Trip Report
Departing at 8:00 a.m., twenty-four Obsidians and eighteen friends traveled by Trailways bus to WILDLIFE SAFARI for a fascinating experience, - and added attraction of geology comments enroute by President, Ewart Baldwin. Also, coming home by way of old highway through old towns of Sutherlin, Wilbur, Oakland and Creswell, plus seeing beautiful Umpqua Community College campus, - comments and direction again by Ewart.
We viewed the Asian and African animals, where they roam free and have the right-of-way, from our bus with a docent giving us information, - and again later with the tape recording.
Two special features during the afternoon: 1. In the inside theater while the young trainer who had nursed the four month old Cheetah with a bottle from birth, explained what they had learned, the beautiful cat sat relaxed on a table and viewed her audience with seemingly much interest. 2. In the outdoor theater was a super show of the birds of prey that had been injured in the wild and brought in for treatment and rehabilitation. The ones that cannot be returned are kept in the reserve and some seen on T.V. commercials, like "Happy" the Red Tailed Hawk with the Buick ad. Others seen were the Great Horned Owl that had had a turkey bone transplanted into a broken wing. It eats mice, rats, snakes, skunks, and must have some light to see. "Barnetty" the Barn Owl hunts by hearing and must have total darkness. The Golden Eagle, whose eyesight is ten times better than the human eye, can detect movement from great distances, is a meat eater and catches prey with its talons. The male weighs 8 lbs. 2 oz., and the female is one-third larger, is 37 inches long with a wing span of seven feet.
The Safari's program stresses education, research and conservation. We were home by 4:30 p.m. We are sorry about eight persons on the waiting list who were unable to accompany us. Those enjoying the trip were Muriel Aufderheide, Ewart and Margaret Baldwin, Margaret Barnard, Clay and Louise Barnes, Lettie Bettis, Ella Carrick, Marie Carstensen, Hazel Comrada, Anna Connell, Gerry Fehly, Irene Flynn, Marion Fulkerson, Florence Givans, Gladys Grancorvitz, Helen Hughes, Ruth Keyes, Clarence and Helen Landes, Margaret Markley, Helen Mathiesen, Jeanette and Lloyd Myers, Gladys Patterson, Jacqueline Porch, Olive and Roger Reese, Ailsa Robinson, Marie Rutherford, Lila and Alford Smith, Myrtle Smith, Evawynne and Wendall Spriggs, Betty Mae Stamm, Mary-Douglass Stovall, Helen Stovall, Lottie and Charles Vogel, and co-leaders Jane Hilt and Dorothy Medill.
