Moose Madness

Saturday at the zoo was Moose Madness, a fun day full of games and lectures all focusing on Alaska’s largest member of the deer family.

We had a scavenger hunt set up: a list of questions for people to try to find the answers to. The signage at the zoo gives all the answers to people if they read them, but we also had little cards pinned up all over the zoo with the answers (for example, one card read “7. Velvet” and was pinned to the railing in front of the red fox exhibit). We also had tables set up throughout the zoo with different games, such as “Guess the Weight of the Antlers” or “Moose Word Search” and we had the cotton candy machine going, selling gobs of pink sugar for $1.00 a stick.

We had a raffle for a HUGE stuffed moose, with tickets going for just a dollar a piece. That was a steal of a deal since the moose cost $150.00 if you were to buy it at our gift shop. The winner ended up being a little 10-year old girl: she just stood there when her name was called. I had to coax her over to come get it. She just couldn’t believe she had won. It was so cute to see her walk away with it: it was bigger than she was!

The Alaska Fish and Game people joined us to give a lecture on Moose. They also had posters, informational booklets, and coloring pages to hand out to people.

And, last but not least, we had Leon Rabinovitch and Steve Carson in the greenhouse teaching the kids how to draw moose. These guys are great – they do the Sketch-n-Safari at the zoo on the second Saturday of each month all year long, and provide all the supplies even.

The weather was great that day, with just a few sprinkles now and then. Just enough to cool things off, but not so much as to actually get things wet. I don’t have the final numbers yet, but I think it was a good day.