All language subtitles for Secrets of the Zoo Tampa s04e04 Crash Course

Wilds has been undergoing a major
renovation to our bear and panther

Currently, we just have one black bear
habitat and one panther habitat.

And we actually have three bears and
three panthers that are rescues. What

you doing?

And we do have to rotate them onto
habitat to have time outside.

So it's really exciting that we're
making some more room for our animals.

After a year of construction, we're
almost at the finish line. We are so

to being done.

Walter, ready?

You're all right, bud.

He's a little stressed.

Can you go out? Hi, boo.

It's okay. It's too scary.

Too much.

So we're just working with Walter.

It's about 5 o 'clock, so the
construction crews are all done for the

get to let the panthers out for
overnight.

Which has been really nice through this
process. They kind of get a little bit

of a slow introduction to the habitat.

It's okay.

Walter's a little more hesitant to go
out today.

He's definitely the most nervous of all
the cats.

He came to us because he had a paw
injury. He was caught in a snare and

majority of his paw due to that injury.

He is rescued from the wild, and so he's
had the most trouble adapting to the

zoo. He definitely has his good days and
bad days.

Go and potty.

We wanted to make sure that the panthers
had as much vertical space as they

could. They do like to climb and go up
on platforms.

It would be really great to see him
exploring and ultimately to jump up on

platform. That's where he's the most
comfortable.

I haven't seen him go up on the
platforms yet. Have you? No, but it

he was about to.

Oh, what a good boy.

Aw.

It's really good to see him relaxed and
so quickly. I mean, we just shifted him

out here, and he's already taking a nap.

All right, the countdown continues.

Yep. A lot more to do, but we'll keep
getting him out here and getting him

ready. Yeah.

Overall... We're really close to the
finish line, and I am definitely anxious

for a couple of reasons. One is just for
the construction to be all done and to

move forward, but also to see how the
animals are going to do. You just never

know how they're going to interact in a
new space.

Does anyone know what Leo is?

A macaw. He is a macaw. He's called a
scarlet macaw.

As a constrictor, normally they'll
subdue their prey through squeezing.

Good girl!

There it is, guys.

We got it.

Ambassadors to animal duty.

All right, here we go.

Good job.

Charlotte is our prehensile tailed
porcupine. She is a part of our animal

ambassador program.

Charlotte was one of my first porcupine
friends, and I can't imagine a better

porcupine friend to have. She is
incredibly smart and super sweet, and

with her every day is the best in the
world.

All right, here we go.

We've noticed that Charlotte has had a
little bit of discharge, and it makes us

a little bit worried, so we're going to
bring her up to the hospital just to

make sure everything is okay.

Good job.

I love Miss Charlotte.

Char -Char is among the cutest.

Charlotte has had kind of a long history
of this intermittent discharge that

most likely it's reproductive in origin.
We're going to move forward with this

hormone implant to basically turn off
Charlotte's ovaries and let everything

kind of take a break. If that resolves
her discharge, then that's another way

diagnose the fact that she has a
hormonal issue that's affecting her.

Sleepy Charlotte.

Miss Char is falling asleep now, which
is good.

We'll open and pull this way. Okay.
We've got porcupine.

Charlotte is completely covered in
quills. Hers are very pointy and present

everywhere. That's why it's really
tricky to work with her.

I inevitably stab myself a few times,
and that's okay. Once we have her out,

usually put her on our back, and the
underside is a lot softer and a lot less

pokey. Technical term.

All right.

The type of implant we use is one that
is temporary, so we can remove it if we

feel that she no longer needs it.

Usually this is about a year for this
type of implant.

Let's turn her off.

And then if you want to bring her crate
back in. Yes. Oh, my goodness.

Charlotte's doing well. She's just in
her little wake -up phase now of her

procedure.

It was a very quick procedure.

We were able to place her implant
without any problems.

Yay! I'm so glad she did well.

And then we shouldn't really see any
changes, except that hopefully we'll see

more discharge.

Hi!

She's a rock star.

Yeah.

She is large and in charge, and she has
an attitude.

She's funny.

You ready to do a little bit of training
with Mufasa? Yeah.

Mufasa.

Come here, buddy.

Here at Zootampa, we have a very
successful breeding program with our

rhinos. Good.

We have a new male here. His name is
Mufasa.

Mufasa.

Good job.

He knows his name pretty well, so
anytime that we call his name, we just

him some alfalfa or anything that would
be reinforcing.

There you go.

Our previous male, Angaba, he was the
father to several babies that we had.

This is, with that funny little face,
this is Kayan. You can tell Kayan

of her fluffy little ear tufts, which
are adorable.

Coming right to the gate right now is
baby Daruba.

We call her Ruby for short.

She is spunky, and Aleke, her mom, is
very protective of her.

Baby rhinos are the best thing in the
world.

You can never have enough baby rhinos.

Come here, buddy.

How we doing, guys?

Hey, Chris.

How's he doing on his training?

It's coming. Coming along all right?
Yeah.

The team has been doing an incredible
job with Mufasa.

Mufasa, come.

Good boy.

They're doing a lot of training with
him, particularly some name recognition,

which will be really good and important
for recalls when we get into the

introduction.

That's a good boy.

Over the last several months, Mufasa's
had what we call a howdy situation.

He's had a lot of interaction as far as
being able to go up and kind of smell

the girls, kind of nose up, but it's
always been through protective barrier.

When we start the introductions, that'll
be the first time he has free access to

the entire group.

I'm nervous. Yeah, a little bit? A
little bit. What do you think?

You're always nervous. Yeah, yeah.

Usually goes well as long as the girls
kind of stick together. Yeah.

With Mufasa being new to us, we're not
sure what to expect from him, especially

when it comes to three females, two
juveniles and a baby, especially baby

which is our biggest concern just
because she is so tiny. She is not even

yet. So all of us are a little nervous,
but that's the case with any intros that

you do.

He's been kind of comfortable, but he's
never been in with multiple females. So

he's been on a one -on -one situation.

So this will be the first time he's
really with a large group. Hopefully

a good thing. Fingers crossed, you know,
he gets the job done pretty quick.

I'm ready for another rhino baby. Me
too, right? Yeah.

White rhinos have been unfortunately hit
really, really hard by the poaching

industry. So every time we're able to
bring in new genetics and produce calves

here at Zoo Tampa, it's really a sign of
hope.

Hopefully they come out.

Don't worry, we'll tweet pack them.

Hi, Blue Bear.

What are you doing?

This is Newberry.

She is a black bear.

Today we're going to be having Sam and
Newberry come out and check out their

extension that we call it. We have these
awesome new training windows where the

guests can see the bears up close. So
our goal today is to get the bears

the yard where we can train with them
there.

What are you doing?

Newberry is from Florida and she's a
rescue.

She's been with us for about 10 years
and she is what we like to call our yoga

bear. She really likes to sit in
different poses. She kind of, it's

a human in a bear suit.

Sam is an incredible bear. He came to us
as a rescue, and he really enjoys his

time with Newberry as well.

We're just putting a little bit of
enrichment out for the bears.

They love peanut butter, and they love
raisins, and this is just something to

really make this space inviting for
them.

This is a pretty big step for them to
come out to a new habitat.

And so we want to make it as positive as
possible.

Are you ready? I'm ready.

Hi.

You got it?

The last couple times we've done this,
they've come about this far before

they're like, ooh, I've had enough, and
they've gone back in. They definitely

get startled by loud noises.

Go over to the window.

Like right now, a tractor is going by,
and they definitely notice that noise.

Big step.

You got it.

You can tell they're just a little bit
nervous. They're listening a lot with

their ears and really looking around.

One of the things that we've been
looking for to have the bears really

this space is for it to be fairly quiet.

Come on, Sam.

You got it, bud. It's okay.

It's been a long winter of them being
inside, so it's one of those things

we just have to kind of remind them,
hey, this is how you go outside.

Found the corner.

Good job.

There's goodies.

There's a lot to get used to.

Honestly,

I'm really happy with their progression,
and Newberry's already off checking

things out.

What a good girl.

She's more independent.

Sam is very food -focused.

Good girl.

Oh, my goodness.

Hi.

I think one of the best parts about
having the windows is that people are

to get to see how amazing these animals
are.

I know. I just want to, like, this is
what the guests are going to do because

you're so cute.

Yeah, I mean,

how amazing is it that you can, like...

interact with a bear that's pretty
amazing be interesting to see how she

with like the general public you look
big oh bonkers take a little getting

to hi sammy spending time with the bears
on their new habitat that's what we've

been waiting for for an entire year they
look great so far so good as far as um

sam and newberry they shifted right out
onto habitat and i think we're gonna

have success on opening day that was
like the best I could hope for.

They look so great together. I know.

All right, come on. Good job.

So proud of you.

Amazing.

So this is our gag grouper.

We call him Heimlich because he's a gag.

He's been with us for many years now. He
came to us actually really small and

tiny. They can get over three feet long
and weigh over 50 pounds. He's probably

close to just over two feet now.

He shares the tank with our green moray
eel, Dr. Ellington.

He's not the best tank mate. He's a
pretty aggressive eater.

He's so big. He's kind of one of our
macro fish, just large size.

They're known to just eat everything. If
it fits in their mouth, they will try

to eat it and swallow it. So he's really
cool to work with and be around.

We're going to do a workup on him. We
noticed some visibility issues where

not really finding the food. So we
started tongue feeding him and put the

right in front of his face.

It's pretty concerning that he just kind
of lost sight and visual.

All right, now we're ready to fill.
Yeah, go ahead and start adding water.

Okay. I've worked with blind fish
before, and with fish that can't see,

actually very subtle. It's not as
obvious as it would be with a lot of

He was kind of feeling his way around
the exhibit. He wasn't quite grabbing

food the way he should.

So now it's to the point where you can
tell he's just not seeing things right

all. The eye kind of looks a little more
swollen. We're kind of seeing a little

spot on his side.

For Heimlich, we're going to catch him
up, transform him to the hospital where

Dr. Kendrick can get really good eyes
and hands on him and kind of see what's

going on with the eyes.

All right. So these procedures, they
take a lot of planning with an aquatic

animal that typically doesn't leave his
water. So this is kind of a big deal.

You ready?

Yep. All right.

Now he's going to get all angry.

You got him.

He's in.

There we go.

All right.

Fish breathe through their gills, so we
really have to keep him moist, keep him

wet. We want to move as quickly as
possible and safely so he's not out and

and stressed out.

Pass him.

Throw that net over him.

You ready, Joel?

Yeah, we're not going to be dry.

Transporting a grouper from the aquatic
building to the hospital.

They're going to go meet your new
boyfriend!

Exciting things!

Mufasa's been with us for quite a few
months now, but we're at the point where

it's time to get him in with the rest of
the group.

At the last facility he was at, Mufasa
was with another female.

And he seemed to be, yeah, in the friend
zone. So hopefully we can break that

cycle. This morning we'll plan on
getting the girls out, station them.

they're settled in, we'll still bring
Mufasa out.

Mufasa's new to the zoo and new to the
crash.

So let's go ahead and get started.

How's everybody feeling?

Nervous. Excited.

Yeah. What we want to try to do is stay
ahead of any sort of negative

interaction.

Let's get extinguishers just set out
here.

We're not looking to put out any flames
or anything like that, but it is a quick

attention getter to ultimately give the
animals a break and or allow us to

separate one of the animals.

We plan for the worst, and we hope for
the best.

You know, Chris, the one thing that we
kind of do have in our favor is that...

He was, you know, quote -unquote in the
friend zone with another female, so it

might be a little bit more relatable for
him to be with the females here.

The goal is that we have a nice, calm,
successful introduction, and then, you

know, he's integrated into this herd,
and we produce some calves in the

Heads up, guys. We're going to go ahead
and bring Mufasa out.

10 -4.

10 -4.

Oh, my gosh.

It is getting warm. Or maybe I'm just
nervous.

I don't get nervous.

There he is.

I get anxious.

All right, we're about to open the gate.

Be nice.

All right, guys, heads up.

Oh, my gosh.

Mufasa spent years in a paired -up
situation where it was him and one other

female.

Well, the dynamic in that kind of social
atmosphere is very different from what

he's about to experience.

We're very optimistic, but there's
always a little bit of unpredictability

an animal's in a situation they've never
been in before.

Oh, boy.

Be nice.

Oh, gee. Oh, straight to Fujo.

So Mufasa goes straight to Fujo, and
that's awesome because Fujo's one of our

females who's never bred before.

You're right. Love at first sight. Love
at first sight. I'm telling you.

All right, let's see what happens here.

All the girls are doing what they should
be. They're all joined together,

protecting the baby as well.

And he's doing what he's supposed to do,
too.

I think he's really intimidated.

Come in peace.

Uh -oh, he's backing himself into a
corner.

They're really just walking him around
the yard.

You're going to kind of expect this.
He'll probably try to eat a little bit,

the girl will keep pursuing him and kind
of nudging him around.

They're being mean girls.

Is it true you can't sit with us right
now?

Yeah, right now we've got a little bit
of a standoff, which is expected.

The good thing is it's kind of exactly
what we want to see. All the girls are

shoulder to shoulder, packed together
with the adults up front.

This is what they should do. This is how
they can kind of control the

introduction, keep the male at bay. What
we don't want is him singling out any

individual.

So as long as they stay a nice, tight
group like that, we'll have a much

uneventful introduction.

You still have the standoff, though.

Ooh, he initiated that one.

Wow, that came out of absolutely
nowhere.

Oh, God, he's got her.

Got her hooked.

All right, guys.

Let him work through this a little bit.

Keep an eye on Ruby.

Protect the calf.

So there's a brief standoff between
Mufasa and the girls, and the girls are

doing exactly what we need them to do.
You know, they're establishing their

boundaries and they're letting Mufasa
know that, hey, this is our space and we

don't want you here.

And shortly after that, Mufasa makes a
decision to leave them alone and go

investigate the rest of the habitat.

Nothing major, which is good.

It looks worse than it is. These guys
heal up pretty quickly.

We continue to focus on every subtle
move they're making to ensure that

don't turn.

Ruby, don't be dumb.

She's got to get back to mom. I know.
She's just got to pass him to do it.

What we're seeing is Mufasa allowing
Ruby to come up and investigate and

him. He's not being aggressive. He's
staying nice and calm.

Everything we were hoping to see.

He's had enough excitement for one day.

Come on, guys.

Let's go.

Come on, baby.

Good girl.

So Mufasa has stepped away from the rest
of the herd, and now is a good time to

move all the girls inside.

We really want to end on a good note so
it stays nice and positive, and the next

time we do it, it will be nice,
hopefully, continue to be calm, and it

much easier, quieter, uneventful
introduction.

The next step is going to be just to
continue to do this. We want to continue

make as much progress as possible.

So tomorrow...

We'll do the same setup. So we'll just
continue to try to build on that

Good girl.

Yeah, we're hoping. The whole reason
Mufasa's here is to, you know, hopefully

get some more calves on the ground down
the road. So this is the start to all

that. This is why we do it. And I'm
really pleased with how well things have

gone today.

Good boy, Mufasa.

Hey, buddy.

That worked.

The whole goal is to give the animals
more space, get them right up front next

to the public so the public can be next
to them. So it's going to be mind

-blowing for everybody, I think.

Hi, girls.

Hi. What are you doing?

We're going to try to get the moat ready
and clean for the big opening day.

Yes. Hi, flamingos.

We want to make sure all the habitats in
the Florida realm were looking as

beautiful as possible.

So today we're going to be cleaning the
flamingo moat and making sure that it's

sparkling for our grand opening.

What's our plan? We just kind of slowly
go on the island, let the flamingos

choose where they want to be, and one of
us could start down on the moat, and

then someone could be ready on the
water.

Okay.

Yummy.

It's too thick.

It smells lovely.

Smells like rosette.

It is not that bad. It just smells like
muck.

This is the part of zookeeping that
people don't always see.

But it's important.

As we work each day.

Taking our chairs away.

On the... No!

At least the drain works.

Exactly.

It's like not draining.

The flamingo mode is kind of notorious
for having a lot of dirt and clay in it

and leaves.

Jamie!

Jamie!

Yeah? Can you hold for just a second?

Yeah, sorry, I can't hear you.

I'm trying to clean this drain.

the glorious part that I get paid the
big buck for.

We're just the port right now. We're
doing great.

Hey, go down!

Yay!

Look at that magic.

Let's clean this out.

We're definitely feeling the pressure.

Really, when we're ready to open, we
want to be able to spend time with the

animals and not worry about cleaning
stuff.

We're going to get it done. That's what
we do.

We have the grouper. We're in a row.

Thank you.

So we're headed to the hospital with
Heimlich, the gag grouper, to check on

eye. There's all the construction around
here, which is a good thing, but it

makes it for a nice rough drive.

Any time we knock out an animal or put
it under, it's a little nerve -wracking

just because you don't know how they're
going to react because a lot could go

wrong with an animal that typically
lives in the water.

Very nice.

We made it. Hey, hello.

Okay. So a quick recap before we get
started.

I'm going to induce in here, and then
once he is sleepy, we'll put him onto

fish table, and then we're going to
start with a physical exam. I'll do an

exam, and then depending on what we
find, we'll go from there.

For Heimlich, we chose a local
anesthetic powder that, when dissolved

and breathed across their gills, causes
anesthesia in the same way that it would

for an air -breathing animal breathing
in gas.

Good sleepies.

All right, we are good to move.

Let's get them on the table.

Go ahead.

There we go.

A procedure on a fish is going to be
different than anything that breathes

because you have to make sure that they
have their source of oxygen, which is

water. All right.

Perfect. Can you keep an eye on the
water level for me? When it gets low,

take it out of here and you can replace
it for us.

Okay. All right. We want to make sure
that there's nothing behind the eye,

there's no infection, there's no trauma
that's causing that to grow in size

because otherwise we could be ignoring a
problem that's fixable.

This whole eye is a mess. You can let
go.

So you can see here that this is not
actually being pushed forward.

It's all tissue.

So this is a fairly easy fix.

The best solution in this case, because
the eye is non -visual and that extent

of increased size is really painful.

So the best option for him is for us to
remove it.

Want to look at this?

What's he got in there?

Oh, wow.

He has quite a large mass.

Does it look like it's all the way down?

So I opened his mouth, and I noticed
something that definitely did not belong

there. He had a very large mass in his
oral cavity.

So that changes our plans a little bit.
Yeah.

So the mask was a little bit bigger than
a golf ball in size, and we had

multiple different areas of bumps on it.
It looked very abnormal.

Let's look at the rest of him, and then
we can go from there.

Kind of just a big bummer. It could be a
sign of more health issues than what we

thought was going on.

The eye, we kind of knew there was
something going on with the eye.

But the mass in the mouth there, we
didn't even realize. We've never really

it when he was eating.

We might have to think about quality of
life in the future for this guy.

What I would recommend is that we take
this out and we submit it and we see

it is.

And then I take a sample of the one
that's in his mouth.

Does that sound okay?

Sounds good to me.

You might have to change his name from
Heimlich to like One -Eyed Willie now.

You can't change Heimlich. That's like
the best name ever.

So this will fill in with a good amount
of tissue afterwards.

Fish clot very well. So typically when
we remove an eye, there is a big vessel

at the back that we want to be watchful
of that you can stop that bleeding.

But in fish, typically you just need to
put some pressure on it and it will clot

itself.

All right, so if we can rotate him, if
you guys can hold him upright.

So depending on the biopsy results,
it'll kind of guide the rest of our

treatment plan. If this is a more scary
mass, if this is cancer, then depending

on what that type of cancer is, we'll be
able to determine whether there's

anything that we can do as far as
treatment is concerned.

If this mass is secondary to something
like an infection, then potentially

is more that we can do about it.

He's just a little sleepy, but he's
doing well. So he had a pretty long

procedure. He's allowed to take a little
nap afterwards.

But for right now, I'm not concerned.

What do you think he's saying to him?

What did they do to you?

Come here, buddy.

You want more of this good and green
stuff?

The southern white rhino is one of two
subspecies of white rhino. The biggest

threat to the southern white rhino is
poaching for their horns.

Between 2012 and 2017, we saw a decline
in their population of about 15%. Let's

go, guys.

White rhino social structure is
typically comprised of about 12 to 15

what we call a crash or their herd. This
is usually a number of females and

their young calves.

The crash we have here at Zoo Tampa is
very similar to what you would see out

the wild.

With numbers continuing to decline, the
last thing we want to see is a world

without rhinos. So that's why we're
here. That's why we'll continue to do

everything we can to make sure white
rhinos have a bright future.

So Mufasa has gone out with the girls
and everything has been going really,

really well.

He's actually showed a lot of interest
in Fujo.

Fujo is our only adult female that has
never had a baby here.

If these two could breed, it would be
really awesome to the genetic population

since they've both never had a baby.

You're okay. Hey, you're okay.

Hello. Hey.

Hopefully we see some breeding today.
That would be awesome.

He spent years at this other facility
with no success, so our fingers are

crossed that it's going to be a little
different here, especially since we do

have three females.

We're just hoping that one of them takes
at least.

Good boy.

Calm down.

All right, buddy.

It's your time to shine.

Be good.

All right, ladies.

Straight to Fujo.

Fujo is the one rhino that I'm really
hoping hits it off with Mufasa. He's

had a baby.

He's doing exactly what he needs to do,
letting the girls kind of take the lead.

We'll kind of just let it play out.

The rhinos, they know exactly what
they're doing. We're kind of just here

backup.

Hopefully we'll see some breeding today.
That would be awesome.

If you look at them now, it looks like
they're replaying Lady and the Tramp

eating from the same plate.

These are all great signs.

Fingers crossed.

Africa to Mike, you white one, I'll make
your way over here. He is showing

interest and she's presenting to him as
well.

It actually looks like he's even
positioning his feet so he can mount

That's amazing.

So yesterday they went from not wanting
to share space or share food with them

or anything, and now I don't know if
we're going to be able to separate them.

So the fact that Fujo has never
reproduced before and Mufasa has never

calves, if we can actually get them to
breed and produce offspring here

successfully, that'll be a huge win not
only for our crash and for Fujo and for

Mufasa. This will ripple throughout the
community.

Two of them are hitting it off on day
two.

Yep. That's fantastic.

We'll let this go as long as we can. For
sure. Could you imagine a little fujo

baby? I can imagine a fujo baby. That
would be amazing.

Some good quality rhino time.

Are you guys ready over there?

A,

B, C, chicken nugget!

I actually didn't know what I wanted to
do after college. I bartended for a

little while, and then I saw an
internship with the Ambassador Program.

So I applied for the internship, I ended
up getting it, and I fell in love

immediately.

So it's not actually an eye, but it's
just a little divot on the top of his

head, and it actually allows him to
detect the changes in shadows.

Wildlife connections, in my opinion, are
one of the most important things that

we do here at the zoo because we do want
guests to understand that, yes, animals

are amazing. They're really cool to look
at. But the reason why they're here is

such a larger and more important
message.

Oh, he says, I got to move around and
get comfy.

This has been a dream career thus far,
and I can't imagine not being a part of

the animal ambassador team here at Zoo
Tampa.

Yeah, he says, bye, friend.

Good girl.

All right, everyone.

Her name is Charlotte, and she is our
prehensile -tailed porcupine.

We recently had Charlotte the porcupine
up at the hospital for placement of a

reproductive implant.

Charlotte has been doing really well and
has continued to go out and educate the

public.

She is actually from South America.

I'm pleased to report that so far
Charlotte is doing really well with her

reproductive implant.

It doesn't seem to bother her. She's
been managing really well with it.

That's a great question.

Have you ever had bedhead before?

Well, Charlotte likes to sleep a
majority of her day, so she has

bedhead. But the quills on her back will
only raise if she feels threatened.

Anything with Charlotte makes me over
the moon happy. So now that she's doing

lot better, I am just absolutely
floored. And every day that she's happy

healthy, I'm happy.

Good

job,

buddy. Did you have fun today?

Great day today. Mufasa went out.

And there was, you know, a ton of
interest right out the gate.

Day two.

Good stuff.

We had our concerns when he came in
whether or not he was going to be a

successful breeding male.

But I think he's proved us all wrong.

We'll get him tucked away for the
evening, let him rest, and then we'll

putting him back out there again
tomorrow.

His success is success for the entire
white rhino population.

I'm going to give him a big old pat on
the back.

Stay well, Spen.

Great job, Mufasa.

Let's go forward. Forward. Yeah. One,
two, three.

Today is opening day of Florida Wild,
and we're only a few hours away, so just

trying to get last -minute things all
put together.

Excuse me.

We're not coming down. We're just going
to stay up here. Bye.

The platforms are done. They look great.
I'm really excited for the panthers to

be able to go up to the glass little
hut. It's a...

A great viewpoint for a panther. You
can, like, see the flamingos. Yeah. Do

see all of it? It looks amazing.

I know. Hello.

We're going to be shifting all the
animals out, so we will need everybody

the buffer.

Off the perimeter.

Yeah, you can have ten seconds.

Good morning.

Because she's ready.

Hi, Lynn.

You ready?

Lucy, come.

Good girl.

That's a big girl.

Good girl.

We would love it if Lucy explores that
new glass platform.

Jump up.

Oh, do it. Check it out.

Oh, yeah.

Go up top.

Oh, okay.

Like, where are those boys?

Lucy's doing great. I'm just waiting
until she figures out that that ramp

up to looking above us. But she got on
the platform.

I'll take that for now.

Mickey, come.

Hey, little buddy.

Hi, Nick.

This is Mickey. He is one of our male
panthers.

And this is his first time out in this
habitat, and it's really great. He came

right out and is exploring, so that's
awesome.

We want to make sure the animals are
going to really enjoy the space.

It's really important that they get that
time without guests here.

It's exciting.

Down to our last panther to get out. I
have high hopes for Walter that he'll

just come right out.

Did you know it was your turn?

I was the most handsome man named
Walter.

Walter, come outside.

He's coming, Lisa. Walter.

Good boy.

Hey. Yeah.

Walter.

Nervous.

choosing not to go.

It's a lot for Walter in general.

He's been the most apprehensive of going
out. He'll get there. We don't force

anybody out. It needs to be on their
terms.

What a brave boy.

Yeah.

Be a big boy?

It's really great to see Walter. We want
our animals to feel at home in their

new space, and our ultimate goal is for
them to feel as comfortable as possible.

Aw.

We're going to go try to get our black
bears out next and see if on this cooler

morning they're ready to wake up.

It'll be a nice yard for them to forage
into.

Hopefully. Fingers crossed.

Sam, come.

Good morning, sir.

Good job.

I'm a good girl.

Gamble.

Go bear.

Good girl.

She went out yesterday for the first
time, so it's only her second time. And

then that was in the afternoon, so she
hasn't been out in the morning yet. It's

exciting.

We've been waiting for this for forever.

Kind of wondering how they would do. So
I'm actually glad they all just went

right out, which is amazing.

And then we'll just have to see how they
do throughout the day. But I don't

think we ever thought the day would come
that it would be done. So it's

exciting.

We did it.

Now it's all about them and getting to
tell their great stories throughout the

day and letting our guests enjoy seeing
them up close.

Good boy, Sam.

Yeah, can you come all the way up here?
There you go.

We got Heimlich's results back, and I'm
just coming down here to give the news

to Joel and Tyson.

All right, how's he doing? Great. It's
been a complete turnaround from what he

was before, just kind of sitting there
doing nothing, very active.

I have seen cancer in groupers before. A
strange lump on the inside of his mouth

is not a great thing. I'm pretty worried
it's bad news, to be honest.

We'll talk about the eye first. It came
back as just an infection that he had

walled off. He was trying to fix it
himself and he couldn't, so we did. So

removal, curative. And then the mouth
was the surprising one. It actually came

back as an overgrowth of thyroid tissue,
so goiter.

Oh my gosh.

So not cancer. No, not cancer.

The goiter is something that we can fix
with supplementation with iodine.

I was pretty sure. Oh, yeah.

Absolutely. Yeah, so absolutely I think
that he's going to continue to improve.

So I think that he has, you know, a long
life ahead of him, and we're going to

continue to keep a close eye on him.

Nice. Exciting. Yeah, it is.

That's a lot better outcome than I
thought.

This is great news. We can just kind of
watch him and treat him, and

everything's going to be great.

Wow. Okay.

We are going to be just fine.

you all for being here and joining us on
such an exciting day.

Go show off your beautifulness.

Good girl.

Started to see some people approach and
kind of come up to the glass and really

surprised and excited faces.

This is all new and really something
that I'm hopeful both our Bears and

Panthers will enjoy getting closer to
kind of just interacting with people and

that our guests will enjoy just really
the beauty of what we have here in

Florida.

I couldn't have asked for them to be
better animals today.

Lucy's being a ham, and we went up
already and checked out the glass up

I'm elated is the word I would use. I'm
really happy. Thank you very much, and I

hope you enjoy your day.

The biggest thing with our Florida area
of Zoo Tampa is it's rescued animals.

It's animals that need room. They need
the space.

Every animal, when you walk through the
beginning of Florida Wild all the way to

the end, every animal you're going to
see needs help.

They all have a story, and we're hoping
to tell that story.

She's a little bit bigger in her older
age, but beautiful.

You can see she's obviously very
powerful. She has very long claws.

To see so many people.

Enjoy it and have huge smiles on their
face and see the animals out and

with people.

It was so fun.

Oh, yes.

Oh, yes.

Love it.

There's a girl.

There's a girl.