Nancy's Retirement Adventures: Zoo Pictures - two locations in/near Cuenca

The Cuenca Chamber of Commerce sponsored a tour to the newly-established Amaru Zoo near the city. I was very impressed with the progress the planners have made to date. Land was purchased where the animals have a lot of space and the staff is working diligently to rescue animals from less-than-desirable places; i.e. circuses and places that have abandoned 'exotic' animals that were pets and owners found that they could not care for them properly. The signage seemed excellent (I couldn't read most of them!) There were 22 areas, but we didn't get to see them all (some of the older expats were not able to walk the distance). I would love to go back to see the tropical area.

Since it was mostly expats, we had an outstanding young woman as a guide who had studied in the U.S. and spoke excellent English. She and her husband are part of the staff and are passionate about the animals. This picture shows her talking about the cactus to the right in the picture. She explained that she and her husband saw a similar one in the wild, picked the beautiful flower that was in bloom at the time and put it in the car. They didn't know it was hallucinogenic and didn't know why they were feeling 'so weird'. We were fortunate to see the Andean bears; their enclosure is quite large, but one male and a female were exploring when we were there. There are two females and the guide said there are signs of jealousy.

These are alpacas, not llamas (the brown 'spot' is another one). Know the difference? I'm learning.

The mama deer was very nice to show off her youngster.

The lions were rescued from a circus and mama gave birth to two babies shortly after being brought to Amaru. They were in secure cages -- thank you very much.