#she needs her emotional support animal
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If they are actually planning on actually bringing back Wanda, I hope they give her a tons of cat or dogs or anything....
#she needs her emotional support animal#and i hope they don't get sparkied#wanda maximoff#marvel#scarlet Witch#wandavision#Mcu#anti mcu#wanda rambling#Maximoff girl ramblings#txt post
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DC x DP Prompt *16*
After he got crowned, Danny started to clean up in the Ghost Zone. One thing he found was an empty lair. An elegant room full of books with a fireplace and comfy armchairs. A ghost was tied to this place, but he never saw them. But he still could feel that the lair was tied to someone, what meant that the ghost didn't end to exist.
It took some time, but Danny was able to follow the bond from the lair to the ghost. He found himself back in the mortal realm and his first thought was that the ghost got somehow stuck here.
So the plan was to find him and bring him back to the zone. Except as soon as Danny made the plan, he should have known that nothing ever goes according to plan for him.
The bond lead him to a young man with black hair that had a white stripe in it. And the man was very much alive, but also didn't seem to be possessed. But he also absolutely felt like the lair.
Invisible Danny followed the guy around and he found out quite a few things.
His name was Jason Peter Todd.
He lives in Gotham.
He is the vigilante/crime lord Red Hood.
He came back from the dead as a revenant.
He got dipped into some corrupted ectoplasm.
He had sever anger issues because of that.
So... Danny made another plan. Jazz had told him about emotional support dogs, because she liked to work with them. And Danny was pretty sure that it shouldn't be to hard to train a ghost dog to do all of this.
It was a nightmare to train Cujo, but after almost six month he was positive that it would work. He took Cujo with him to Gotham and waited till he had a moment where he got Red Hood alone.
The first thing that happened after he made himself visible but not tangible, was that Hood shot him. Like, rude. But because of that he was here.
"Hello. My name is High King Phantom of the Infinite Realms and I am here to give you your prescribed emotional support ghost Dog. His name is Cujo!"
#skylers prompts#dcxdp#dcxdp prompt#dpxdc#don't tag the danny phantom fandom#jason todd#dp cujo#emotional support ghost dog Cujo#Danny trained him himself#What could go wrong?#everything#Jason is so confused#why is there a floating guy with a green dog?#WHY does he need a support animal?!#what the hell is going on?!#Jazz will be so disappointed#Danny should have just asked her how to train a dog for this and she would have made a far bette job than this#Cujo is a good boy#but he is not really the best at his new job#Jason still loves him#Cujo will give Bruce so many grey hairs
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i'm not sure i'll ever finish the wip i have where Near has a white cat named Jetfire
#but i wanted you guys to know it exists#bc im very like#over the top about this idea#i love giving Near a white cat idk#and having him name it Jetfire???#yeah#gimme 14 of em#usually its an emotional support animal#but that shit is half fake anyway so it doesn't really matter#its funny giving near a pet though#bc he cant even properly take care of himself#so its just someone else feeding her all day#and near gets to cuddle her to sleep every night as a reward for doing absolutely nothing#like gevanni is cleaning fucking white cat hair up every day and gets nothing but a paycheck in return#poor guy#oh also i love having the cat reflect near a lot#like a somehow disabled cat#a lot of white blue eyed cats are disbaled/deaf#and i love that#also jetfire is such a good name lowkey#im proud of that one#cant lie#oh and someone realizing how much jetfire reflects near urgh#the character study potentiald#my drafts for this are not few and far between guys#like if she were an emotional support cat then she would alert for when near is distressed and shit#i imagine a younger autistic near needing a little more help with emotional regulation#death note#nate river#near death note
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I was dog sitting for a friend and had the wonderful idea that Isolde should have to have a service dog to warn her of a sudden seizure and as an emotional support animal. Specifically, she should have a neapolition mastiff because:
1. it's a big and strong breed of dog (perfect size to steady/move Isolde if needed)
2. They are laid back but protective of their owners (great guard dog that suits a non-athletic lifestyle)
3. It's droopy face is very cute in a "always looks kinda sad" way (omg twins <3)
I have zero idea on what she should name the dog however but am open to suggestions.
This is a neapolition mastiff btw:
Oh my Goodness, that's a very cute dog!! It looks so strong but also so pretty. I have to agree that its droopy face is quite cute and charming.
That's a very good idea, comrade! I haven't played her side story since, outside circumstances, but from what I've seen in the main story, seizures and fainting seem to be so common she even has to warn others (that one voice line)
From what I know, she would definitely name it after an opera character. For the moment, I consider names like Tosca and Cavaradossi since it seems she likes that opera a lot, or is Kakania's favorite. Either way, she would name it after some opera she likes a lot or a character.
It'd be endearing to see Isolde, who looks so saddened all the time, with a dog who also looks saddened all the time. I don't think they would play a lot, but Isolde would do anything for it as it would for her.
It would be a great addition to Isolde's life since it seems she not only needs a way to cope with her emotions, but someone reliable in her life to take care of her and help her during those moments she can't control. It would not only make her life easier, but also happier. Dogs do that to you, brighten your days when you need it the most.
I love your idea, comrade Zenpachii, it's something I didn't know I needed to see and imagine. I wish it could be implemented for her in the story, I'm quite worried about her.
#reverse 1999#Zenpachii ���🎉#I really like Isolde but I'm always saddened when I remember she has no one to truly rely on#this would definitely make her happier#and not only that but it would be healthier and safer for her#not sure how the ghost would do but an emotional support animal is everything she needs#She would hug it as well#and spoil it as much as she can#I kind of need to see it#I might draw it when I get free time#she deserves it
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she
#still thinking about crystal and how cool she is guys 🥺🥺 I need to continue the comic to meet her more#I need more all saints street I am devastated need emotional support supernaturals#wan sheng jie#all saints street#crystal#anime
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ok sorry for sending another ask but can you do some analysis of marella? just like whatever you want. I need to know how to characterize her.
you have nothing to apologize for. i'm going to answer your asks a little out of order for sake of thought progression, but I will try my best to help! (no short story spoilers, only reference to one minor line not about its plot)
For Marella, I think it's crucial to keep in mind how alone she is--or at least has been in the past. She was never fully part of her world because of her mom's condition, and she had no one to turn to. So she had to be the one standing up for herself, the one to figure things out.
So she keeps secrets even now she has closer friends. She's careful about the information she shares and when, and excellent at deflecting. She's a master of social spheres--not just the gossip, but of controlling what people see. And even with friends, that part of her is still there, unwilling to let them see everything; she's private.
Something I try to keep in mind with her as well is that she explicitly said she didn't think she was cut out for the kotlcrew's activities (Lodestar). She felt left out at first, but changed her mind. The only reason she's part of things now is because being a pyrokinetic turned her very identity into a rebellion. This wasn't a choice for her in the way it was for people like Fitz and Biana. We see this manifest in how she says she doesn't mind being bossed around. I'd describe her as almost exhausted, just wanting everything to be over. She has never had the chance at a normal, easy life. And while she loves her family, she's tired sometimes. So she follows orders, keeps to herself, contributes when she can, and is just waiting for it to end
That's more of her internally. Externally, she covers it up. She's peppy, and stubborn, and hits back. She plays at confidence and strength. Like how she makes a show of embracing her pyrokinesis and joking around when she has conflicted feelings.
Something else I've noticed is that she prods. So much. Take the lunch scene in Unlocked. She just kept talking about Sophitz and drama. Even when they got uncomfortable. Possibly to keep the conversation away from herself, possible because she's just like that. Either way, she doesn't let things rest, she keeps pushing--including past boundaries.
To sum all of this up: she is an incredibly self-reliant person because she had no one to turn to, making her private. It also makes her mask her true feelings and keep secrets a lot of the time, putting on a show of confidence and feisty strength that hides how tired and uncertain she is at times. She's talented and powerful, but has never belonged or opened herself up fully. So when writing her, when she talks she's never saying everything, and you'll have to really work through her layers or get her to say it another way.
Of course we can analyze her beyond this, but hopefully this is a helpful start!
#kotlc#kotlc character analysis#marella redek#quil's queries#nonsie#this is info we can see both before and after the short story#like the fact she's never told anyone she has an emotional support stuffed animal#the first one actually#they don't need to know. so she doesn't tell them#almost everything we know about her is from necessity#she's incredibly guarded
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And now Odette is on the brain too. Its so over
#personal#CRYPT BABY ROOK !!!!! LETS GO !!!!!!#octavia is my failrogue and odette is my failmage#odette isnt as prone to lying and conflicting selfishness. no her problem is she has never had a living friend in her fucking life#girl who was raised by necromancers and undead: im gonna be real guys i dont know how to interact with normal living humans#she is a damn good necromancer and a skilled mortalitasi in training but holy fuck she does not know how to socialize#crowds freak her out#and Living cities are overwhelming and confusing#and far FAR too loud#you ask odette if she needs a hug and she starts shaking and goes I Dont Know. Thats Scary#she needs to be gently coaxed into a social setting like some kind of prey animal#or given a couple skeletons to accompany her for emotional support i suppose#the way she kind of wonders who her family is and why the fuck they abandoned her in a CRYPT. of all places#but also she doesnt want to know bc the answer might hurt
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What are your chronic illness headcanons?
I mean, I'll be honest, I'm sort of vague and broad with all of them? And will go with different specifics for different fics or fantasies, though I have a... fraught relationship with medical research (it's the medical anxiety) and also kind of prefer not to be too specific; as someone with chronic conditions of my own I personally dislike reading too-specific fictional accounts of them, and I also don't want to risk misrepresenting something I'm not familiar with.
That said!
Jean: There's lots of things that fainting, weakness, and vertigo, which are the only canon symptoms we have, could originate from, but I like to give her a heart condition! Being very vague on what, but generally at minimum an arrhythmia or something that it's a symptom of, because that's one I'm pretty familiar with, and also can be easily identified in the field (for hurt/comfort purposes) and have some hand-waved treatments. It is badly exacerbated by her stress level, which is also great for hurt/comfort.
Lisa: Either chronic fatigue or something that causes fatigue as a side-effect. I am very broad, and usually also very vague, with this one--the longer we go without that "her lifespan was halved" thing actually getting brought up in canon the more I assume that Hoyo decided not to go with it after all, but it's always lurking as a Possible Cause if it does come up in canon, and I often prefer to leave that open. (It's also I'm not something I'm personally familiar with except as a side effect of other conditions.) I had several continuities in my head where Lisa was chronically ill beforehand, but @canonical-transformation's excellent Girl Underwater solidified it for me as my dominant and permanent headcanon, whether or not it actually comes up in something I'm writing.
Kaeya: You mean my son Kaeya who has every (mental) disease? :P More seriously, leaving aside that you can posit so much going on in his head (though I do lean towards depression), alcoholism is in fact a chronic disease, and another one that I am pretty familiar with. I've also seen the argument that the tendency to write him as a sickly kid, which I often do (on the theory that if he's from underground, another preferred headcanon of mine, he probably never met 99% of Mondstadt's usual diseases beforehand and they would've run roughshod over his immune system), should probably lead to him having physical/immune issues as an adult, which I find plausible but generally don't go too far with just because he already has enough going on.
Anyway, Lisa is 100% honest and upfront about her problems and expects accommodation, as she should; Jean admits she has a condition because it's pretty hard to deny, but minimizes it to a deeply unhealthy extent; Kaeya has nothing wrong with him and wonders why you would imply that he does. Obviously this list is also in order of how difficult it is to help/treat them from the outside. Barbara appreciates Lisa deeply, wishes Jean would cooperate more but is doing her best, and isn't even touching Kaeya because that's waaaaaaay above her paygrade.
#the shape of teyvat#asked and answered#someone please give jean a nap#lisa isn't lazy she's just efficient#kaeya is a bundle of knives behind a smile#jean has two hands and two aides: coincidence?#someday i may actually write the story i pull out most often for fluff and was rotating at the barn today#wherein kaeya temporarily moves in with lisa and her cat#and in between the cat slowly becoming his emotional support animal and living with someone just being good for him#and the major plot beat where lisa spends all her spoons and borrows on the next month's supply and he becomes her main carer for a while#he just... forgets to move out. for a year. and then forever#it's not shippy they are just good friends taking care of each other when they need it :>
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camilla hect and her elderly dog she loves and handles so gingerly. she beams around them
#tlt#cam#camilla hect#elderly beagle on my walk fell in love with me and her college ish boy owner had to ask her twice not to follow me#fuck man dogs are the best#only way i can stand work is knowing it puts a roof (woof) over my dog's head 🫡🫡🫡#also she deserves an emotional support dog#also friendly PSA if you're american it's super easy to get your dog or pet to be an emotionally support animal for an apartment complex#you just need a note from your doctor saying hey I have x mental illness this pet helps stabilize my emotions#and then they can't charge you pet rent or pet fees and like hell yeah
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So Kida is my emotional support dog for depression, and she is actually very good at her job, even when she decides the easiest way to make me feel better is to cause chaos.
Sometimes, i will say “kida, I’m sad” or “kida i need Emotional Support” and she runs up to me and licks my arm or leg. I always thought she was trying to either clean me or give me kisses. I was looking through articles trying to find out what kind of dog she’s supposed to be and a vet noted that dogs do this to mimic the way their mothers comforted them when they were puppies Q-Q
#KIDAAAAA#esa#no it’s ok I didn’t need my heart anyway#emotional support animal#she does this when my joints hurt too i love her so much
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Honestly I find it hilarious that I've accidentally made it a thing of Vash being a horse girl (gender neutral) bc I'm writing his tomas as a weird horse
Chica the tomas was an accident. She was unplanned. I just tossed her in on a whim, realized I loved her, realized VASH loves her, & now a bunch of readers love her too
I've also gotten a few comments like "man I hope nothing bad happens to her!" And I'm over here just Sweating bc like
Objectively? That Bird Cannot Stay In The Story. If Vash keeps her, she will die. There is no WAY a normal mount would survive the utter chaos of his life in the coming months. Either he gets rid of her, or she dies. There's really no middle ground.
Which makes me sad :( I love Chica the tomas and itnl Vash loves her too
#speculation nation#itnl shit#ive so far answered the question about her fate with 'haha (nervous sweating)' or about that equivalent#bc like. genuinely. ive thought about a lot of things.#even beyond the abject chaos of his life. the destruction of cities. the Explosions. the EVERYTHING that could kill a bird.#imagine for one moment. that Legato catches wind of how much Vash loves his emotional support tomas.#that bird would be dead. Legato would kill her in a Heartbeat. easily. GLEEFULLY. she would not live.#and i thought about doing this bc Objectively if Legato is wanting to break Vash's spirit (he does want to) it'd be a quick way to do it#but Vash is not dumb. he's aware of the risks. and as much as he wants to keep her with him. he doesnt want her to die.#he's unwilling to let her die even if it means letting her go.#and to be fair. the time he truly needed her is over. he can pass her onto a place where she can be happy and peaceful#and he'll be okay. bc he has his friends back. he can go without his emotional support tomas.#she was so good for his mental health during his years of solitude. giving him company and cuddles during long lonely nights.#but he's okay now. he's ready to move on. and she can be happy elsewhere.#this will of course be addressed in the story but I ASSURE U READERS. i do not want to kill Chica 😭😭😭😭#i did damn think about it but it made me sad :( so i decided not to lol#she Will have a happy home for sweet toma. vash will make SURE of it.#i have smth in mind. i gotta look into this thing. for now just know she will be okay in the end.#animal death ment/#also horse girl (gender neutral) vash is such a great concept that i am More than happy to uphold#considering how on point his rein handling in tristamp is perhaps it has some basis. i like the headcanon tbh.
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me: i want a dog i want a dog i want a dog i want a dog
my lease: no dogs
my cat: despite living with dogs for several years, still has not learned to coexist with dogs
my bank account: not that healthy
and yet! 😂😭
#jay speaks#I am so close to asking my psych for an emotional support animal letter#in truth I already -have- an ESA her name is ragna looool#she's just not like. official#because my lease permits cats I don't NEED a letter#unlike service animals ESAs aren't exempt from pet rent anyway so#at least not last I checked#it's just that housing cannot refuse an ESA
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#tag talk#had a customer today returning a tool#and she told me about how she had bought it for her husband and how he had angrily told her he didn't need it.#and then she looks at me and says “it feels almost normal for him to be mad at me” and that instantly communicates something is wrong#and I respond in an open supporting manner that kinda asks more. and she told me how he hit her over it#And I got the honor of being supportive to her and telling her if it feels normal it's gone on too long already.#she told me she would think about what I said and she left.#but then! she comes back in with a little dog in her arms and she introduces him to me and like..#she had no other way of saying thanks besides showing me this animal that acts as her primary emotional support.#isn't that so fucking beautiful?#I know I'll probably never see her again in my life. but I got the honor of telling her she deserves love not abuse.#and I got the honor of her showing me this dog that gets her through the rough times#I hope she fights for a better life.#we all deserve love not harm
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vent post. There are two stories i was told in my teenage years that even before i had a real concept of trans issues made me uninterested in discussing the supposed sacredness and safety of separated sex-based spaces.
First, when i was like 13 or 14 my PE teacher told us about a time she went to a women's public restroom, some guy was hanging out outside the bathrooms, she didn't think anything of it, went to the bathroom, and he walked in after her and like, creeped on her over the top of the stall. She was ok, she wasn't telling us this to scare us, just telling us what to do in situations like that (and iirc she was telling the whole co-ed class this, not just girls, bc it's useful for everyone), but this taught me immediately and forever that there's nothing actually keeping these spaces separate really, that anyone can be a creep in any space, and that establishing a space like that as for women only isn't actually particularly useful for safety.
Second, when i was 16 i was at an anime convention, a friendly acquaintance of mine and i ended up in conversation outside, and he showed me his bare wrist and told me he'd been kicked out. A female friend of his had stepped in dog poop outside, and between that and the stress of the convention she'd had a bit of an emotional breakdown, so being her friend, he started comforting her and ushered her into the women's restroom so they could wash the poop off her shoe together. And because he was a man who went into the women's bathroom, he got kicked out, no matter that he was doing something that was actually beneficial to a woman. Punishing a woman's friend for supporting her was supposed to... protect her somehow? This made it clear to me that a no-exceptions rule separating the sexes like that wasn't actually inherently good for everyone.
And this isn't even getting into me as a child needing to accompany my younger sister to the restroom when we were out with just my dad because she had certain support needs past the age he felt comfortable bringing her into the men's room with him. And what if I'd been born a boy, or she'd been the first born? Who's helping her then?
And of course even putting all this aside, we should always prioritize compassion and support anyway. But i never even needed to meet a trans person to know that "keeping men out of women's bathrooms" is silly nonsense. But trans people also need to pee anyway and as humans they have that right, so leave them the fuck alone. your precious women's restroom is just a fucking room with a door, holy shit give it a fucking rest, if someone is attacking you in the bathroom that's bad and if someone is in there to pee that's good and it doesn't fucking matter what their junk is or was when they were born.
a woman could have done the exact same thing to my PE teacher and it would have also been bad no matter how "supposed" to be in the restroom she was, and no one should ever be punished for helping a crying friend wash their shoe.
Anyway i know I'm speaking to like-minded folks here, i just think about those two stories literally every time bathroom gender shit comes up and it pisses me off.
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i have to stop tearing out my hair when im frustrated im so bald
#like ive never had much hair and its thing and grows slowwwwww#if i continue being this stressed itll all fall out or i pull it out#im feeling like a pray animal who knows its gonna die my heartbeat is probably abnormal#i love my mom#i need to skin her alive or somethinf#STOP POPPING YOUR JAW#ACTUALLY DO CONTINUE I HOPE IT DISLOCATES FULLY THIS TIME#AHHHHHHHHHH#i just wanted to be home before the job interview a bit but ive been on the verge of crying yesterday and now today#all she does is bully and demean me and make comments on everything i do and say#not a moment of silence#or support of any kind#im going insane#plus my period is late but will start soon im sure so thats already fucking up with my emotional state#idk how being near my mom could get worse than it always is but it just did -_-#i just woke up and she already started#oughhhh my eye is twitching#so many typos just read my mind
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Aug ABSOLUTELY deserves the praise, @ryukikit. St. Augustine Alligator Farm is one of my favorite animal facilities, hands down. It's a pretty zoo, doable in an afternoon if you kinda like crocodilians, or an all day affair if you REALLY like crocodilians. Here are my favorite things about it and why I think it's worth supporting.
1. They keep animals in interesting social groups.
Crocodilians are heavily involved parents, but most places that breed them don't have the enclosure space to let the babies stay with the parents. St. Augustine does. One of my favorite groups was their crèche of slender-snouted crocodiles. They had the parents and then a yearling cohort and a new hatchling cohort. This aligns with how these guys live in the wild- the babies stick around longer! They have the space for it, and they are very in tune with the social needs of their animals.
Very, very few zoos can keep their baby crocs with the adults and still perform maintenance and animal health checks safely. This doesn't mean these facilities are bad- it just means that they have different management practices. And frankly, a lot of these species aren't frequently bred elsewhere. Your average zoo doesn't need a setup where you can have a multiyear crèche for slender-snouted crocodiles. Some species have better success when the young are pulled early, and some zoos are better set up to raise out any offspring separately or behind the scenes. Every facility's practices are different, and this just happens to work well at St. Augustine and be really enjoyable to see as a zoo patron.
Crocodilians are exceptional parents and very protective. It's a sign of incredible animal management practices and animals that feel very comfortable with staff that St. Augustine can do this with nearly every species they breed.
2. They understand the social needs of their animals.
Some crocodilians are social. Some are solitary. Some can live happily with a member of the opposite sex but get territorial around members of the same sex. St. Augustine pays incredible attention to their social groupings to ensure that they aren't just meeting the animals' physical health needs but their social needs as well. They do continuous scientific research about social structures in crocodilians, taking blood samples to test stress hormones and observing stress behaviors to see how group dynamics change.
For example, St. Augustine is home to one of the world's largest known living saltwater crocodiles, Maximo. And his comparatively tiny mate, Sydney. During the educational presentations with these two, they point out that even their monster of a croc needs his social group- he won't eat if she's not around and he is calmer during medical checks if he can see her. These animal share a deep and special pair bond, and they make sure to talk about how the social aspect of these animals' lives is integral to their care. It's a unique aspect of the way they talk about these animals, because he IS a spectacle and he IS a sensation, but they don't talk about him like he's a mindless killing machine- they talk about him like he's a big, complex predator with social needs like any other animal. Aug is the only facility I've been to where the emotional and social needs of crocodilians is part of the education they provide guests- and speaking of education...
3. Their demos and presentations are extremely good.
The presentations at St. Augustine are some of the best I've ever seen, and I've seen literally hundreds of animal talks on everything from aardvarks to zebras. But as you... can probably tell from my blog content, I've spent a lot of time learning about and working with reptiles. I really enjoyed all of their presentations because they are very scientific about things and avoid sensationalism. They really want you to be fascinated by these creatures and love them- but more than anything else, they want you to respect them.
Also, they do a really good job handling their ambassadors. I really enjoyed something as simple as watching an educator tell us about snakes. Throughout the whole presentation she made sure that most of the snake's body was looped in her hand. The snake was always supported and was very calm. She gave the snake plenty of head room so that it didn't feel constricted- it was just good handling all around.
But also, the presentations made it clear how much the park cares about the animals' well-being. When they do the feeding and training presentations, they make it very clear that the animals' participation is entirely voluntary. They do things differently for their 9-foot saltie and their 16-foot saltie, because the 16-footer is so large and heavy he actually struggles walking on land sometimes. They adapt their programs and his care to ensure that he's completely comfortable- and he didn't actually participate in the whole feeding when I was watching! At no point did they try to push him into anything uncomfortable; they offered, he didn't engage, and they moved on. It was a clear expression of his boundaries, and I really appreciated how much his caretakers respected that.
4. Ethical Interactions
I've been to... a lot of tourist locations in Florida that have animals you can hold. Almost always against my will! Many of them are pretty terrible, and you don't actually learn much, if anything. But I really found that to not be the case at St. Augustine. Every single animal presentation and interaction opportunity was accompanied by education about the animal's biology, habits, and- crucially- their conservation status.
When I held a baby alligator at St. Augustine, the proctors- there were two, one to ensure I was holding the gator correctly and the other to educate- were very informative about the role alligators play in their ecosystem and their conservation history. The animals were all properly banded, and one of the two proctors was there to ensure that none of the baby alligators were uncomfortable. As soon as they started getting squirmy or tense, they were removed, unbanded, and taken to an off-exhibit area to relax. And when the babies age out of petting size, they just go in the lagoon to live with others of their species. I saw one upset alligator the entire time I was there, and he was clearly upset that his escape attempt was foiled by a keeper during my nursery tour.
Even though he's restrained in this shot, you can see that his full body and tail are supported, and the grip, while firm, is gentle. He's distressed, but after I took this picture, she put him in his enclosure and he calmed down immediately.
Sometimes when you have petting attractions with baby animals, those animals... don't have a happy ending. (See: cub petting.) But St. Augustine's program is fine- the gators are all aged out of wanting to have mom around, there's no declawing/defanging, and they're handled with care. And it's worth it, because people love what they understand. St. Augustine was integral in raising public awareness about alligators back in the 60s when they were endangered, and now they're thriving- largely in part to programs like St. Augustine getting people to care.
And speaking of getting people to care, let's talk about their research.
5. Shared Research Results
St. Augustine is also home to more species of crocodilian than anywhere else in North America- all of them, usually. (They didn't have a Tomistoma when I visited- that may have changed.)
Because of this species diversity, it's an incredible research resource. Having every species means that you can do a lot of work comparing their behaviors, their growth patterns, and more. They've been a major research site for crocodilian biology since the 1970s. Today, they're one of the key sites for studying crocodilian play and social behaviors. They actually maintain a blog where they post copies of papers that were written using their animals, meaning that you can actually see the results of the research your admission helps fund. You can see that right here: https://www.alligatorfarm.com/conservation-research/research-blog/
All of this adds up to a zoo that provides a unique experience, tons of actual education, and transparency about what its research and conservation steps actually are. St. Augustine's come a long way since its opening in 1893, and they really do want you to leave with a new respect for the animals they care for. Ultimately, if you're a fan of reptiles, you can feel good about visiting the St. Augustine Alligator Farm- their care and keeping are top of the line, they do a ton of innovative conservation research and support for conservation organizations, and you can see this animal there:
(Gharial from the front. Nothing is wrong with her that's just what they look like from the front.)
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