Animal Diaries Archive

Back of House

31 March 2006

All of the staff members in the Big Cat Department take a lot of pride in our facility. We try to keep it as clean as possible, and we are regularly building and developing areas to improve not only the aesthetics but also the efficiency of the facility. A major part of our day is spent maintaining our extensive gardens and lawns. Along with our main display, we have four off-exhibit yards with the lawns in all exhibits neatly trimmed and our fantastic photo deck facility where we have grown a beautiful garden.

Throughout our entire compound we have incorporated many gardens with both native and exotic species of plant not only to give our cats more secure surroundings and shade, but also to give a more natural look and feel to the area. It also creates visual barriers between off-exhibit yards without having to put up solid walls that would make our animals feel enclosed.

Our cheetah team has just completed a makeover in the cheetahs' off-exhibit yard that looks absolutely awesome!

It involves a lot of hard work behind the scenes to keep everything looking at its best, and the back-of-house area is something all of us in the big cat team are very proud of.