Tallahassee Nature Nuseum

From Chattanooga we headed south west. While it would have been shorter to drive through Atlanta, but we have heard nothing but horror stories and so our drive took us to Montgomery, Alabama and then to Tallahassee.

On the way to Tallahassee we spent two nights at one of our favorite campgrounds, Gunter Hill. It’s run by the Corp of Engineers and is the best campground we have ever seen. Our next stop was at a campground near Monticello, Florida. We have friends we have met on the road, Bob and Sue, who were full timers like us but now own a beautiful Airstream and travel during the summer.

They suggested we visit the Tallahassee Museum. It’s a wildlife museum and zoo in which the animals are in a natural swamp setting. Huge cypress provide the shade from the forest canopy, heavily draped with long beards of grey Spanish moss.

Paths and elevated wooden walkways took us through the zoo enclosure, (you don’t want to visit this place on a rainy day), and after passing some aviaries, with birds of prey we came to the main enclosures. There red wolves, a Florida panther, grey fox, and a black bear.

Now we have seen grey wolves and so to actually see a live red wolf was really neat. At first it lay there watching us, before rising and walking along a path it had made through the detritus on forest floor. The wolves here provide a breeding stock that has been used to allow reintroduction.

Today the red wolves only exist in the wild in North Carolina’s Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. They range had extended from Pennsylvania to Florida and west into Texas. There are about fifty wild red wolves and about two hundred that are in captivity, providing breed stock for this rare canid.

A little further a Florida panther stood in a corner, hoping for a meal as it’s handlers worked on the outside of its enclosure. I am sure it’s a special treat when the predators managed to grab one of the many wild squirrels inhabiting the zoo.

Another enclosure held a large black bear, resting comfortably in a hole it had dug. It reminded me of why Wall Street refers to bears and bulls as the two types of investors. It also reminded me of a large wild/feral hog.

The next enclosure held two grey fox and they were resting about twenty feet above the ground in a large cypress tree! I never knew that grey fox could climb trees so now I must look for patches of grey fur while birding. One of the sly foxes narrowly opened its eyes watching us, before it decided to go back to sleep.

Tiring, we all decided to head back to Bob and Sue’s house. They told us of two houses for sale nearby but we have no desire to own another house, or to give up our lifestyle. When we started to travel, nine years ago, we thought that we would find a beautiful spot to someday settle down but the problem is that there are too many beautiful spots! Thank you Bob and Sue! Clear skies