We’ve been getting a lot of asks and comments about escaped animals. Truth be told, we haven’t had much happen during our open sessions. During the zoo’s construction, we’d get the occasional slip-up. Nothing major. A kulinda here, a dodo here, a plesiosaur pup in the duck pond... All things considered, we’ve done a pretty good job of keeping all the animals where they’re supposed to be. This morning, however, was the first time that I actually felt...scared.

I was running some routine maintenance with some other handlers at the raptor complex -- camera adjustments, making sure the locking mechanisms on the doors worked, vending machine restocking, food chute cleaning -- that kind of stuff. We reconvened in the control room to talk about changes made and yadayadayada, employee stuff. Someplace, somewhere, one of the main power lines had a little bit of a problem. And, well, by a little bit, I mean we were left in pitch darkness inside the compound control room. 

“What was that?”

“Power’s gone. We’re...uncomfortably close to the raptors, too.”

“I could’ve sworn I’ve seen this before.”

“Nova?”

“Yeah, I’ll check it out.”

I was intending on leaving the building to see if this was a facility-wide power issue. My phone was out.

I made a perfect 180 right back into the control room. As the kids say, “Nope.”

Clearly, we all made it out. The auxiliary power came back on within the next few minutes, and we had an ops team coerce the domaeosaur (it was a Deinonychus, I think) back into its enclosure. The power surge left one of the food dispensers open, which let the animal scurry up the chute into the animal maintenance/security compound. I’ll have a word with management soon.

In the meantime, I’m thinking of taking up martial arts. Maybe firearm training. Joining the military?

“Jensen, how much sauropod feed have we got left in storage? The ranger depot’s running low.”

“Negative five tonnes.”

“…negative five tonnes?”

“We had to dip into the other species’ reserves to keep up with demand.”

This is a discussion that we have regularly around these parts. There’s a reason why we have so few of the larger animals. Their dining bills are through the roof, and they don’t even tip us. They don’t have opposable thumbs, nor the ability to read, and therefore cannot circle the varying amounts of 10, 15, 18, and 20 percent. If they could, I also assume they wouldn’t. They’d be those customers.

Work on Vista View’s final installment – The Conway Trail – has completed. I took a picture of Loretta, one of my interns, with one of our two brachs in the background on the aforementioned trail (I can’t tell which one -- their head crests have different markings, but it’s very difficult to see in this shot). With the pathway’s finalization, the gigantic enclosure has completed all phases of construction (maintenance withheld). And for those of you who are worried that the brachs, camarasaurs, or brontosaurs will squash any guests -- fear not! Low-frequency soundboxes built along the trail deter them from getting too close.

My work isn’t over, however, as I have to begin overseeing the final touches and facilitate the introduction of animals in several other soon-to-be-revealed attractions. Hold onto your hats, folks. It’s going to be a fun time.

The Huxley Paleozoo will never be finished. If anyone ever declares this place “finished,” consider it under new management. The fauna and flora here require constant care and attention, and as our first wave of construction and fine-tuning concludes, you can always expect even just the slightest bit more.