My Friend Ruby, The Lemur
My family purchased a house in sunny Panama City, Florida. Being New Yorker’s, my sister, my mom, and I were eager to enjoy the respite from the harsh Winters of our home state. My family took a day and went to Zoo World. I’ve always been entranced by wildlife, and even as an adult I’ve loved visiting zoos and exploring the many wonderful creatures that live there.
Zoo World provided us with a very unique and unforgettable experience that I will cherish for the rest of my life.
Zoo World offers packages where patrons can interact face-to-face with an animal and its enclosure.
They offer a few different options for these interactions. My sister totally adores sloths, and was eager to spend time with the sloths who live at the zoo. We decided to book the encounter where you get to feed the pet sloths, but when the woman at the desk saw my wheelchair, she told me that the best encounter for wheelchair accessibility was the Lemur enclosure, so we chose that instead.
There were many rocks and a lot of dirt that we had to navigate in order to get in the lemur enclosure, and eventually my mother had to help me walk. Once, I was sitting beside my sister in the enclosure, the door was closed, and the Lemurs began to investigate us. They were very curious at first, they seemed to be particularly intrigued by the electric blue polish on my fingernails. A black and white lemur wrapped it’s tiny hand on my finger and held it close so it could investigate.
Something really special happened when I felt a tiny creature curl up against my back. The handler looked at me and said, “that’s the only red one.” The fluffy little creature eventually came over and sat in my lap. She wrapped her tiny little arms around my leg as if she was wrapping herself around a tree branch. I spent the whole time petting this little creature that was nestled in my lap while she purred like a cat, and I fed her bananas and scratched her behind the ears.
The visits that the zoo offers with these wonderful creatures are only supposed to last 15 minutes, but I sat there for nearly half an hour listening to her purr happily. My sister also made a friend. A black and white lemur named Bob decided to jump onto her shoulder and stay there as if it were a parrot for nearly the entire visit.
When we got up to leave, the little red primate that I had grown so fond of decided she was going to try to walk out the door behind us. When we closed the door to the enclosure, my new friend decided to watch me leave. I already miss that little fluff ball.
I strongly suggest that if your zoo has a program like ours, that you go and take advantage of it. You never know what kind of special connection you’ll make. Remember, every animal on the planet needs love and kindness and has the same feelings as its human counterpart. The message to my special friend Ruby: I don’t know where you’ll wind up darling, but know that I’m thinking of you, and I hope you lead a long and happy life. Until we meet again darling, take care, and enjoy all the bananas you can.