Wow, it certainly has been a fun, busy week at Camp Paw Paw so far! Our Thursday began with feeding two hungry feral cats, Cameron and Mr.Jingles. Over the course of the summer, especially the last few weeks, Cameron has been increasingly social with us. At the beginning of the summer he usually would run away if we walked to him, but now he meows constantly during feeding time and does not run away. Feral cats do not meow at humans unless they are becoming domesticated which seems to be the case with Cameron. Who knows maybe someday he could be adopted out to a family who could care for him, but still let him roam outside to play.
Eek Eek! Buzz Buzz! HSCC's own Joann Nichols visited us to teach us all about Bats! We learned about their anatomy, what different types of bats are, and which ones are endangered and why. After our bat lesson we played echolocation tag to demonstrate how bats send out sound waves to get around without running into things and detect flying insects they can eat such as mosquitoes.
Joann's second program with us was all about hedgehogs and she even brought her special friend, Rick the hedgehog, to camp to hang out with us. We learned that hedgehogs are nocturnal, they love to eat meal worms, they need occasional baths to keep them clean or oatmeal bath to help with dry skin. Do not be surprised if your camper now wants a pet hedgehog. Rick leaves quite the impression! Thank you so much Joann and Rick for waking up from your daytime slumber to see us!
Campers were then off to work in groups for the annual Camp Paw Paw Bird Nest Building Competition! There were 4 categories awarded - Most Creative, Most Realistic, The Coziest, and Most Likely to Survive a Zombie Attack. We loved seeing the campers creativity and teamwork skills put to use! Great job everyone :)
We then were treated to a special guest, Vanessa Zerillo, who taught us all about cats & how they behave. The campers then were split into small groups and presented with a cat related problem to solve and they talked together to brainstorm ideas about what the best solutions could be to help out their specific cats. Some problems included a cat who needed to lose weight and a new cat being introduced into a home that already has a cat. Some things we learned that most people may not know is that chocolate, grapes, onion, and garlic are toxic to cats, the number of litter boxes in your home should equal the number of cats you have plus 1 extra litter box, and that cat's whiskers are not like hair and do have nerves in them and therefore should never be cut off!
Reminder: Pet Share Tomorrow! Bring something animal or pet related to share with us such as a photo, something that belongs to one of your pets, or stuffed animals
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