Hildy that's great to know. I would love to go there but it's a long trip from Michigan for just a 2 hour visit. I don't fly ( or should I say won't)so it would be a driving trip and boy would it be worth it for a whole day's visit. Thanks for the info.

I agree there with you about the 2hrs would not be very long to visit. I live in Georgia, so i would want to do the all day visit. I would gladly pay the $300 mentioned to do that. If I didnt have enough worms, I would just pay for some more--lol. Of course we dont want them getting too fat. In a way, it is almost too bad that I am not still married. My ex would have been right up for something like this. As it is, I probably will have to make the trip alone. I just have to keep reminding myself---there are worse things than being alone. Soo true!

Oh, and I love to fly!

Well Hildy and Jens,
I was there where were you??? Just kidding, well actually, I Was there, I grabbed a friend and I drove 169 miles to the Living Desert today!!!

I am in LOVE with the Meerkat mob there, especially the three legged DF, who's name escapes me just now (it's no wonder after driving over 310 miles today). Such a sad story of how she came to be a three legged Kat, but she's tough and they are hoping for pups next year!!!

I was amazingly fortunate to run into West_Coast_Meerkat at the Kat enclosure!! He was talking to the Docent about the new Kat area in the planning stages just now, and was telling her about the East Coast Meerkat Society who just celebrated the opening of the new Kat Enclosure back east. So I just took a chance and mentioned the West Coast Meerkat Society, which he actually is a part of!! Imagine my Surprise & Joy!!

So we were able to socialize with our little mob for about an hour all together (I was able to coax them over to me with a lead call, it was so cute, they would first look at each other, like 'was that you?' then come to me, so I could get close up pictures of them), he even got the entire mob to come over by making a call and wiggling his fingers close to the enclosure, they are just ADORABLE and I am totally IN LOVE WITH EACH AND EVERY ONE OF THEM!!! It makes me sad now to be so far from them, I feel such a strong heart attachment to them already after just a few hours spent with them...I took a bunch of pictures and am emailing them to WCM so he can post them on his photobucket site, as I don't have a site...this will be done by wednesday.

Anyhow, sure wish you both had been there, we would have had a grand time!!

All the best to you all!
Peace Love & Meerkats
Christine, in California aka/CaliKatGirl

Angelkisses- I was not able to make it this weekend, but I believe Hildy was there. I wished I could have gone.

Good news is, my Flower Tribute/ LA Zoo Meerkat video is now complete. Just waiting for the upload to finish. It will be up by morning. I'm excited for everyone to see our LA Meerkats!!!!

Sorry if you see 2 posts here. I sent the first one prematurely (this second post now has links and mentions “5 meerkats”)…

Oct14 Meerkat Meetup at The Living Desert
Earlier today (Sunday), I visited The Living Desert in Palm Desert, Ca., located 30 minutes east of Palm Springs). As AngelKisses mentioned above, she was able to come out and enjoy the animals as well. It was her first day of seeing live meerkats, and by her comments above, she had “a grand time”. Unlike typical zoos which feature all types of animals, The Living Desert only features animals that are comfortable in desert climates, both American & African. This is likely because of the extreme heat in Palm Desert (88 today and 120 in the summer). They have 5 meerkats; the DF is “Toolie”, and there are 4 male siblings as well (unrelated to Toolie). As AngelKisses mentioned above, Toolie has 3 legs. This was the tragic result of an amputation a few years ago after a ferocious thunderstorm collapsed & drowned Toolie’s entire mob family, as they were all hiding in their burrow from the storm. Toolie survived, but her right arm was crushed & removed. Again, this was years ago, and Toolie does very well now. They introduced the 4 males and have been a family ever since.

As a result of the tragedy, their outdoor enclosure now has a roof. However, they no longer get sand that can be sculpted in to burrows. Instead, they crawl through large PVC pipes which are buried in a little bit of very soft sand, as the zoo is quite over-protective of preventing another tragedy, and pipes obviously don’t collapse. Personally, I think their meerkats would be happier in sand that can be sculpted in to burrows, but I do understand their reasoning. The enclosure borders on being a little small (16’x9’). The “chicken-wire” walls give the effect of being trapped in a cage. Also, the base of the cage appears to be concrete, draped in just a sheet of sand to drape it, but undiggable. In short, their meerkat enclosure looks small, the cage look depressing, and the lack of sand is disappointing.

Now the good news. The Living Desert agrees that the meerkat enclosure needs renovation, and I learned when talking with the meerkat keeper today that they’re planning a new meerkat enclosure. Apparently, they’re working with an architect who’s supposed to be really good. I mentioned about the network of meerkat fans that support the improvement of meerkat enclosures, and described the Staten Island events. She told me that the other zoo personnel were also dissatisfied with the current meerkat enclosure, and she was quite happy to suggest putting me in touch with the curator about coordinating the upcoming exhibit. We visited to the gift shop, where they have their own exclusive meerkat merchandise, and found that the gift shop’s general manager, Heather, is also a big fan of their meerkats. She seemed to know everything the keeper knew, and also suggested having me work with their curator on the new enclosure. I really got the sense that they love their kats. I’ll be calling their curator to see what their architect is planning, and will try to verify whether it will be larger, with sand, and no chicken wire to get between their kats and a natural view.

The Meerkat Café was updated with new meerkat-based order menus. The café staff was friendly, and here you can see my photos of the day. Unfortunately, the videos were set to low resolution, so this meerkat-feeding is a bit blurry. In summary, I had a great time with the kats, meeting AngelKisses, and learning that the zoo is upgrading the meerkats’ disappointing conditions.

Here it is... finally!!!! I had to compress it from 142MB to 100MB, so the sound suffered, as well as being a little grainy, but overall I am just happy to have a tribute complete from all of us here on the West Coast.

It is long, but worth the wait to see the end, where the Meerkat is sunbathing under the heating lamp. Hope you all enjoy. Here is the link to my video: (please let me know if it does not work)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-XnS_iABME

quote:

Originally posted by meerkatkate:
Anyone from Phoenix area?

Hi,
I'm in the Phoenix area

I'm very proud of how active our California team has been in the last few days. Kimmmmy has been posting. Mlaiuppa has neen driving new threads. Hildy has been posting TCB-book update. AngelKisses surprised me with her unannounced attendance at yesterday's Living Desert meetup, which you can read about in my post above, and now...

JensMeerkats has delivered a slam dunk with the first Flower Memorial Tribute Video actually made by a forum member (***Please correct me if any of us have previously posted a tribute video, as I mean no disrespect; I just haven't heard of any of these videos actually being made by our forum members***).

Jens created & posted the 9 minute video (above) that is both a tribute to Flower, as well as the video from the LA Zoo portion of the recent 9/29 MultiZoo Meerkat Meetup. I love where it shows the meerkat sauna(at about 6:30). Great job Jen!

Jens,

That was a wonderful tribute to the memory of our dear Flower Whiskers. How many meerkats are in this mob? Sometimes I thought 2 but then maybe 3 or even 4...They sure have a wonderful and natural environment, to wander around and dig in. I loved the sunlamp scenes, warming his tummy in the 'sun'.

Thank You for your time and dedication!

Peace Love & Meerkats
Christine, in California aka/CaliKatGirl

WCM, I am downloading the pictures from yesterday's Meerkat encounter as I type. I'll send them to your email as soon as I sort them out, I've got about 300 pictures on this memory card. You can expect them sometime this afternoon, so that you can post them on your photobucket site and share them with the rest of the group. I hope that they turned out okay!

Have a great day!

Peace Love & Meerkats,
Christine, in California, aka/CaliKatGirl

Thank you for the kind words- it meant alot for me to complete it. As WCM pointed out, it turned into somewhat of a mission for me. I found it very therapeutic.

As for the LA Zoo Meerkats, there are just 2= Chico & Spanky. As you can tell, they look very well fed. They appear to get along very well with each other, and took turns in their roles. I hope some of you will be able to get the chance to see them. The best part was the Meerkat sunbathing under the lamp- priceless!!!

Jennifer

WELL HOLY MEERKAT...I AM BEHIND...ANGELKISSES, I AM SO SORRY I MISSED THE LIVING DESERT GET TOGETHER...BUT SOMETIMES HUMAN LIFE INTERFERES WITH MY REAL PREFERENCE...GLAD WCM WASN'T ALONE...I WAS FEELING GUILTY! YES WE MUST DO SOMETHING TO HELP THOSE KIDS AT LIVING DESERT, AND WCM, I AM SO GLAD YOU ARE THE KIND OF GUY TO TAKE MATTERS INTO HAND..JUST LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU NEED..OR THEY NEED...OKAY.

JENS, I'M GETTING READY TO VIEW YOUR STUFF NOW...BUT THE MEMORY OF THE MEERKAT SUNNING HIMSELF IN THE BUCKET UNDER THE HEATLAMP WILL NOT EVER LEAVE ME...ESPECIALLY AFTER OUR REMARKS ABOUT "HOT TUB, AND MARTINI...CALIF. KINDA GUY"

OKAY...I AM OFF TO SEE WHAT I HAVE MISSED...ANGEL KISSES, WHERE IN CA ARE YOU??? I AM IN THE SAN GABRIEL VALLEY. BYE...NEW FAMILY OF MINE

Well Well Hildy,

We're neighbors, well almost! I'm in Simi Valley, that's not too far from you, is it??? It was over 300 miles to the Living Desert and back, but my old car and body did pretty well, my hands hurt a little today, but that could be the cold weather too.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the Meerkats, even in their captivity, they seemed pretty contented, and spent some time playing, digging and looking for insects, especially in the hollow log, one of the males even worked some of the bark off of it, and was scratching away at it as if he just knew that there must be some tasty larva in it!!

It was all so heartwarming, in spite of the horror story I heard of the burrow collapse and drownings, that had happened three years ago.

I just love these little darlings, it was also great to hear their little vocalizations, on MM they greatly increase the volume of their calls, as it was difficult to hear these little one's chatter. They even responded to my lead calls...it was all just too much!!

I hope to go see the LA zoo Kats soon, I met a docent at a car club social last week, and she offered to take me on a personal tour, so all I have to do is call her. So maybe we can get together and get the lowdown and private tour!! It will have to be at the end of November as Mona is going away on vacation for a couple weeks in Nov. So, Hildy, we have to stay in touch and even get each other's email or cell numbers so we can make future plans!

Have a Blessed evening.

Peace Love & Meerkats,
Christine, in California aka/CaliKatGirl

SWEETIE..JUST HAD THE BIG SHUT DOWN OF THE 5...NEXT TIME, WE WILL CALL YOU!!!!!

Hildy: Please undo your "caps lock" key. You're shouting at everyone.

On Athena's thread today, Arloaf wrote:
>Someone mentioned the West Coast Meerkat
Society Forum. Is it a separate forum? a
group? How can I find it? Every attempt
at locating it ends in no results. Does
anyone have a site address?

Arloaf, I'm glad you asked this. If you have this question, then perhaps others do too, so I feel I should clarify this...

The West Coast Meerkat Society thread & the Mid-West Meerkat Society thread are simply areas within the AP Meerkat Forum where meerkat fans in the area can touch base with other locals and discuss local events, such as Meerkat Meetups. We are not a membership group, and therefore no organizational business will be discussed here. We are thankful to AP for allowing us a thread where locals can find each other.

Just so there's no confusion, there is also an East Coast Meerkat Society, which is a non-profit meerkat organization with memberships that does great work helping meerkats in captivity. Here is the ECMS webpage and here is their forum. They accept every meerkat fan who'd like to join (regardless of location), and I'm proud to be a member of the ECMS. However, this WCMS thread is a coincedental name.

WCM....I posted a reply to you, but I'm not sure if you were back on that thread...so here it is...

Hello West Coast Meerkat....I wanted to make it to the zoo on the 29th, but I could not find anyone who would go with me, and I was not comfortable driving there alone...(I'm not that familiar with LA, and have problems seeing sometimes...diabetes..) I haven't been on too much lately, because of all of the negativity...I just needed a break..

When is the next meetup, and where? I really do want to go...I just need to try and drag someone with me who doesn't think it's "silly"...Please let me know...and THANK YOU for asking about me...I appreciate it..

Im so glad I stumbled onto this list..Ive never heard of the living desert..How far is it from No. San Diego and when is the next getogether? We are fortunate to live 10 min from the Wild Animal Park and
their 5 little meerkats. My husband and I walk the park at least three times a wk.
and always visit the meerkats. (visit them at the zoo too) I just found this
forum this eve....missed the meetup but
we plan to visit the Living Desert soon.

Just wanted to comment on the other posts above:

AngelKisses, it was great to meet you at The Living Desert. I look forward to your photos.

KorkieMama, where'd you go? I plan to post your meerkat pics soon.

Mlaiuppa, you mentioned that the first 2 weekends in November work well for you to meetup at the SD Zoo. Ironically, those are the only 2 that don't work well for me. How are the Dec 8th or 15th weekends for you?

Hildy, what Mlaiuppa means is that on the net, ALL-CAPS symbolizes that you are shouting, so naturally, people think you're yelling at them. I know you're a sweetie and not meaning to yell, so we're just letting you know.

2Dear, I didn't mean to leave you off my 10-15-07 04:27 PM post above. I'm proud of you as well for believing in Flower enough to suggest her for Time's Person of the Year, even though many people are unaware of the how she has contributed to mamillian scientific studies.

Kimmmmy, the next SoCal meetup will be in San Diego (see above). Other meetups will be Dec 2 in San Francisco, the movie premier in February '08, and I have a special date with Pam's meerkats on Dec 29th.

Arloaf, it's great to meet you. You may want to read through all 3 pages of this WCMS thread to get caught up.

Good Morning All!

Hey Hildy, we'll have to carpool to the San Diego Meetup, if you'd like! That would be wonderful to have someone as passionate about our furbabies as I am to chat with to while the time away as we travel...

WCM, do you have your 3 friends chosen for your visit to Pams Meerkats at Fellow Earthlings yet??? I would love love love to visit with them! I will go on my own, and try to find 3 others to join me some time next year, if you've already chosen the very fortunate others to join you.

Welcome to Arloaf...glad you found this forum, was my link any help??

Well have to go see what the Unknowns are doing, it's a role play I'm involved in, they are based in the UK but anyone is welcome to join as long as they observe Meerkat custom...here's the link.

http://community.discoverychannel.co.uk/eve/forums?a=tp...=473109063#473109063

Have a wonderfully Blessed Day!
Peace Love & Meerkats
Christine, in California aka/CaliKatGirl

Oh Yeah, WCM, I sent an email with 10 photos attached yesterday afternoon, did you receive them???

Peace Love & Meerkats,
Christine, in California aka/CaliKatGirl

Christine,
Yes, wanted to thank you for the link! Im so glad to have found a group as crazy about these little animals as I am. First fell in love with them when we lived in L.A. yrs ago found even more of them here in S.D. My desktop picture is of- what else- a pic of them I took last yr.
Jerri

hi WCM. just hanging out. hope you found something worth using. welcome all of you that are new. hope you feel at home here. this is a good place to be. has anyone gotten their flower, remembering when book? i'm still waiting for mine. shakespeareforever did a beautiful job of putting this together for everyone to enjoy. hugs

Hi Jerri,

I fell in love a few years ago myself, and totally fell head of heel this weekend when I went to the Living Desert and spent time with the little Darlings. My desktop is of pups, that I found on the web, they are just so durned adorable, almost wish I could have a mob of them to cherish as my own...Definitely wish I could visit every day!!

Peace Love & Meerkats,
Christine, aka/CaliKatGirl

Howdy SoCal folks. As we're trying to find a good date for the next Meerkat Meetup at the San Diego Zoo, I'd like to go out on a limb and propose the weekend of December 8th (Sat) or 9th (Sun), as it appears Mlaiuppa & I have November conflicts, and I'm busy all other December weekends. I'm so glad to see the new locals who've made their presence known in the last few days, and I hope that they can join us, as well as Kimmmmy, Jens, Hildy (& anyone I've missed). No pressure though, as time, money & distance are understandable.

AngelKisses, thanks for the pics. As for Fellow Earthlings, I've promised my DF that our first FE experience will be personal without guests, but I've adopted more than one meerkat, and I would love to trade FE guest spots with others for subsequent visits. In other words, it looks like my 2nd FE visit will be in June, and I have 2 available spots for that which I'll gladly share with 2 other FE adopters who'd like to participate in sharing their Fellow Earthlings visits. If possible, I'm hoping to avoid FE visits in July & August, as Morongo temperatures will exceed 120 degrees at that time.

jensmeerkats, your video was beautiful! The Flower tribute was very nice. The meerkat sunning was too cute! Thank you for sharing!

Been missing you wcm. First, let me say, I am glad you and your DF will visit Fellow Earthlings alone...it is such a remarkable experience, with truly remarkable Pam...that meeting new people, and doing this is too much.

Secondly...a San Deigo zoo visit for me is always more preferable on a Saturday, because that is really the only day I have to do what I want...Sundays...well I get ready for my teaching week.

Thirdly...I am so sorry to all for the capital letters! I haddddd no idea that meant I was shouting...I am an older gal...who is just learning computer etiquette...thank you for letting me know...Hip Slam welcomed!

Hildy, yes, Saturday Dec. 8 is fine with me for the SD Meetup. I just wanted to be democratic and suggest the Sunday option rather than asking people to go with a date that "I" choose. Also, I would consider the All-Caps info more of a grooming than a hip-slam, as I meant it more informatively than authoritatively. Also, regarding your question on the "convention" thread, I don't have Kecha or Cordde's email, so I have no way of giving your info to them (or vice versa), so it's probably better to do that through the ECMS' Master-Meerkat forum.

Saturday, Dec. 8 is good for me as well.

I don't know how the Zoo feels about bringing in picnic lunches, but the area around the Zoo is great for picnicing. Balboa Park is right next door.

No telling what the weather might be, but there is always the possibility of a clear, sunny day, not too cold. (Of course it could also rain.)

Perhaps we can plan either a morning visit with the meerkats with a picnic afterwards or a picnic first and then an afternoon visit.

Either way I'll probably hit the giftshop and the children's zoo. They're all close to the entrance.

For those that have never been to the San Diego Zoo, I would suggest either the bus ride or the gondola ride to get an idea of the layout of the park and a nice overview. If you've got the time the bus is nice because the drivers give you running commentary and information.

quote:

Originally posted by hildy60:
In talking about the LA Zoo, and the Living Desert, it occurs to me that maybe many of us live close to each other. It might be nice, some Saturday, this fall, when it's cooler, to meet at the Living Desert so we can visit the meerkats and chat. Anyone interested??

Sounds like fun...I'd be interested...i live in the central valley of CA

Hi all!
re: WCM meetup Saturdays are good for me too and as far as I know Dec.8th is good.
Seems Im always looking for something...
Ive seen reference to a memorial book for
flower on several forums. What is this and where can I see one? Does anyone know?
Jerri

Enjoyed the you tube video by jensmeerkats..thank you. I liked the music you selected as well

http://preview.picaboo.com/Webview/CoverPage.aspx?album...r=000000000000C9381A

Hi Arloaf,

This is the link to a memorial book for Flower it was compiled by members of the ECMS I think. Hope this helps.

Peace Love & Meerkats
Christine, in California aka/CaliKatGirl

Hey Mlauiuppa, WCM, Hildy60, Jens and all,

Sat. Dec. 8 sounds good for me too, wonder if we could meet somewhere and carpool together?? Does this sound posible Hildy since we live kind of close????

Please let me know in advance so that we can make plans.

Peace Love & Meerkats,
Christine, in California aka/CaliKatGirl

quote:

I've adopted more than one meerkat, and I would love to trade FE guest spots with others for subsequent visits. In other words, it looks like my 2nd FE visit will be in June, and I have 2 available spots for that which I'll gladly share with 2 other FE adopters who'd like to participate in sharing their Fellow Earthlings visits.

WCM, I am a multiple adopter with FE and would be interested in sharing space on my visit for a space on yours. I have not worked out any dates yet but hope to go when it is 'cooler,' relatively speaking of course, so avoiding summer months would work for me...

Good morning, Cali. Kats. I'm glad Dec 8 at the SD Zoo seems to work well for you.

I don't imagine they allow picnics, but I've never had a problem with bringing a water bottle in my pocket. Yes, Baboa Park is beautiful, and the SD Zoo is located within the park.

If anyone wants to spend the night in SD, I recommend the Balboa Park Inn because it's across the street from the zoo and gets good reviews.

AngelKisses, regarding carpooling, I'll be staying with friends in SD from Friday night through Sunday, so you may first want to see if anyone is just going to SD for the day, as that may be easier for you. Also, I know you're strapped for cash, so if you live in 90000-92999, you might want to consider buying an annual membership to the SD Zoo because it comes with 2 additional (one-time-use) guest passes, so you can split the price between two others who use the passes, as it will work out to about the same price as individual tickets, and then you'll be able to visit for a year.

WebDeb, since you're in Central Valley, you may find that the Dec 2 Meerkat Meetup at the San Francisco Zoo is closer for you, or go to both meetups.

Arloaf, the link to the Flower Memorial book above shows the pages, but for ordering info, go to the ECMS website.

Mad4Meerkatas, that's great about FE. Thank you so much! I'll gladly trade you a spot on my June visit for a spot on your visit.

WCM,

That's okay, I was hoping to carpool with Hildy, since she lives nearby, perhaps she and I can split a room, for the night??? And Please don't forget me M4M/Melissa, I am really looking forward to going to FE in the spring!!

Peace Love & Meerkats
Christine, in California aka/CaliKatGirl

Christine/CaliKatGirl,
Thank you for the Flower memorial bk. site address. Beautiful photos-wonderful
poems and drawings....guess I wasnt ready for it tho...the tears started again....
Jerri / Arloaf

hey arloaf. those beautiful drawings were done by some really young people. i would like to see them put up as prints to go on my walls. the book is absolutely heartwrenching.

Arloaf/Jerri

Actually here on this forum I am Angelkisses...UK knows me as CaliKatGirl...

The same thing happened to me when I looked at the pages...I cried and cried...and happened again today during the Roleplaying game with the gang in the UK, we had a couple of losses and an injury when a couple Jackals attacked us...I had real tears when Snowdrop wouldn't answer us...it was so heartwrenching, just so sad to lose one of the family even in RP...

Well, each day will get easier, it's getting easier for me to remember my father who passed on when he was just 54, back in 1980, I can remember the good things/times now...and one day we'll all remember the good in Flower's life and the legacy she left us with the mighty Whiskers Mob, with a smile, and no tears...

Peace Love & Meerkats,
Christine, in California aka/CaliKatGirl

Ok, Angelkisses it is....Was wondering about that. When I first joined all the names I chose were taken then my cats name
(died 3 yrs ago)came to me. Sure enough it
went through...how many Arloafs are there?
LOL so now Im stuck with it. I never expected the Flower memorial book to affect me like that...after all its been a while. I think its because there was
obviously so much love in creating the drawings. poems and photos in the book.

quote:

Mad4Meerkatas, that's great about FE. Thank you so much! I'll gladly trade you a spot on my June visit for a spot on your visit.

WCM, sounds great! I will be calling FE in the next couple of days to look at possible dates. I'll keep you posted! And I haven't forgotten about you angelkisses - I am saving you a spot!

quote:

Sounds like fun...I'd be interested...i live in the central valley of CA

Deb, what part of the Central Valley? I live in Modesto. Small world!

Thank you all for the compliments on my video!

Not sure about the meet up dates for me just yet? My mom is now in critical condition in the hospital, so the next few weeks are unknown. Any prayers you can send her way (Margaret) would greatly be appreciated.

Jennifer

Is anyone live in the Chicago area? I'm about 90 miles from there in No. Indiana. Went to the Indianapolis Zoo couple weeks ago and their meerkat exhibit is rather nice. I forgot to count how many meers they had but at least 8 it seemed, maybe more. The first time we visited in the a.m. they were just laying around or sitting. Then a staff member came and put out some veggies for them. When we went back in the p.m. they were digging and burrowing and shoving each other, wrestling and laying on their backs as if they knew people were taking pictures of them. Their burrows are partiaaly pvc piping. One burrow is next to the viewing window and if they go in, you can see them in the burrow.

They look different than the meerkats on Meerkat Manor. Their tails are shorter and their fur is gray with black tips with undersides being tan. Their exhibit doesn't have sand either. It looks like pieces of red clay chunk-like material and when they dig, it doesn't fly like sand does. I emailed the zoo and asked why they don't have sand and if they were the same species as on MM. They said that they use that medium in their exhibit because it is easier to keep clean than sand. Said that they are the same species as on MM. Their tails are shorter because some of them had to have their tails partially removed after they were injured as a precaution against infection and necrosis. They didn't say how they got injured---poor things.

To another question, I know if you visit the Fellow Earthlings sanctuary in So. Calif. for the two hour visit, you can have up to 4 persons in the group. If you go to spend a whole day there, is only one person allowed or can there be up to 4 also? Does anyone know? Does anyone know if there are any zoos/sancutaries that you can have hands on experience with meerkats that is closer to the Chicago/Indy area than FE and Living Desert in So. Calif? I've searched the internet but have been unable to find any other places.
Pam

Jen, I'm so sorry to hear about your mother. Katie & I are praying for her and hope things turn out for the better.

Bernhard (Pam), as for finding people around Chicago, try asking the "Midwest Meerkat Society" thread here. Also, at FE, I believe it's 4 people who can attend the all-day visits. You can spend all day there for a fairly hefty fee, which includes catered lunch; or Hildy once mentioned that she did something like combining 3 adoption visits in a row as an extended visit, which would be cheaper than the all-day visit, although I didn't actually know you could combine visits like that. Lastly, FE is the only meerkat facility of its kind, so zoos are probably the only other option.

my heart and prayers go out to you and your mother jen.
just got back from the peoria zoo and i'm hopping mad. they will not let the meerkats have anymore sand than what just barely covers the floor. the poor things keep digging on the floor. they also have nothing to do as they just keep running back and forth and back and forth across their enclosure. when the lemurs made their loud noise, the meerkats were scared and had nowhere to go, they just huddled in the corner. and of course, the lady at the desk said that they have all the sand they need. and the tigers at the zoo, their skin was hanging from their bones. not a good place.

jensmeerkats
My thoughts, prayers and hugs are coming your way from KY. Hope everything turns out ok.
flowermozartfan

Barn...Hildy here. FE is the only place you get to feed and hold the meerkats. Yes, you may take up to 4 people for the 2 hour visit, and/or the all day visit. I have done both. The all day is 300.00, and includes lunch. You spend the time visiting the meerkats, and chatting with Pam.

Sorry Bernhard...got your name wrong!

Korkiemama, that is awful news about the animals in Peoria!

Jens...so sorry about your mom...prayers