Never cry wolf

In addition to the regular  tour, Carol, Carol's friend, Kelly, and I also booked an additional encounter with Wild Acres' juvenile grey wolf, Echo.

After the capybaras were rounded up and secured in their pen, we were instructed to sit on the concrete pad and remove all jewelry, watches, hair ties, etc. When that was done, Echo made his entrance. He immediately came right over to us and made himself at home.

Echo is a four and a half month old grey wolf. His eyes are just beginning to turn yellow.

His teeth are a mix of puppy and adult teeth.

His paws are huge.

Although he looks like the wolf he is, he acted like a very big,

very friendly,

very chewy puppy.

So chewy! Ow! That hurts!

There was a little bit of educational content,

and at one point, Echo wandered off to check out the capybaras' pool.

He didn't away long, though.

He wanted to play with us almost as much as we wanted to play with him.

The rest of the post is just a bunch of pictures from our wolf encounter. If you ever have a chance to do this, I can not recommend it - and Wild Acres - enough.

Capybaras! Capybaras! Capybaras!

As it turns out, visiting Wild Acres during Labor Weekend was not an original thought. Our tour  group was big, which was fine, but also, it meant that everyone got less one-on-one time with the animals. That might have been frustrating except we had the foresight to book a private encounter with Wild Acres' juvenile grey wolf.

While we were waiting for the wolf to arrive, we were told we could circle back and spend a little more time with the animals of our choosing. I immediately said, "Capybaras! Capybaras! Capybaras!"

The guide laughed and told me that was a good choice, since our wolf encounter would be taking place in the capybara enclosure. We gathered our things and headed in that direction.

We were given a handful of carrots and celery sticks, and that's how I got these amazing pictures with Tyson and Sanders.

By the way, they got those names because they look like two chicken nuggets!

When I ran out of food, the capybaras ran out of interest.

Fortunately, my supply was replenished.

This is why you always book the extra tour.

Worth every penny!

At this point, I was thinking, "Wolf shmolf. Let's just play with capybaras."

I mean, look at him!

Alas, we got word that the wolf was on his way. It was time to put the capybaras in their smaller pen.

I tried to talk this one into staying with me.

Then someone came along and herded him away. Rude.

I was sad right up until the moment the wolf walked into the enclosure.

After that, I stopped thinking about the capybaras for a solid forty five minutes or so.

Wild Acres

Even without the capybaras, my visit to Wild Acres would have been one of the most memorable parts of my recent trip to Mississippi.

I've always loved zoos.

I've also always loved petting zoos.

Wild Acres is both.

For obvious reasons, some of the animals are not pettable.

Still, we were able to get very close to them.

Our guide didn't touch the hyena, but she did feed her carrots and celery through the fence.

The hyena really seemed to enjoy her snacks.

And now I want a hyena!

Other animals that the guide interacted with but we did not included monkeys...

and lemurs.

Although we did not go inside their enclusures, we were given permission to pet the Patagonian maras,

the caracal...

and the red kangaroo provided they came up to the fence.

My second hands-on kangaroo encounter this year. Who would've ever thought it?

Our guide held the coatimundi for us while we petted her.

I got to rub her tummy, which made both of us very happy.

The animals we got to interact with the most were Tyson and Sanders, the capybaras...

and Lady Gaga, the porcupine.

In both cases, our group was instructed to enter the enclosure and sit down. Once seated, we were given snacks. Then the animals were released.

They know the drill. 

They came right over and started working the crowd.

Here he comes.

Closer.

One picture please!

Thank you, friend. Here's your reward.

In addition to the zoo animals, there were also a number of farm/pet animals including goats,

chickens,

geese,

cows,

one horse...

and a three legged hound dog.

Those were all pettable, providing they wanted to be petted.

There is one more animal I need to show you, but he deserves a post of his own.

If - like me - you're someone who wishes every zoo was a petting zoo, Wild Acres is the place for you. I am so glad I got spend some time there!