One of the most interesting and entertaining parts of the day was stopping at the "Bear House". The lady that lives here takes in "stray" wild animals and cares for them. Stray bear cubs are released back into the wild when they're about four years old, but they often come back for visits. When we rang the doorbell, a lady in a wheelchair
	The bear house was on our route sheet as an interesting diversion

answered and said she'd be back in a few minutes. Apparently, she was putting some of the animals in their cages as they normally have free rein in the house. When we were finally let in, we entered a large living room/kitchen area that was filled with various taxidermy including mounted heads and full animals. We had been in the room for a couple minutes when we noticed that the cougar in the corner wasn't stuffed. The photo below shows her - she looks like a huge Garfield.

We then went out back to see the bear cub and several of us hand fed it taffy. Beside the bear cage was a large pen attached to the house with two tigers. The pen included a shallow swimming pool where the female tiger was cooling off. We were told that all the animals like to play together in the pool, and occasionally some of the bears that are released come back to join in the fun.

The male tiger in the photo below posed for us for a while, then turned its back to us and raised its tail. By the time we figured out what was going on, he sprayed his musk through the fence. We were all laughing hysterically, but John got hit a good dose. The two ladies that were riding with him (Judi and Marlene) said he smelled of musk (to put it politely) for the remainder of the ride.

Thanks to Doug for letting me use his toll-free number to upload my site. For another perspective on our tour, visit Doug's website.