The Animals

by Charissa Nasrallah   

One of the main features of the park where I worked was a small animal reserve called the Animal Forest.  It was designed to display to the public the same animals that were in this area when the Settlers came in the 1670’s, such as snakes, foxes, alligators, black bears, mountain lions, bobcats, wolves, elk, deer, turkeys, bison, raccoons, squirrels, frogs and birds. Due to the rapid development of the South, you will no longer find many of these animals around this area in the wild.

My work duties at the park consisted mostly of cleaning and feeding the animals were kept in the reserves as well as designing and presenting wildlife programs for the school groups.  So an estimated 90% of my workday was spent in the Animal Forest.  Early in the morning I would walk through the enclosures to pick up any random objects the visitors might have tossed in at the animals.  I loved these morning walks, I felt as if I was walking on this land during a time when these animals existed here in the wild.

Back in the day these animals taught the Kyowa people many skills for survival.  Animals showed them where to find fresh water, which plants they could use as medicine and different ways to get food, and in turn, the Kyowa taught the Settlers.  The Kyowa people believed each one of these animals were sacred and had a message to share with us.  Many times I felt that somewhere in the timeline mankind was having a harder time hearing what these creatures were saying.

I tried my best to listen to the animals as I went about my daily routine.  Usually I was the person responsible for checking the Black Bear reserve, which was an enclosed area of maritime forest about a mile in perimeter.  The park had two bears they released in the reserve to frolic around with the alligators, turtles, and frogs living by a small stream that ran into the salt marshes.  For the most part, the bears left the other animals alone and vise versa, unless there was some food to fight over.  The bears usually won, but there have been many times I have witnessed a turtle take a stubbornly strong stand against one. 

Many times I wished black bears were still found here in the wild, but unfortunately they don’t fend well in cities that have a lot of cars and people.  Even I had to agree that wild black bears would not be the best thing to bring back into this area, despite my attempts at teaching others the appropriate way to act if confronted by one in the wild.  I was quite confident, however, that if any unfortunately black bear were to lose its way and come wandering through town, there were enough people around ready with shotguns to solve the problem.

After I released the bears into the reserves, I’d begin cleaning their cages.  Bears are definitely more fun to teach about than to clean up after.  After shoveling out the mess, I would wash out the cages with water.  Then I would proceed to meticulously scrub them down with a push-brush and a cleaner we kept back by the holding cages.  After the holding cage was completely covered with the disinfectant, I’d rinse it out with the hose.     

For the most part, my morning routine went smoothly with very little complications.  Every now and then I’d find a spider or two in my hair or stroll through some bear droppings.  But one day during my morning duties, I did notice an unusually colorful filmy-residue on some of the small pools of water in the bear reserve.   Days later, a dead alligator was found in these same murky waters, giving me a very clear message.

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