My visit to Muskoka

Well my followers (all NINE of you!!), I know I have been a bad, bad blogger; not blogging in over a week!  I have no excuse.  I have not been any busier than usual, have had no emergency vet visits, no CATastrophees to deal with, not even a snotty kitten nose to unplug.  I appologize for leaving you all hanging, but based on the flood of e-mails I received (more like a trickle from a dried up well!) demanding more fodder, I will assume that you found other things to occupy your time and we'll just move on...

I actually spent last week anticipating a photography workshop at The Muskoka Wildlife Center which I attended this past Saturday.  "What does this have to do with your cats?" you may ask... Well, as an avid feline afficionado, my appreciation goes far beyond your average (or in my case, super-cute) house cat.  I have always been fascinated by the BIG cats, so when I saw the opportunity to get up close with some of our native wildlife, I jumped at the chance, packed my camera gear, booked a room at the fabulous Inn On Bay in Gravenhurst and embarked on my 7-hour drive to Muskoka.

While the "photography workshop" aspect of the day was less than stellar for the $230 fee, the three hours that I spent in very close proximity to the cougar, lynx, wolves and bobcat was well worth the price of admission!  As an added bonus, Dale, the co-director and owner of the facility was with us the entire time and generously shared his wealth of knowledge about each species, answered all our questions and even told us the stories of how each animal came to be at his rehab center.  How do I get a job like that?  Oh yeah, I would have had to finish those darned biology classes in school!  But I digress...

Our little group of 5 photographers (Plus the "workshop leader") spent the morning with Dale and Keith (A wildlife caregiver at the facility).  They started our adventure with a quick safety briefing and then led us INTO the enclosure with two wolves, Montana and Akayla.  Now, just to give you an idea of how close we really were to these impressive animals, I shot this photo of the guy next to me:

Surprisingly, the wolves were quite timid and although they would cautiously approach us to see what we were all about, as soon as someone would cough, move a little too abruptly or sometimes even just click the shutter release, the wolves would take off in the opposite direction.  Of course, they eventually got used to us and got pretty bored at being the object of our admiration.

To be honest, I was getting bored too.  After all, I was here for the cats, so I was thrilled when we moved on to our next model:  the cougar!  This time we were not allowed to enter the enclosure and when I got a closer look at Kokanee, an 8-year old adult male, I understood why:  He is ALL muscle and teeth!  Even sitting safely behind a fence to take photos of him, I admit that I was intimidated when he would run up, licking his lips in anticipation of some fresh venison.  Of course, this did not supress my inate urge to reach out and pet him, but I showed tremendous restraint and was satisfied just being so close to such a magnificent creature.

Kokanee was born in captivity and raised by humans.  As a result, he cannot be released back into the wild.  Dale explained to us that although it "sucks to live in captivity", the best thing he can do to improve the lives of these animals is to provide companionship.  Unfortunately, another cougar was not available (and Dale is already married), so Kokanee lives with a black bear!!  It being winter and all, the black bear, Kootenay was snuggled up in his winter den, but he did poke his nose out to say hello to us before going back to sleep.  I will definitely be back in the spring to check out this odd couple!

Next we moved on to the lynx, which was the highlight of my day.  Not only were we able to enter the enclosure to photograph Yeti, the adult lynx, up close, but we were treated to some very playful behavior when someone accidentally spilled Coke all over the snow (NO, it was NOT me!!).  Since felines are curious by nature and love to investigate new smells, Yeti was fascinated by the Coke and immediately began to roll in it!
 

Dale then brought out Rufus, the one-eyed Bobcat, whose story is so poignant that I will save it for an entry of its own later this week.  While we played paparazzi with Rufus, Keith went to fetch the juvenile lynx, who bounded into the enclosure, chased snowballs, rubbed against us, jumped over us, bounced off trees and generally just had a grand old time.  She was so much like a kitten, that I felt right at home.  In fact, I was so captivated by her antics that I hardly took any photos!! After about 20 minutes, she collapsed on a snowbank with a leaf she had "caught" and decided she needed to take a break.

I could have stayed in that enclosure all day, just watching her play, but the rest of the group was anxious to move on to our next, and final, subject of the day - a tiny saw-whet owl named Luna.

We photographed this delightful and cooperative little creature for a while and then slowly headed back to the main building and parking lot.  I wish I could have stayed longer, listened to more of Dale's stories and just immersed myself in the atmosphere of this wonderful place... As I was driving away, I was already planning for another visit in the spring!