Thank you for a terrific farewell visit last Thursday; my preschoolers were impressed. It was, of course, Letter E for ELEPHANT day and you’re not one — nonetheless, you two ladies ENTERTAINED us EXCELLENTLY.
Not to throw shade towards Suki, who was ENJOYING a pedi and some veggies inside the barn. Mr. Mo, as a matter of fact, couldn’t take his eyes off the sight of a pachyderm deftly plucking romaine off the floor with her proboscis. (Wow. Letter “P”, anyone?)
However, after a quick hello to baby tapir Kazu, whose daddy was being stalked by two very vocal tigers, we hightailed it to Rocky Shores. Our objective for the day was to see you two, since you’re leaving us soon for Sea World, San Diego. (I am sad about that, surely. But if joining a walrus herd will benefit your reproductive future, I get it. Kinda like a “more-fish-in-the-sea” thing, yes? My advice: play hard-to-get as you check out those other hunky walruses. Make Dozer jealous.)
By the way, when you’re down south maybe you could have your people talk to some other people and get us a new polar bear? We’d really like one. He need not be young, macho, or even ferocious – just awake. Miss Em thinks that polar bears do nothing but sleep behind boulders, out of sight. Every. Single. Time.
But, ladies. Seriously, you were all we’d hoped for. We walked downstairs, turned the corner, and bam. There you were – doing your walrus thing: Gliding your bulky selves effortlessly through the water, pirouetting prettily before the Plexiglas, pausing just long enough to let the little preschool ladies “touch!” you again and again and again. Both Miss Nomi and Miss Em announced, “there’s another one!” so many times that Aunty Amy finally explained how you were doing circuits around and around and back around. My girlies still thought 742 walruses lived in that tank, but that’s fine. Two walruses or 742 walruses — it was impressive.
So, Kulusiq and Basilla, bye-bye. You made our day. We love you.
We’ll look forward to hearing news about you someday. In the meantime, our zoo visits may be a bit less spectacular, but we’ll always have fishy kitchens to explore. And Ivan’s nose.
Fondly,
Oma
