamas and emus that we stopped to see first. Then the main pathway takes you through pastures with deer, a whole variety of goats that I couldn't even begin to name, a zebra, a pot-bellied pig, 2 camels, an elk (Joe B., I petted the elk!!!), sheep, emus, swans, Canada geese, a peacock, roosters, water buffalo, rabbits, and other random ducks. I think that is all. We fed carrots to the elk, deer, goats, and one of the two water buffalo. He was my favorite.
Sweet Emu, that I most definitely thought was an Ostrich until I read a sign.
I'm still not sure what the difference is.
Llama
I could just snuggle that sweet little face. :)
Swan on frozen pond
Carrot, lady?
Deer who were in with the elk (there were many deer and just one elk)
Mr. Elk, who loved carrots
(I gave him small pieces at a time, not 2 whole ones at once as this picture illudes.)
Can I please have just one more?
Roosters - So THAT's what they mean when they say 'Shake yo' tail feather'...
A roaming emu we encountered (not behind any sort of fence)
One of many varieties of goat
Another carrot-lover, carrot-stealer in the goat pasture -- Anyone know what type of animal this is?
Water Buffalo #1
(at least I think that's what it is called)
Water Buffalo #2
This is the one I got to feed.
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL
I was trying to throw pieces of carrot out to the different goats, apparently not paying attention, and when I looked up, this big guy was at the fence, wanting a treat. (I'd just taken his picture, far, far away.) He was very fast. And stealthy. And huge. And so sweet and ugly. I loved him.
It was so neat. I just kept saying 'Wow' and 'This is so cool' and 'Oh my goodness' over and over to myself. There was a gentleman and his granddaughter leaving as we were arriving, but otherwise we had the whole place to ourselves. There were two 'farm dogs' who walked with us part of the way (and who Lewis laughed at and said 'Dah-Dah' for Dog, I think?).
I can't wait to go back so that Kevin can see how neat it is. And it's free (next time I'll bring some cash to put in their donation boxes). A great way to break up the week and get out and enjoy this beautiful weather.
I think the 'water buffalo' is a Scottish Highlands bull. They're starting to graze them out west. Awesome pictures, we want to go next time we are there. First bourbon tour then petting zoo.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Scottish Highlands bull. This is different than the wildlife center by the bourbon distilleries, but yes, we can make a tour of the state.
ReplyDeleteWith bourbon.
ReplyDeletelooks like a great place!! i'm glad you got out of goodwill for a while.
ReplyDeleteI went out there last summer because I was considering camp destinations...were you able to actually walk back to see the camels? I opted to not go there because of the loose animals and rundown appearance of the place. I had fun walking around though. Oh, and Joe's right about the Scotch Highland...we had a heifer at Indy when I worked there. And that emu was totally an ostrich:) Did the emu have one eye? There was one there when I was there that was following a family around because they had crackers. THe mom was scared to death! haha
ReplyDeleteRachel
Well, crap! I was calling it an ostrich to its face, at least. I didn't look at the eyes, but I did notice one had a rough spot/scar on the neck (I read that they have taken in rescues/rehabs).
ReplyDeleteNo, I couldn't get back to the camels. I saw a sign not to feed them, but I walked back in between the barns and never saw a way over that way. I didn't know where I was allowed and not allowed to walk.
There was someone feeding and watering while we were there, but it seems like they could use some volunteers to roam and answer questions and also to help update the signage and help spruce it up some. I read that the man who owned it passed away a few years ago. Most of the signs were worn down, torn, and apparently out of date (for what the sign said was there and what was actually there).
I didn't mind the rundown look (it made me want to give them $$)--I was amazed at how close to the animals we could be. The loose ones made me a little nervous, but it added to the excitement for me, too. I feel like as long as people are respectful of the animals, it should be a safe environment (giving the wild animals credit for being tame). I've also read someone's review that said kids were throwing rocks at the animals and chasing them which pissed me off. There were definitely signs asking you not to do that. But again, the actions of few can ruin it for the rest of us.