St. Louis is Lucky

We went to the Zoo on Saturday because the weather was so gorgeous. We got there at 8:30 (when you’ve got little ones, they don’t sleep in on weekends so you don’t either) and had a blast! The Children’s Zoo is free before 9, which is very cool. Z had a great time looking at everything and petting the goats. She even brushed one!

In the morning, all of the animals are alert and moving around because they’ve just been fed. Even the large tortoises were slowly walking around their habitat. We saw the newest elephant, Priya, eating a tree branch. Although she’s a couple months old, she’s still tiny compared to her sister and mother. Z had fun in the snake house and liked knocking on the anaconda’s window and whispering to it.

Our little excursion made me realize how lucky STL citizens are to have such a wonderful zoo.  I don’t think it’s really something we give much thought to because it’s always available to us, but having a free zoo that’s well maintained, operated, and exceptional at caring for animals is rare. The St. Louis Zoo also offers numerous programs, classes and volunteer opportunities.

For my sister’s birthday last year, we signed her up for the Zoo Parents Program. In this program, you can “adopt” an animal, and your membership goes toward providing the animal with food and care. All of the parents are prominently featured on flat screen televisions in the Living World, as well as on the zoo’s website. H is the proud mother of a red kangaroo; last time H visited the zoo, she saw her kangaroo with a baby in her pouch!

Bottom line of this disjointed post: it’s important to support our local nonprofits and their missions. We’re lucky to have such an outstanding organization so close to home.