No Edmund Photos Available:I Give You the Binturong
Steven is doing one of his pediatric rotations at WakeMed in Raleigh this month. WakeMed has a totally different call schedule than UNC. Almost three weeks in and I'm still not accustomed to it. Instead of being on-call 36 hours at a time every fourth night, Steven works a 7 pm to 7 am shift three nights a week. While this means he gets to come home the next day, neither Edmund or I see him much. Steven uses this time to sleep. I suppose I would too if I were up all night. His current schedule also seems to have no rhyme or reason. While I'm sure the schedule makes perfect sense to the powers that be at Wake-Med, I often find myself scrambling to find some way to occupy my time when I discover a whole weekend will pass without crossing paths with my husband. Last weekend was one such weekend.
I can be painfully shy at times although I try my best to hide it. I am some strange mix between an introvert and an extrovert. I really don't like boisterous parties, but I also don't like to spend my days alone in thought. I love being with people, just not huge groups of them. So it can be very difficult for me when Steven isn't around. I want to be able to do things with people, but I also don't want to impose. I couldn't take another weekend cooped up by myself without adult company, so after two days of mulling over how I should approach the issue, I decided to casually mention to Jennifer that if she had some free time we should take our kids somewhere. She said she'd been wanting to go to the Carolina Tiger Rescue in Pittsboro, but her husband wasn't interested. Lo and behold, I'd been wanting to see some tigers myself, and Steven wasn't interested. Perfect!
I wasn't sure what to expect from the Carolina Tiger Rescue (formerly Carnivore Preservation Trust). When we arrived we had to sign our lives and our children's lives away on a very lengthy release form. We then sat in a room with about twenty other tour group members while the tour guides went over some rules. As Emma and Edmund ran around the room we listened as the tour guides relayed the two most important rules for viewing carnivores: no running and no screaming. If we hadn't already driven more than 30 minutes and paid for the tour, that would have been my cue to get up and leave. We hadn't even started the tour and my child was breaking both rules. I didn't feel too embarrassed. His partner in crime, Emma, was breaking the rules too.
The tour guides didn't seem to mind (or be aware of) our screaming, running children, so we set off. Of course Jennifer and I constantly reminded our kids about the rules. We didn't want to be escorted off the premises for unruly toddlers. The first animal we encountered was an ocelot. I'm all about some wildlife education, but the ten year old boy who kept pushing his way to the front asked question upon question. He also made certain we knew he was a carnivore expert and gave a small speech in front of the ocelot that lasted nearly ten minutes. If this was the way our tour was going to go, there was no way Edmund and Emma were going to make it past the ocelot. After our young carnivore expert finished his lecture, our main tour guide began hers. Her speech was peppered with "oh honey" this and "oh honey" that. She liked to spook us all with her warnings of "oh honey, that cat may be small, but she could rip you to shreds with her front paws." And so it went the next hour and a half.
The Carolina Tiger Rescue is all about tigers, but my favorite animal of the tour was the binturong, or Asian Bearcat. They live in rainforests and hang around in the trees. As we learned on our tour not all carnivores eat meat. Carnivores are so-called based on their jaw structure. The binturong we saw enjoyed a diet of fruit, most especially bananas. Edmund was most impressed with the climbing ability of the binturong and commented that he wanted to play on its playground one day. I was most impressed with the fact this carnivore was about as likely to attack me as a snail. Emma and Edmund both decided after seeing the binturong they were ready to go home, and made sure our fellow "tourists" were aware of this fact. Unfortunately, we would have had to ask a tour guide to escort us back to our cars. We had been locked in the "compound" and were unable to travel without trusty tour guide Jim, so we pressed on.
The tigers were interesting, but weren't interested in meeting us. They had just received food and that took priority. We walked past a tiger named Emerson, but he was having a "bad day," so we were quickly escorted to the kinkajous. Edmund really had had enough. He was tired and sweaty. Despite this fact he was the only one on our tour to spot the kinkajou. His excited squeal of "it come out" was enough to make the entire group make a u-turn. No animal to see meant the tour would adjourn, but Edmund's keen eyes earned us one more lecture. I'm pretty certain Edmund would have kept his kinkajou spotting a secret if he knew it meant we weren't leaving. Jennifer and I could no longer let our little toddlers suffer. It had been a long day of carnivore learning. We asked Jim to take us back, but what do you know? The tour was over and we all made it back unscathed.
Jennifer wanted to get Emma a Carolina Tiger Rescue t-shirt before we left. I'm fairly certain she has a few years before she'll be able to walk in it without tripping, but at least she'll remember our fun-filled (make that sweltering) day. I never buy trinkets for Edmund when Steven is around, but he wasn't, so I let Edmund pick out a small stuffed tiger. And Edmund deserved it. Asking a toddler to go that long without running and screaming is like asking a doctor to go 36 hours without sleep. It can be done, but at a cost. When we got home I asked Edmund what he had named his tiger. Her name is Jennifer and she has been a beloved sleep friend ever since. Jennifer feels honored to have such a wonderful namesake too.
To Parents of Toddlers:
Although I enjoyed learning about the carnivores with Edmund and Emma, this is an activity best left for the older kiddos. Or better yet, leave the kids with a babysitter and learn about the carnivores with your hubby (that is if they have interest in large cats). There is no stroller access on the tour. I thought this would be fine, as I rarely use the stroller these days. Edmund hates strollers. However, he decided he hated walking this particular day too. My back and neck are still recovering from carrying Edmund through the sweltering heat. His refusal to walk helped with the no-running rule, but not with my already bad back. However, if you want your toddler to take the best nap of his life, take this tour. Edmund slept nearly four hours when we got home, which meant I was able to do all the laundry and have some me time. I also heard that Emma enjoyed quite a lengthy nap herself that afternoon.
One Other Piece of Info.:
I have no pictures to post because I was cheap and didn't want to pay the $3 to take pictures. Even photography requires a lengthy release form at this place.
Location and Contact Info:
1940 Hanks Chapel Rd.
Pittsboro, NC 27312
919-542-4684
