Reindeers & Friends

 When you hear the word reindeer, most people immediately think of Santa's flying friends - usually Rudolph, along with his buddies Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, and Blitzen. Of course, we all know that reindeer don't fly (except on Christmas Eve, wink-wink!!), but most people also don't really know what a reindeer is.

Simply put, a reindeer is just a domesticated caribou. 

Sure there are many different sub-species, but they are ultimately the same.

When they are in captivity, they are referred to as reindeer; when they are living in the wild, they are referred to as caribou.

Earlier this week, we took a drive north to Palmer (45 minutes away) to the Alaska Reindeer Farm where they have reindeer, elk, horses, one bull moose, and a bison.  All of the animals are rescue animals who have either been abandoned by their mothers, injured, or left in some other dangerous situation.  We had a great opportunity to be up close and personal with the reindeers, as well as see how beautiful all of the other animals truly are.

Nana feeding all of Santa's flying helpers

 She said they were really fuzzy and soft (both their face and antlers), but their fur was shedding so they looked like they had lost a battle with an angry hair dresser who pulled out half their fur.  Poor ugly things...

 Thomas & Abby wanted NOTHING to do with feeding the reindeers.  They only wanted to watch.  I think it had to do with the reindeers' big heads right up in their faces - probably a little intimidating for them.

 We next headed over to see Manny the Moose.

He was huge!

And I couldn't believe how big his antlers were.

Amazing to see this enormous creature this close!

 His story was a little sad.

When he was only a week old, his mama left him for a few hours near a road.  Some folks came by and saw him and called the appropriate authorities saying that there was an abandoned baby moose.  While they waited for the authorities to arrive, they took pictures with the moose.  Then the Mama Moose returned.  The baby moose smelled like humans and she ignored him & then did not want him -  really abandoning him.

At just over a week old, his new home was on this farm where they have loved and cared for him for the last 10 years.

 Thomas the Moose

Marilyn tried some Moose ears also

 We also saw bison,

and elk,

 even a baby elk that was born a few days before,

 and several baby moose who were so ugly they were cuties!