Penguin Hero

Last Thursday I took the boys to the zoo so that we could enjoy our last daycare free day together. (I have T& Q back full time again.) I wasn't feeling the best, but I didn't want to waste our last beautiful, carefree day- So we went. Per our usual zoo route, we went directly to the Oceans building to watch fish, pet sharks, and laugh at penguins. We had watched fish, petted sharks and had just made it to the penguin exhibit when Owen became quiet as he peered into a difficult to see corner of the exhibit. He said, "Mommy, that penguin is stuck!" I didn't think that a penguin could *really* be stuck, but sure enough as I got contorted into position to see where he was looking, I saw the penguin in peril. It was hanging from a rope that was coming out of its mouth. It was flailing around in the current, trying to free itself- but try as it might, it couldn't get loose. Suddenly, he stopped fighting and the current started pulling him under. We ran back to the shark exhibit where the nearest attendant is located and told her what was going on with the little penguin. She called for back-up, and within seconds they had shut down that entire side of the exhibit to remove the penguin from the water. They wouldn't tell us anything, so we left the Oceans to take in the rest of the zoo.
We went over to the plains to visit the giraffes, baboons, and rhinos- and then went to the other plains entrance to say "Hello!" to the elephants. Much to our surprise, we discovered that a part of the cheetah exhibit was open, and THERE WERE CHEETAHS out in plain sight. Oh. My. Gosh. This exhibit has been he most highly anticipated event of my three-year-old's life, so to be able to see the cheetahs almost a whole month early was a dream come true!! Not only were the cheetahs out, but when we first got there, their keepers were in the enclosure with them, petting them and playing with them. That totally made Owen's day! Seeing as the exhibit isn't actually open, there were no other people back there to compete with to view the cheetahs. The cheetahs were very inquisitive and seemed to enjoy watching us as much as we enjoyed watching them. It was soo neat to be able to experience that with Owen without the hoards of people that will be there once the exhibit actually opens.

As we were leaving the cheetahs, Owen started asking about the penguin and if I thought that he was okay. We went back to Oceans and asked the attendant about the penguin, and were delighted to find out that the penguin was going to be okay. She told us that he had swallowed the thermometer that hangs on that rope, and he was choking and drowning all at the same time. They transported him to the animal hospital, and were able to remove the thermometer and stabilize him. She thanked Owen for being so observant and for saving the penguin's life! I was pretty proud of my little hero.