Epilogue

I can't believe it was an even 90 weeks...huh, anywho. So the Monday after graduation I was flying away again to the exotic location of....Lincoln, NE. Well, I'm from the mid-west, so you can imagine the chance to be back there when I saw the job post was tempting! I had my interview at the Lincoln Children's Zoo and they hired me on the spot! Everything went great and I think I'm really going to like it there! I will be caring for a string of animals including: Amur leopards, North American river otters, Chinese dwarf crocodiles, wallabys, and most importantly, Humboldt penguins. The penguins are to be the new star attraction for the zoo and they will be my responsibility to have ready for some amazing keeper talks. After some web searches, I think I'll be trying to break some new training ground with these very ADD birds, so we'll see how all this goes! My life is in an uproar right now trying to scramble to get myself out there. Hubby is unfortunately staying behind until he finds a job, but that shouldn't be long, I hope. Anyone wishing to see the success of an EATM grad should stop by the zoo and see me! The penguin exhibit won't open until maybe September, so come see me then!

Week 90: Paco-less Graduation, AKA: IT'S OVER!

Coming home felt great after two weeks away. I had to kill time at the zoo again this week, and there was still a whole lot of nothing for me to do! The first years will be fine and I feel OK with leaving them now. We did learn that Ghost will have a new plan for the rest of his life. He is no longer being manned and will have a new outdoor extension of his mew built so he has free access to outside. From there they will work on re-training him to function without equipment and be more of a free-working bird, which will be really neat for the public to see as well, so I expect great things for him in the future. I also learned that Paco, the white nosed coati, passed on the week before as well. Very sad, but she was also on the edge of her life-span. On Thursday, I had family come in for my graduation including my mom, one sister, and the in-laws. We had a great time together and they all really enjoyed seeing the zoo and all the festivities! Friday starts off with "family circus", a show where we can show off to all our friends and family all the cool animals we've worked with that come out to do shows. It was a few hours long, but we managed to keep everyone's attention just fine! After that you are free to do what you want until the ceremony. The ceremony its self was wonderful! There were lots of tears, but what do you expect? In addition to ending the best two years of your life (so far), we had to remember all we had lost this year too. All the speeches were wonderful and better than I could have hoped for. I was proud and happy when Dr. S called my name to receive my certificate. Hubby thinks I got one of the best compliments given when she called me. It was an emotional day, but it was also an emotional two years, so it was fitting! Another class of 50 is graduated and off into the world from EATM! (Pics: Paco in my lap, family circus [me with Nuez], graduation)

Week 89: Cat Ambassador

I found myself quickly on a plane and jetting into Cincinnati, OH where the wonderful zoo there has a wonderful program called "Cat Ambassadors". Basically, think cheetah show. The main feature is of course, 5 cheetahs, but they also have an ocelot, a fishing cat, servals, dogs, a red river hog, and house cats. They had just moved into a new building with a new yard for them to put their summer shows on in. Because they had JUST moved, there was still lots of construction going on that I could see in progress and how that whole process works out. There wasn't a lot of training going on as a result, but I still had tons of fun hanging out with the cheetahs and all the other animals. I didn't get to see a full run practice either, but we did let a couple chase a wiffle ball around on the end of a lunge whip, so it was close. Great week overall that I wouldn't trade for anything! (Pics: Me and Chance, Cheetah runs, up close)

Week 88: ABMA

I spent my first project week at the Animal Behavioral Management Alliance (ABMA) conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I gotta say the city wasn't that great, and we generally found the customer service to be incredibly poor across the board in that city. Sorry to any natives, but it's just not the same friendly atmosphere there that I've grown accustomed to. It was my first big journey to the east coast, that I can remember at least. The week was filled with paper presentations and small workshops (which is code for more lectures). There were quite a few people from my class that did attend, as well as our staff members Gary and Cindy. I didn't meet a lot of new people, but the few that I did were nice and helpful! I was glad to find that we Moorparkers are a bit ahead of the training curve from what I got out of the presentations. I really enjoyed seeing the Pittsburgh Zoo and Aquarium as well as the National Aviary. The big highlight was when we went to the animal shelter and got to work with their animals to help make them more adoptable. News crews came out and I actually made both the news cast and the local paper! I was working with some of their cats, and got some high praise for some of the work I did with a very shy kitty! The whole time I was also paying very close attention to things because I was also a judge at the conference and at the end I was surprised to be rewarded with a nice etched glass paperweight for my contributions. I think it was lots of fun and I'd love to be able to attend more of these in the future! Unfortunately, I was in such a rush when I left, I forgot my camera, so maybe I'll be able to steal some nice pictures off of my friends...

Week 87: Harrison's Out of Chance

Been a pretty slow week, really. I only have to put in fifteen hours at the zoo, over four days, so I'm mostly kicking it at home, relaxing and job hunting. Vegas did not pan out for a project, but still a possible job. On Wednesday, I got surprised by a bunch of physicals going on for some animals and I ended up helping out, sort of playing vet tech for the day. I really enjoyed it! That's something I've always kicked-around doing, but that means yet another two years of school...bleh. Probably not going to happen, but possible. Unfortunately, as a result of one of those physicals, we decided it was Chance's time to leave us. It appeared that his liver was not functioning at all, or at least very little. That sucked. He was the best, and I will miss him dearly. More shockingly, on Friday morning, Harrison was found dead in his mew. Causes are yet to be determined, but it was totally unexpected. Crazyness. I really hope that was the end of the deaths for our class. There's at least not any more that I really see happening for sure soon. (Pics: Chance (binturong), Harrison (Harris hawk))

Bonus: Job Rant/Ramble

I figured since I'll be gone for two weeks and unable to post, I'd go ahead and make a little bonus post, but it's not gonna be a pretty one. As I am using this blog-thingy as some what of a diary and place to put my personal thoughts, I'm gonna go ahead and do this here, but be warned, some people might not be happy after reading this. I'm sorry in advance, but these are my true feelings, and they just need to be out there. I'm sure if you put yourself in my place, (which you'll better be able to do after reading this perhaps) you'd feel the same way or at least understand. I'm not hating, I'm just venting in the best way I know how.
Jobs. Jobs suck. Fundamentally, everyone knows this, yet everyone needs one/wants one. I am at the point where I am both. I do want a job, I desperately want to work in this wonderful world of animals, and yet, it is very hard to even get an interview it seems. The main reason I've spent the last two years of my life here is to give me an edge and get ahead in the job market, I'm sure it's helping, but I'm not sure by how much. I have applied for several jobs, all over the country, doing several different things, and yet, no dice. I unfortunately don't have the luxury of taking a seasonal or unpaid internship position as many of my classmates do. The married life is great, but I'm definitely better understanding the whole "ball and chain" bit. Every day I check the job boards and put myself out there for something new, find myself asking if that's something I even want to do or if it's some place I even want to be. Now, as graduation is nearing, I find myself caring less and less about the gritty details and more about just getting something that pays me money. I'm driving myself crazy. While I seem to be applying willy-nilly across the nation, I also have to consider the hubs and what he can do where. He will make more moneys than myself, that is for sure, so it is very important to consult with him along this super crazy journey. It's rough at times, there have been a few minor tiffs, but nothing major, and really I think we're kind of ignoring it until something concrete pops up (like an actual job offer, or even an interview at this point...). The even worse part is that it seems that his job market is getting just as difficult as mine. Jobs are tight everywhere for everyone, and that's no secret anymore.
As if I wasn't taking all this pressure from myself (trust me, you don't want to be in my head, I'm a real bitch, even to me...) and the hubs, and hearing about all my classmates' job ventures/possibilities, I'm getting it from all other imaginable sides. Anyone else related to me in any way has their own opinion on what I should do (OK, it's mostly the where, they could likely care less about the what), and that's totally understandable. In a perfect world, everyone who means something special to you in any way would all live just a stone's throw away and we'd hang out all day long and have picnics, etc. I cannot deny the fact that it would be amazing to live near the people that I love and miss and have been very separated from for two amazing years, however, I also must deal with the reality that all of those people live in very different places and so no matter what happens, some one loses (in a sense) and there is no possible way to please everyone, so I'm taking the road of pleasing myself (in this case, that also includes the hubs, since, by marriage, he is basically an extension of me). Even pleasing the self is proving insanely difficult. I very much hope that I can end up somewhere where I'm near to at least someone I know, let alone someone related to me that I care dearly about. This is all of the difficult and crappy things that are going through my head and every time I hear another, "when are you moving out here?", or "how about that job in _____?", or "why on earth would you want to live there?" I just want to explode with all of these thoughts in their faces (or ear holes, depending on if they're on the phone...). If I start talking about a place that makes no sense, rest assured, I have a good reason, maybe because there's some super-awesome job that would make me immeasurably happy is hiding there. For those of you that care, (that are hopefully still reading this...) don't worry! I'll take care of me/us and we'll figure it out together. Too many cooks spoil the broth (or something like that). This time the broth is our life, and we'd like to make it together. Rest assured that all of you great crazy lovable people in our lives are also thought of in every decision that we make because you are all a part of us too! (otherwise we wouldn't be so crazy and lovable ourselves...)
Yeah for writing therapy! I hope that wasn't too harsh for anyone, but I hope that everyone reading this has felt like this at some point too. My intention is not to hurt feelings or push anyone away, but to allow everyone to follow along in my crazy mental journey that is quickly becoming an anxiety attack! Thanks for reading, I know writing all this out has actually really helped me a lot.

Week 86: School's Out Forever!

All formal classes (which was just the vet classes) wrapped up this week! We took our finals and then celebrated by throwing an "Outbreak" party. We all brought food and watched the great movie, Outbreak. Pretty simple. A few people also left this week on their projects. Some are not to be heard from again...which is great for me! Slowly now, people will be gone over the weeks, most are coming back for graduation, but not all. All of my first years are good to go, and I feel alright about leaving the animals with them. In EATM tradition, we exchanged gifts this week. We got gifts for them to use with the animals and they got their buddy's something nice to graduate with. Mine (yes, I have 2) were sweet enough to give me some good prints of pics I only have electronically and to blow up and frame a really cute one of me with the Pegs. I also got a gift card to buy a frame to put a pic of me and Ghost into. Such good buddies! I'm sure they're in for an interesting summer, but what class doesn't go through all that drama? It's a right of passage or something. Still waiting on official word about doing a Vegas project, but I'm optimistic! Now I'm just relaxing, until I start traveling! (Pics: Sundance's fluffy feet (duing knock-down), Spring spec pics)

Week 85: Spring Spec=Over

Sunday ended the big festivities. I won't be participating in another one of these except as a spectator! Hollywood Animals came out for our creature feature with one of their leopards (the one I went on set with). It was good to catch up with those guys. The week is now busy, yet empty because it's officially spring break for us. That basically means that with no classes, it was time to crack down on turn overs in a big way with the first years. Most of them have taken over the feeding calendars entirely now, and we have very little to do. Ghost is the one animal I have to stay involved with due to his medical issues, we are unable to let the first years man him just yet, but that's OK, it's not much of a time commitment. Even the Vervets' turn overs are going extremely well and they are taking to their new trainers with little resistance! Now we are looking at the real end approaching quickly. I find my self with lots of free time, yet little to do. I have trouble remembering things I did before the program, how to dress like a normal person (there's seriously cob webs on some of my clothes) and I'm applying for jobs like a crazy person. I just need some hope for employment! (Pics: Spring Spec show, Hollywood Animals [Athari again])

Week 84: Just Another Spring Spec.

The weeks are feeling longer, but less busy. Turnovers are progressing nicely and most first years are at a point where they can mostly take over now. I've got tons of day watch to be doing to make up for the weeks when I'm gone on projects. Some exciting news came in and I found out that the Vegas magician was hiring for sure and he might want to do a project with me (it sounded like as a working interview!). I sent in my resume and some head shots that a classmate helped me take as he requested. Now, I'm just waiting to find out if it will really happen! Spring Spec has picked up a bit, but still staying pretty slow. On Saturday, I actually some of my family that is local show up and they had a great time at the zoo! I was pretty happy to get someone besides Jon out for the show. I've been enjoying the show more myself as we haven't been beating it to death in rehearsals anymore. One of my classes officially ended this week, Ethics. It was an alright class, sure did open my eyes to how ignorant people are about what's happening in the movement, and that was largely due to my classmates, not so much due to the professor, although he's a pretty cool guy himself. (Pics: spring spec show, me and the vervets)

Week 83: Vetrinary Insanity

This week, I was late back to the zoo twice due to vet issues. On Monday, Peggy got spayed (finally!) and we had to drive forever away to get her and got back to the zoo around 5. The next night, we took Ghost in for a work up since he's had some weird issues (turns out to look fine so far) and we got back from that at around 6:30 pm...arg. He's also been pulled from shows until further notice to keep his stress down. Very frustrating! At least he did well in spring spec on last Saturday so I should have gotten a good grade then. This week is fairly light so we can all stay focused on the event at hand. Sometimes I wish it just ran for a week straight... Ah well. We are making some money, it's just not as good or impressive as last year due to the laziness of a few people who were supposed to get the word out. All us second years are feeling the end is near and it's getting a little sad, and exciting. Still no word on any job front for me...but it's out there...somewhere.

Week 82: My Buddy and Me

Amid the flurry of prepping for the opening weekend of Spring spec, life went on, and some didn't. I found Buddy, the raccoon to be losing energy all week and we knew it was near the end for him. He finally stopped being too interested in food, especially the food he needed to be interested in, and we made the call to euthanize him. It wasn't easy for some, but I saw it coming all week and was shockingly not over emotional about it. It felt even better later when in the necropsy, a 1 lb liver tumor was found. The things these animals hide...
The rest of the week did go on, and we learned such silly things as gun safety and blow dart skills! My tickets are all purchased for projects at the ABMA conference in Pittsburgh and the following week hanging out at the Cat Ambassador program at the Cincinnati zoo! And, so far, spring spec is going alright, but definitely a bust from last year...sadness. (Pics: Buddy, Ghost in spring spec)

Week 81: New Hooves

This was a pretty average week. Progress was made in some turnovers. A meeting was held with the first years that were chosen as safety managers to get them rolling. I had a couple tests, and my presentation for vet lab. All went very well, as usual. The rest of the week saw the rest of the new animals roll in to start their respective quarantines! We got two llamas (a mom and daughter), three donkeys (one adult, two 7 months), a pot-bellied pig (7 months), and a zebu (think small brama). Everyone is super stoked to hang out with these guys for the short time that we have, although since they are in quarantine, we don't so much get to do anything with them...but by the time we graduate, they should be available... Progress was made with my projects, now I'll be going to the ABMA conference, followed by a week in Cincinnati for the Cat Ambassador project! Rumors are circulating that they will have baby cougars in around that time...sweet! (Pics: llamas, Donkeys (adult is James), Pig (Bubbles), Zebu (Norman))

Week 80: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Lynx?

The week opened with postings for us second years to request to be trainers on the new animals we were going to receive. I put my name in, not expecting anything since there were people I thought were worse off than me for animals, but unexpectedly, I got assigned to Sundance, the lynx! We found that happy news out on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, my group gave their lack-luster performance of our ethics skit, and nailed it! I love teachers that don't care enough to actually grade anything hard. This week also marked the beginning of full dress rehearsals for spring spec! Everything is still clicking away there with little issue.
As a fun thing I was asked by a staff member to take Ghost (the bald eagle) to a boy scout eagle award ceremony on Saturday. It actually went pretty well, except that they got my name wrong, and they kept calling Ghost a she....ah well, all in fun! Everyone loved it and was very appreciative! To top it all off, on Friday, we were surprised with the information that Butch the bobcat, and Sundance the lynx were coming in on Saturday night! So I got to meet them and they are going to be a great learning experience... (Pics: Butch, Sundance)

Week 79: Inspiration

Things seemed to be looking up this week. I'm not sure why, but they were. On Tuesday, Ken Ramierez dropped by for an excellent set of speeches. Those of you who have no idea who that is (which I bet is most of you), he is the VP curator of the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. He wrote our textbook for training, and is in the fore-front of the field. Not only does he enjoy playing with marine mammals, but he also has a great passion for service dog training. He came and discussed the futures of our field and possible branches for us to explore that are growing as we speak. He then used his other slot to talk about an experimental training he started with a search and rescue dog to teach it mimicry (in this context, to do the behavior the dog next to it just did on the command "copy"). All very interesting and good for us to hear about! We were then told that he would be at the ABMA conference (which I am going to) and will conduct a workshop there on the "abc's of training" at a shelter, using their dogs! Very cool! I also found another job that interests me at the Denver zoo doing outreach with them. Eventually, one of these jobs will pan out... Still nothing about any project locations. Rehearsals are continuing, costumes are coming together, and we are hard hit by the fact that this show is going to be significantly more about people than animals, and there's just not much to do about it due to all of our recent losses. The first years got their animal assignments, and they are all pumped about it. I'm fairly happy with who I'll be leaving in charge, but the turn over process tends to be very revealing about a person, their reliability, and mannerisms, so we'll see... There's nothing to do about it though. Even if I don't really like them, as long as they don't fail out, they are going to be with the animals regardless of my opinion, so I just have to do the best I can! Spring spec starts in two weeks, I have two major presentations to make in those two weeks, and things are about to get a little crazy... (Pics: From my project at Hollywood Animals- on set, working a tiger on a leash, watching the monkey)

Week 78: Running on Fumes

Myself and others are definitely feeling a little pooped-out. The end is near and we can all feel it. Projects are coming together for some and graduation plans are being made. The first years will be getting their first animal assignments soon and they are probably a little too excited. My group in ethics is giving me a slight headache due to their inability to meet and get things done. That will be over soon as well. We had a meeting with staff this week to work on starting introductions with the vervet monkeys so that should entertain me a bit. We are starting the work days for spring spec so soon the zoo will be extra western and the stage will be mostly done. Full dress rehearsals are just a few weeks away, but so is the actual performances too...eesh. On a fun note, for the super bowl, the commercial I was on set for aired! If you're curious, check out the sleepwalker coke ad. (Pics: Moss Landing Marine Mammal Center, On set for the Coke ad with Athari the leopard)

Week 77: Malaika Go Bye-Bye

Things couldn't stay quiet for long. Over the weekend, Malaika, an African gray parrot, came up sick. She didn't make it, and we think it was lead poisoning from an enclosure she shouldn't have been in, but was. Totally sucks, but it happened, and we take the blame.
Everything else remained the same. We had a test in vet class already and now the paper presentations have started, so class is a little more interesting. Rehearsals keep happening at a slower pace than I like to see, but we are bringing animals now and costumes are coming together slowly. Not much else to say though....still waiting on new arrivals. (Pics: Malaika, Monterrey Bay Aquarium: sea otter and Jellyfish)

Week 76: No News is Good News

A slow week really. A nice change of pace. Nothing died, we all just sailed through our classes and there was no major drama. Rehearsals continue and I feel like we make very little progress as time goes on and spring spec is ever closer... But, staff thinks we are doing ok with the schedule.
I'll take this slow week to address the fact that new animals should begin flooding into our facility in the next month or two. It really irks me that staff has waited so long to actively seek these animals out. I understand that we don't generally pay for our animals, they are all donated or loaned to us. Most of the 20+ deaths that my class have seen have been due purely to age. This was something the staff could have easily seen coming and started planning for and seeking these animals out months ago. Now, the rest of my class is annoyed because even if these animals come here before we graduate, they have to quarantine for a month and at this point, if we are assigned as trainers, it will only be for about a month, and they likely won't appear in spring spec. All the talk of new animals is basically a moot point for us since we know we'll have little to nothing to do with them. It is unfortunate that my experience at various facilities that deal with animals have shown me this is often the case. Things only happen when the problem has come to crisis level and something HAS to be done. Hopefully I can eventually get a job at a place with copious amounts of money that can keep ahead of all these games. (Pics: Marine Mammal Center--Sea lions, sea lion brains, and baleen)

Week 75: Friday Left on Saturday

This week was a shorter one with MLK day canceling classes on Monday. No major revelations occurred, classes barely happened with all the animal issues still ensuing. Rehearsals for spring spec are at a crawl with the massive downpour that plagued us all week (actual rain was great, timing was sort of sucky on nature's part...). I'm still trying to figure out when my animals will appear in the show, and what they will be doing so I can start training that.
On Friday, the three little pigs (Larry, Curly, and Mau) were taken back by their owner to hopefully better diagnose and address whatever is wrong with their GI systems. There is a possibility of them not coming back, so we are all holding our breath. And, of course, the blog wouldn't be the same without some more really bad news. On Saturday morning, Friday the raccoon was found in bad shape and she was taken in to be put down. Much sadness, she was the cutest raccoon (I mean that, even though I'm on Buddy, she was cuter!)(Pics: Curly, Friday, Six Flags: Discovery Kingdom--killer whale)

Week 74: The End of a Legend, a Quadruple Whammy

This week was the official, and rocky, kick-off to my last semester here at EATM. I'll start in the traditional break-down of all my new classes I've enrolled in:
Animal Training Practicum: This is a fancy name for our training class, which is just a lab this time. This semester we focus mostly on training behaviors for the Spring Spectacular show, or other fun public interactive things where possible.
Elementary Vet Procedures II/Lab: This is the continuation of last semester's lecture and lab. This time, we present the big paper we wrote last semester in a slide show/talk. Lab is rounded out with blow dart training and gun safety!
Ethical and Legal Issues: This is also called "Applied Animal Ethics". It's taught by a guy from outside the program, but he's been doing it a long time and loves the program. Here we will learn about the different issues about utilizing animals they way they currently are and what all sides of the arguments are so we can better defend the right to do what we do.
Projects: Yep, there's a class for this. This never formally meets, but it's how we get to do all the cool travels we have coming in April!
Second Year #2 Zoo Work Skills: This is the catch-all again. Covers our day-to-day duties on the zoo. Area, day watch, feedings, etc.
Wildlife Education III Lab: This is the class where we are broken into our two casts and start building and rehearsing our fantastic show for Spring Spectacular.
Zoo Days III: Just zoo days again. This time we have two at LA and one at Santa Barbara.
There's your class break-down, now to my actual week:
Started on Sunday with my first zoo day of the semester. I did the Wild Woods string at LA. It was sweet! The guy was really nice and it was lots of fun to hang out and watch the wild dogs be totally nuts. He also helped me by talking about working in zoos and he seems to think that I'd be good in a zoo environment...well, he only knew me for the one day, but we'll see. The rest of the week was insanity with classes and Spring Spec. stuff starting to happen. A lot of my classes were somewhat preempted by all the medical issues our animal population continues to run into. It was decided that on Friday, Legend (our Gray wolf) and the rest of the three sheep would be put down. They were all really old and definitely at the end of their lines. It was a rough day for everyone. I spent that morning taking Buddy, the raccoon, to the vet to be checked out. He has congestive heart failure, so we are playing a waiting game, but also treating him at the same time. Our population continues to shrink... My week ended with another, and my final, LA zoo day. I repeated the Indian rhino string since I didn't get the full experience last time. There was lots of craziness there with things that I am betting they don't want me talking about on the internet, so I won't. I still had a great day and I really enjoyed feeding Jabba, the hippo at the end of it. One more zoo day, and that's all over now! (Pictures: Legend, a sheep, Six Flags: Discovery Kingdom--Tigers)

Week 73: End of Boredom

This is the last week of the winter intersession, so the huge periods of time with nothing to do will be ceasing quite soon. A pretty chill week overall. Nothing died this week, although there were some health scares, but so far everyone/thing is fine. It was good to have the extra time to hang out with the hubby this week, especially since we celebrated our third anniversary! Year 3 is leather, so I was gifted a very useful pair of water-proof boots since my previous pair had died. I gave him a leather-bound photo album full of our honeymoon pictures. Next year is fruit and flowers...that'll be entertaining I bet.
A new bit of info that might start popping up here as time goes on now is job prospects. I actually sent in an application to the Oklahoma City Zoo, the zoo I grew up with. We will see where the job road takes me. It's not maybe my optimal job, but it wouldn't suck either, and hubby is cool with going back to OK. Hopefully I at least get an interview for good practice. I'll keep you posted! (Pictures: Six Flags: Discovery kingdom--a fruit bat, a tamandua, and a bush baby)

Week 72: Winter Wonderland and Frozen Tears

This week the Hubbs and I took a trip to his homeland of Colorado to visit his family and to enjoy the New Year! It was relaxed and low key for the most part, and definitely cold and snowy! I got to meet my nephew for the first time and he won't remember it at all, since he's only a whopping 5 months old. It's cool how fast things grow up though. Overall, it was a good escape from the zoo and a good reconnection to what winter is supposed to feel like. I must admit though, it would have been nice if I had spent a bit of time with my family, but this is the married life. I did have the misfortune of returning home to discover that Sampson, our decrepitly old bobcat (we're talking 22 here!) passed away finally. They expected him to die the summer just prior to us starting the program, and here he hung on this long with chronic renal failure. Very impressive. It was definitely his time, but his adorable puss-face will be missed. (Pictures: Sampson, Elephants at Discovery Kingdom)