Running a Red River Hog & Elephant Foot Work

   To start the day we moved Rhea, the red river hog, from her normal exhibit across the canyon to hang out with our pot belly pigs for about a month. This is because tomorrow they are starting sand blasting in Harapan's usual stalls, so he will be taking over Rhea's home for about a month, therefore also using her normal yard. So this morning we opened the doors between all of the yards in the canyon and tempted her with treats so that she would walk from her home, which she is used to, across all of the yards to her old home with the pot bellies. 

  I then got to end my day watching one of the female elephants get her feet work done. Since Cincinnati Zoo is a free contact facility with female elephants we were able to go into the enclosure as the lead keeper did one on one training and foot work with her. The keeper begun by showing us the tools he uses to give her the mani/pedi's, most of which are the same as are used on horses hooves, though some were larger scale. He also uses some power tools which help grind down the dirt and excess pad on the bottoms and toe nails of the elephants. He explained the technique involved and showed us how she is trained to lift various feet up on a bench so he can easier work on it. The bull elephant is also trained in this and we got to see an example of what he does when he is getting foot work done. -- the main difference being that it is protected contact with him rather than free! 

   After the foot keeping seminar we got to take pictures and love on the female elephant a little!