Brom gets fishy

Coocoo

I told Mara to help me write these posts about our holiday, but she had to work again and didn't have that much time. Not even to make a Photo on Sunday! But here I am again and I will tell you all about the rest of our holiday in Northern Ireland. 

Guess where I am? NOT IN THIS PICTURE!!!

Because of Mara's gammy knee, we had to take it easy a bit, but Gera had found the perfect outing: the Exploris Aquarium in Portaferry. I thought it would be really close to where we were, but it was a long drive. And a short ferry ride as well. But then we had arrived and we went to see the fish.

As you know I am a bear and I think bears and all other animals should live their life in their natural habitat (mine is with Mara). Sometimes that is not possible and in that case a zoo or aquarium might be a solution. 

The Exploris aquarium did not only have a lot of beautiful fish, it also was a baby seal sanctuary, where hurt and wounded seals would be cared for until they could be returned to the wild. We saw how two of them got fed (and a whole load of opportunistic gulls as well).

The keeper had to use this big stick to keep the birds in check,
so they wouldn't eat all the fish meant for the seals.

There was an otter family that was part of the repopulation program. The two adults were in one pen and the four girls in another as they were already old enough and that was what would happen in the wild as well. The girls would be moving on to other zoos to mix the bloodlines.

The otters were fed mice this time.

And then there was a large crocodile that was rescued from someone when it was only a few hands long! The person who had wanted to sell it, was perhaps not too sure about how big it would get! It was massive, as you can see from the photo at the top! And don't worry, there was glass between us, I would never ever ever stick my head in a crocodile's mouth.

It was a great day out and it hadn't even finished yet, but I will tell you more about that on Wednesday.