I'm hungry!!

Soon after P.J. was born, we put her back in the enclosure with her mom, Lady. We wanted them to bond so we kept them in a smaller inside area. As we watched them interact, we noticed that Lady did not want anything to do with her new baby P.J. When P.J. went to get milk, Lady would walk away and not let her nurse. We were also seeing Lady nip at P.J., it was decided that we would hand raise P.J. It is always best to let the mother raise the young, but in this case, we had to step in. P.J. now has her own enclosure and eats every four hours starting at 6:30 am and ending at 10:30 pm. She has been steadily gaining weight.

P.J. has learned that I am her "mom" so she follows me close!

What is a White-Lipped Deer?

White-Lipped deer (also called Thorold's Deer) are large elk-size deer found in China. They are called white-lipped deer because of well... their white lips! They have large, solid hooves that help them with climbing up mountains. When they walk, you can hear a clicking noise which comes from their hooves. Adult females can weigh around 400 pounds and males weigh around 500 pounds. In captivity, they can live 15-20 years. Here are pictures of "P.J's" parents -"Chip" and "Lady"

"Chip" dropped his antlers ~ 3 weeks ago. They are in the early stage of development for the year. Deer drop their antlers every year. When they are at full length, they can be 3 feet high!

Check out Lady's white lips!!

A Precious Jewel - P.J.

On Monday, May 25th, a new baby was welcomed into our zoo family. She is a White-Lipped Deer fawn. At approximately 2:30pm our female White-Lipped deer was found in the beginning stages of giving birth. She was watched for the next several hours. Unfortunately, the mother was unable to give birth on her own. We had to call in the emergency vet to help out. Zoo animals tend to be less fit than their wild relatives which can cause complications in giving birth. After all was said and done, the zoo welcomed P.J. a healthy baby girl!