The Best Summer Internship!

[Kater]

The Barn!


The barn is home to the softest creatures here…the chinchillas! At last count there were 13 chinchillas. My favorites were the babies (of course) and they needed daily cuddles to help socialize them. The babies are results of accidental breedings that happened when Ann was out of town for a funeral. She wants each of her interns to adopt one (or two) to take to vet school with them. I REALLY wanted to adopt one (actually two) so badly but I know I can’t commit to another pet right now. She will be neutering the male soon and hopes to adopt out the one little baby male.

Sleeping Beauty


Exclamation Point


Sleeping Beauty and Exclamation (the two I wanted)


Sleeping Beauty and Pocket (the runt)


Sleeping Beauty, Pocket and Exclamation


Living temporarily near the barn are the six water turtles. There are all kinds of different sliders in this group and I can hardly keep the types separate.
Here is a big ole "slider pile"! The turtle facing to the right is Jaws and she is the first animal I have given a shot. She had some sort of bacterial infection in her mouth so I had to give her intramuscular injection in her rear leg for a week! She HATED that!


Chickens occasionally use the barn for laying. Butterbutt can often be found laying her egg right next to the radio – she is a very tame bird and was raised in the barn when she was just a chick. Gotta love her!


The other parrot living in the barn is Pele, a female Eclectus parrot. Eclectus parrots are interesting in that they are one of only two animals in which the males are more colorful than the males. Ann stumped me with this question and now I plan to stump you – so can you think of the other animal? Anyway, Pele is a plucker, as you can see. We actually refer to her as psycho because she is and it’s not her fault. Her owner passed away of old age (parrots live a long time, people!) and she was left grieving and confused. She would scream and scream and the deceased’s wife didn’t know what to do. Well, eventually she started to bang on Pele’s cage with her hands whenever she would scream. Pele was very scared by this but also very confused because this woman was the one who fed her and cared for her. Were these hands good or bad? Eventually this drove her insane. She cannot ever be trusted with women, especially women’s hands. She has come a long long way with Ann but she is still psycho. She has bitten Ann a few times and all required stitches. But a man can pick her up and cuddle her and she will be in ecstasy. Pele says funny things and even scolds Kalani when she is being a brat. She is a lot of fun and can be trusted in certain ways. For instance I can hand her nuts through the cage bars if I do so very slowly and talk to her the whole time. I can even kiss the top of her bill if she is relaxed and listening to my voice – she will lean forward and ask for kisses. She is still quite psycho as I have said but she’s got a lot of love to give.


Psychooooo…

[Kater]

David and Goliath are African Spur Thigh Tortoises also known as Sulcata tortoises. Goliath weighs in at over 200 pounds and David isn’t far behind at 100-something pounds. These guys are monsters and were created by some idiot who wanted to make "giant tortoises." They were mostly fed a high protein animal based diet when they were younger and this caused a very fast rate of growth that is completely unhealthy. These tortoises are herbivores that require a high fiber, low protein diet. At least now they are getting the proper nutrition and care but they were in bad shape when they arrived.
Goliath.


Goliath again.


There are three endangered Hawaiian hawks residing at the Three Ring Ranch. Two of them are definitely permanent residents, but there is a chance that the third can be rehabilitated. So Isis is fed everyday from our gloved hands to work on strengthening her feet. It is a magical thing to be that close to a bird of prey and I feel very privileged to have participated in her training. Pictures of Isis can be seen here:
http://threeringranch.org/Isis.htm
http://threeringranch.org/hawk.htm (bottom of the page)
http://threeringranch.org/ (bottom of the page)

Sam is a partial wing amputee and of the normal ‘Io (Hawaiian Hawk) coloration.


Medusa is another partial wing amputee and of the "dark phase" coloration.


There are a total of 5 chickens and 4 muscovy ducks on the property. They pretty much have the run of the place and follow us around during feedings to beg for scraps.
Here are three of the ducks and a chicken taking shelter under the tall grass during a light sprinkle:


Fraiser Crane (ha!) is an African Crowned Crane that was rescued from the same animal park as the zebras. He’s a stunning bird and can be kind of a goof. Whenever we get turkey hens running around the property he’s always trying to dance for them and impress them – it’s quite a sight!
Frasier hanging out by the wetlands.


Tyson is a feral goat who got separated from his mother somehow and was brought in by a good Samaritan. He’s a very cute goat and he gets lots of cuddles from me. However, we had a rough couple of first days because he would constantly try to butt me with his fully intact horns – silly boy.
In this picture you can see that the low tree branch to his left is completely bare of leaves. I tried to get a picture of him eating the leaves -- he hangs from that branch and munches down on the leaves and it’s the funniest thing!

[Kater]

The zebras are what started it all at the Three Ring Ranch. When Ann heard that a certain wild animal park was shutting down and euthanizing the animals she asked what it would take for her to be able to adopt zebras. (She ended up taking in an African Crowned Crane and two Oryx as well.) They told her she had to be a USDA certified sanctuary so she took the steps to become certified. This certain wild animal park used her kindness as a publicity stunt to make it look like they were taking care of the animals they were responsible for when in fact nearly all of the animals were euthanized. Oreo is shown below at the previous facility pregnant with Zoe. Oreo was "wild caught" in Africa and so is very different from her two fillies who were raised around people.
(photo taken by someone else)


So Oreo and baby Zoe were brought over to Ann’s place on the Big Island. Oreo was extremely flighty at first and it took months for Ann to gain her trust. Unbeknownst to anyone, Oreo was pregnant again and a while later gave birth to Tootsie. Here is a baby picture of Tootsie – soooo cute!
(photo taken by someone else)


To be honest, the zebras terrified me during my first week. These are very strong animals, they can break bones with a kick and paralyze you with a bite to the shoulder. The two fillies are the most dangerous because they are far less afraid of humans than Oreo. They are young and so they are constantly play biting each other and kicking each other. If they like you they might want to play bite you too – what a treat! So when I’m in the zebra pens I have to stand tall, be firm and use my "tough" voice. Eventually they responded to me and would back away when I asked them to, but those first couple times in the pen were pretty darn scary.
All 3 zebras. (photo taken by someone else)


Here is Zoe walking towards the horses in the next pasture. Zoe thinks Voodoo is part of her herd and whenever you take the horses out of the pasture she will make the strangest low barking noise to call her back.


Zoe looking at Voodoo…


Oreo and Tootsie


Tootise in front and Oreo behind her.


Tootsie in front and Oreo behind her.


Tootsie in front and Oreo behind her.


Tootsie


Oreo


A painting of some zebras by a local artist.


There is also a stunning painting of Zoe by this same artist here : http://threeringranch.org/LARGE%20im...20by%20SMW.htm

[Kater]

The scenery in Kailua-Kona is amazing as Karen or anyone else who has been there can tell you. I was so lucky to be surrounded by such beauty everyday!

The view down the hill during my daily walk up to the sancutary:



The view from the top of Hualalai:



I only got to the beach once during my stay. I went to a private little beach near the Hilton (gigantic hotel) and just slept the day away.


When I was walking through the Hilton grounds I noticed these feral kitties outsmarting whoever was trying to trap them….heehee…


And last but not least are some sunset pictures…not the best but I thought I’d post them anyway.






Ok, those are all of my pictures. I hope you enjoyed!!!

[GoldenRetrLuver]

Kater!!! Like I told you last night on AIM, I've missed you! I'm so glad you'll be able to post more often.

WOW! I hope I get the chance to do what you were able to do one day. It sounds like an awesome, once in a lifetime experience. All of the animals are beautiful, and it sure sounds like you had a blast.

How is everybody? When you get a chance, we really need to see updated pictures.

WELCOME BACK!

[popcornbird]

OMG! Awesome pictures!!! I *really* enjoyed every one of them and enjoyed your explanation too. Thanks for sharing, and I'm SO glad you're back! You've been missed here! How's Mele?

[RobiLee]

Loved all the pics. Thanks for sharing your internship with us. What an awesome experience.

Robin

[Doggirl]

Great Pictures!

Looks like you're Internship was fun, and Kailua-Kona looks beautiful I hope I get to go there someday.

[NoahsMommy]

Kate,

Oh my gosh! The whole time while I was reading your update/summary, was thinking of how this is going to help you with being a vet. What a truly amazing experience!! I'm so glad you got to do this, and with promise for next year too.

I'm glad you had such a neat time! Thanks so much for sharing it with us as well.

Hugs,
Kelly

[Kfamr]

I was waiting and waiting for this while we were talking on AIM... it's about time!

Hehehe.. It seems like you had a "hard" but very fun and educating time. All of the pictures are wonderful, and all of the animals are so beautiful.

Hawaii sure is one wonderful place. I hope to visit someday... and especially see that sunset!


Glad to have you back with us.....Missed you Kate!

[Uabassoon]

Great pictures! But I'm totally stumped as to what other animal has a more colorful female than male.

[Fallon]

Sounds awesome.. I wish I could have interned at such a neat place! I checked out the website, it's pretty informative too!
Best of Wishes!

[Lillycat]

i am speechless! what an awesome experience! i wish it was mine! thank you sooooo much for sharing!

[Tonya]

I am sooooo jealous! That sounds like a dream come true! Congratulations!

[lizbud]

Welcome back. What a totally fantastic experience. I loved
all the pictures. What a great place to live & work. I never
realized that zebras could be scary (close up)

I really enjoyed your account of this Summer Internship and
reading the stories of Pele, the sad little crazy parrot & Kela
the Rottweiler. (Beautiful dog). The scenery and animal pictures
were great.

p.s. I hope the neglected horses's owner gets a "reminder" to
take better care of their horses.