Things got interesting when we got to the wolves. Evie loves dogs and has absolutely NO fear of them. Any of them. Big or small. And she eagerly climbed her way up the two post fence that sits in front of the actual fence that holds the wolves in. There she was, laughing and giggling like an idiot when the alpha came towards her from about 100 yards out in the wooded area. He clearly had his eyes on her and came right up to the fence, about 4 feet from Evie. And it freaked her out. She scrambled down the fence and hid behind my legs. Then he turned to walk away, at which point she jumped back up on the fence. But he turned again, and she whined, jumped down, and hid behind my legs again. It was funny and unsettling to watch all at the same time. It was obvious that this fearless kid knew that this was no ordinary dog and when he went into stalker mode, she reacted.
Next up was an orphaned brown bear cub.
"Where's his mama?"
Shit.
"Well, Layla. Sometimes in nature mamas and babies get lost and separated and a lot of times when a baby animal comes to the zoo, it's mother has died."
She took this news with the sort of detached understanding that she can sometimes display when watching nature shit go down, but proceeded to ask me if several more animals' moms along the path were also dead.
And so began the horrified looks from other parents and kids.
I did resist the urge to tell her that yes, they were all dead and that the rest of the animals at the zoo were there because they were maimed. There has to be a line, after all.
Good for you in not crossing that line. I often realize that I need to remember that these guys are just two and can't be jaded at such a young age. My sarcasm needs to be reigned in sometimes.
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