December 2, 2017 - Today we had a very interesting adventure in Morongo Valley, CA visiting the Fellow Earthlings' Wildlife Center. The Center was founded in 1989 by Pam Bennett-Wallberg and it is a privately licensed facility that specializes in caring for meerkats. There are few animals on Earth who work as well together as meerkats. These squirrel-size members of the mongoose family live in the wild in groups as large as 40, and everyone in the "mob" participates in gathering food, keeping a look out for predators, and taking care of the babies.
We spent over two hours in one enclosure that is home to three meerkats. They're about 12 inches tall when standing and only weigh about 1.5 to 2 pounds.
We fed them their breakfast of meal worms and little by little they became more trusting of us.
They're very intelligent, perceptive and animated.
They also like to play.
Pam has partnered with the Animal Planet and their hit series Meerkat Manor, as well as working with Disney for the character Timon in The Lion King.
Meerkats are lovable wild animals that are captivating to watch. Pam has done a wonderful body of work in helping to care for these meerkats who may have been orphaned, injured, old, sick or simply discarded. The Fellow Earthlings' Wildlife Center has given them a forever home.
After our tour we stopped for lunch at the Morongo Valley Cafe, which is close by. I had a big bowl of chili and Judy had a tuna sandwich and everything was very good. It was quite an adventure!