Carolina Tiger Rescue

Today, my mom and I went to Carolina Tiger Rescue in Pittsboro for a tour. Our tour started with an overview of the organization by our guide Julie - originally, it was used for breeding to protect species from extinction; now it was primarily focused on rescuing wild cats from private owners and giving them a happy life. The first cats we saw were the caracals, two females and a male.

One of the females was sleeping in her box and the other was sleeping next to it. The male was walking around a bit, leaving his scent on the fence to make sure we knew that this was his territory. After a bit, he laid down as well and we continued on to see Collins, a bobcat. Although he is a native species, we couldn't be released into the wild because he was originally owned as a pet and declawed. He came out for a bit as Julie offered him a treat and then we moved on to see Elvis, a serval. He had been dropped off at the "doorstep" in poor condition, but had been nursed back to health and looked like he was doing well. And he was very excited when offered a treat. Next we saw our first tiger - Rajaji, a big male.

He clearly enjoys seeing visitors, coming over to greet us and even try to spray us with scent (urine). Then Julie gave him a treat and after eating it, he smelled where he had urinated earlier, making a funny face from the smell.

Apparently, this is a fairly common tiger behavior, although more commonly with the scent of a potential mate in the wild. Next we saw a trio of lions. But as lions sleep 20 or more hours a day, not surprisingly these three were all sleeping the day away. Next we saw a cougar, who initially was resting in her box, but came out for a treat.

I think she initially was checking out a child in the tour group for an afternoon snack, but settled for a piece of chicken. Next, we saw a beautiful white tiger named Jellybean. He was quite gregarious and enjoyed greeting visitors.

After getting a treat, he laid down, scratched himself to satisfy and itch, and plopped down, clearly tired from a long day of greeting visitors. Next, we saw Tristan, a binturong, rain forest carnivoran (though not a cat) who plays an important ecological role by spreading strangler fig seeds.

He primarily eats fruits and was quite demanding for his bananas. After two bananas, he continued clamoring until he got a third. Finally, we headed back and saw two more lions on the walk back. A female was sleeping near the fence, while a powerful-looking male stood guard, perched on top of a shelter.

Upon heading back to the visitor center, Julie explained a little about their skeletons. Tigers have additional holes in their skulls below their eyes for nerves and blood vessels that run to their canine teeth. This allows them to sense when their victim's pulse has stopped and it is safe to let go of the prey.

Rod's Raven Rock Hike 2012

This morning I went with Rod Broadbelt to hike at Raven Rock State Park. I was a little late arriving at the park due to construction on NC-55 driving down there, so as soon as I arrived, we headed out on the Campbell Creek Loop Trail. Starting the hike, I was at the back of the group, since I arrived late and as we reached the footbridge about half a mile in, the people ahead of me turned left, so I followed. In the back of my mind, I thought that Rod usually goes the other way, but continued following. We went about 2 miles through the loop, past the Family Wilderness Camp and to the Lanier Falls Trail. Arriving here, we saw Rod and the others coming from the other direction. So we had gone the wrong way. But luckily, its about the same distance either way, so we met up and headed down to the "falls" for a quick view, then back up to the main trail. I led the group coming back the other way, so we didn't have to backtrack. When we got to where Campbell Creek feeds into the Cape Fear River, we stopped for a quick view of the river, then followed the trail upstream along its namesake creek. This was a particularly scenic stretch of trail, with quite a bit of fall color showing along the creek. When we got back to the bridge and finished up the loop, we took the trail back up and stopped at the Visitor Center to use the facilities and regrouped at the parking lot. Heading down the Raven Rock Loop Trail, we went straight on Fish Traps Trail and almost immediately turned on Northington Ferry Trail. About half-way down this trail, there is a grave marker for Jesse Northington just off the trail. Mr. Northington had owned the lock and dam that provided transportation across the Cape Fear River on the route between Raleigh and Fayetteville. Eventually a bridge was built and the lock and dam were destroyed in a hurricane. Continuing on, we stopped briefly at the end of the trail for another view of the Cape Fear River then backtracked along the trail and turned right to go down to Fish Traps. I went down and was able to jump across to the first rock on the FIsh Traps, but couldn't get any further. The water level of the river must be up, because I had easily been able to get our further on past visits. I went back up and met up with everyone at the end of the trail where there were good views of the Northington Dam and Lock remains stretching across the river. We headed back up Fish Traps Trail and turned onto Raven Rock Loop Trail and briefly stopped at the overlook to enjoy the views and take some pictures, then headed down to Raven Rock and had lunch on the rocks. By this time, we had been hiking for close to four hours so I was quite hungry and ready to eat. After that we headed back up the steps and did the Little Creek Loop Trail. We stopped at the Canoe Camp for one last view of the Cape Fear River and then headed back, skipping the spur trail to the Group Camp. Along the way back, the Little Creek Loop Trail follows its namesake creek and was another particularly scenic section of trail. We picked a good weekend to visit. While the foliage may have been just a bit past peak foliage, it was a very beautiful hike.