web Missy climb bamboo 1 IMG_9308

Climb Missy Climb!

February 16, 2012 by J.B. -

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Check out the play face as she climbs the timber bamboo. No one has more fun than Missy.

(In case you were wondering, she held on all the way down and had a safe landing)

16 Comments

  1. Chris on February 16, 2012 at 11:40 am

    Wow, these are great photos J.B. Missy is quite the climber…I wouldn’t of wanted to be in the way of that bamboo when she let go!! It is so wonderful to be able to see them running, playing and climbing in the great outdoors, that they were deprived of, for so long!



  2. Avatar jan smith on February 16, 2012 at 11:40 am

    This would make a great flipbook



  3. leslie sodaro on February 16, 2012 at 12:57 pm

    great sequence. it also appears that winter and snow has not been off-putting for them and they have gotten good use of The Hill. makes me all giggly to think about them and the added freedom and adventure that The Hill gives them …



  4. marie cross (uk) on February 16, 2012 at 2:15 pm

    these pictures are fantastic ! i cant belive how much the bamboo has grown ! what brilliant enrichment 🙂



  5. Avatar Doreen on February 16, 2012 at 4:49 pm

    Wow – Missy is having a BLAST! What GREAT photos!



  6. Avatar Linda (Portland, OR) on February 16, 2012 at 5:41 pm

    WOW!! Great pics JB!! Thx for taking so many of them.

    I think in the last picture she is secretly trying to figure out how to use the bamboo as a catapult to blast over that fence when Spring gets here!!



  7. Candy (Tyler) on February 16, 2012 at 6:15 pm

    I’ll say this, that’s some mighty strong bamboo. Good for Missy for being so adventurous. I’ve been wondering if you all will put up something so they can brachiate around the hill, I know there would be safety issues?



    • JB on February 17, 2012 at 8:20 am

      Yes, we will be building more climbing structures in the spring and we hope to incorporate some features that will allow for brachiation.



  8. Avatar Marcia Douthwaite on February 16, 2012 at 6:22 pm

    JB, Thank you for these wonderful photos. Glad she was able to hang on as it bent over. Will be interesting to see if any of the others will try it.



  9. Avatar jen in NH on February 17, 2012 at 4:38 am

    Boy, this makes me wish we could see them in the trees 😀



  10. Avatar Linda Butcher on February 17, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    Wow, this is amazing! So cool to see them out there using nature like it was meant to be used & appreciated.



  11. Avatar Marcia Douthwaite on February 17, 2012 at 10:01 pm

    JB: Is that Annie watching her below?



    • J.B. on February 18, 2012 at 8:33 am

      Jody was directly below her and Annie approached from the right toward the end of the series of photos



  12. Sara Lissabet, Fairfax on February 22, 2012 at 10:40 am

    That’s amazing. Can you plant a good climbing tree (one that wouldn’t grow more than 15-20 ft) in the middle of the field, far enough away from the fences to avoid any accidents? Her climb looked so “natural”; wouldn’t it be great to see them sitting on a branch in a tree?



    • Avatar J.B. on February 23, 2012 at 11:06 am

      Planting a tree in the enclosure would be pretty difficult at this point. Most trees take a long time to grow, and when they are young or newly planted they are vulnerable. Fast growing trees require a lot of water, and we are very limited in the amount of irrigation we can do here since we are located in the zone between the mountains and the desert. The best scenario would be to build an enclosure around an existing stand of trees, but we didn’t have that option here.

      I can’t deny that seeing Missy climb the bamboo makes me wish she had access to a whole forest of trees, but we try to focus on the functional aspects of enrichment. What Missy really wants to do is climb, so we will continue to build structures on the hill that allow her to do just that.



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