Zoo’s adorable ‘kids’
Baby goats and other animals get some attention
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Mitch Hurley, goat specialist at the Little Ponderosa Zoo and Wildlife Rescue near Clinton, holds month-old baby goat Iva, a Nigerian Dwarf, as zoo guests behind him visit with other babies on Sunday, March 10. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Baby alpacas, known as crias, get some attention from guests at the Little Ponderosa Zoo and Wildlife Rescue on Sunday, March 10. Looking on are, from left, Emma, Sandy and Emmet Enlow of Jacksboro. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Mitch Hurley of the Little Ponderosa Zoo and Wildlife Res- cue visits with the three calves born this year at the zoo, which is on Granite Road near Clinton. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Emma and Emmet Enlow of Jacksboro enjoy some close- up time with baby goats at the Little Ponderosa Zoo and Wildlife Rescue near Clinton on Sunday, March 10. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Little Ponderosa Zoo animal specialist Wayne Taylor shows off goat Oatmeal to visitor Emmet Enlow, as piglet Raisin looks on. Taylor said the pig and goat were hand-raised together and have become a bonded pair of best friends who can’t stand to be separated. - G. Chambers Williams III
Dozens of visitors to the Little Ponderosa Zoo and Wildlife Rescue took the opportunity last weekend to have play time with some of the spring crop of baby animals, including goats, alpacas, lambs and calves.
The zoo offers exclusive access to the babies this year for $50 for groups of up to five people, or $100 for more than five.
Visitors participating in this feature are allowed to sit inside fenced enclosures and experience the babies up close.
Mitch Hurley, who is in charge of the zoo’s current crop of about 130-140 baby goats – kids – said they are the most popular of the animals people get to play with.
“We try to pick out about 10 of the baby goats that are the most playful and have the best personalities, and let people sit in the pens and visit with them,” he said Sunday as the bright, sunny weather brought lots of visitors to the zoo.
Hurley, assisted by Wayne Taylor, spent most of the day herding visitors into the pens, the largest of which featured the little goats, along with some rabbits.
“We also have seven sheep (lambs), three calves and three alpacas,” Hurley said.
Besides the goats, who always seem to be curious about everyone and everything, Hurley said the alpacas were the most welcoming to the visitors – and perhaps even more curious than the goats.
One of the goats most popular with the visitors was a larger-than-normal Nigerian Dwarf – as yet unnamed – that weighed 12 pounds when he was born, Hurley said.
“The baby goats are usually between two and four pounds at birth,” he said.
Most of the goats picked to visit with the guests were about a month old, he said.
The zoo sells most of the babies, but the ones that get to stay will be turned out in a few weeks to roam free among the guests throughout the zoo, Hurley said.
“They will be the friendliest ones who like being around people,” he added.
Access to play with the babies requires scheduling in advance, Little Ponderosa Assistant Manager Abbie Bell said.
The Little Ponderosa is at 629 Granite Road, in the Dutch Valley community near Clinton.
Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday, and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday.
For more information, call 865-457-5536, or visit the website littleponderosazoo.com.