MEAD, Wash. — Cat Tales Zoological Park in Mead closed in April in response to the coronavirus pandemic and during the closure, the community showed up with food donations for the animals.
The big cats eat about 20 pounds of meat five days a week and the community helped make sure they were fed.
"We ended up filling six numerous chest freezers full of donations,” Cat Tales Executive Director Lisa Wyche said. “We even had enough turkeys and chickens that we could built a pallet to send to cold storage so that when we do our holiday meals where we feed out the holiday birds. We're no back on our normal new donation schedule. Which is about one or two a day and that's about average and works with what we pull to feed out to balance the pans."
The zoo reopened in June with a few changes to ensure the safety of visitors and the animals.
"We can't ask them to wear masks, it just doesn't work,” Wyche said. “They're not very cooperative. It's our job to protect them and ensure their safety as well. So even though we're an outdoor facility, we've had to ask the guests that we have on our private tours to mask up. We mask up when we're working around the animals cleaning and feeding."
Washington's stay-at-home order came with its challenges, including an empty parking lot, which is not typical for this time of year. Wyche said this allowed Cat Tales time to work on projects they could not get to before.
"With the closure of COVID, we were able to tackle a number of projects. We're excited about our new fox exhibit and finally get our arctic foxes where people can meet them in person," Wyche said.
KREM also asked Wyche what she thought of the Netflix series “Tiger King.” She said from what she has seen of the show, it is no where close to how she runs Cat Tales.
"Our staff is like--where was his exits, where was his back up person, where was his belt back with tools to protect you, and all the stuff we train for safety in the event you're in a similar situation," Wyche explained.
Cat Tales thanks the community for its overwhelming response in donations. To find out how to support the zoo, visit their Facebook page.