Up Close with the Kings: What It’s Like to Feed a Big Cat

What does it feel like to stand just inches from a tiger, holding its lunch in your hand? It’s not the kind of moment that fades quickly. The sound alone — the deep, rumbling breath, the crunch of bone — stays with you. Feeding a big cat isn’t just exciting. It’s humbling. You’re face to face with power, instinct, and a kind of wild grace that doesn’t soften, even in captivity.

Let’s clear something up straight away. Feeding a big cat at a zoo is not about playing zookeeper for a day. It’s a carefully controlled, highly supervised experience, usually reserved for special behind-the-scenes programmes. There are safety barriers. There are protocols. But even with all that in place, it doesn’t take anything away from the rawness of it.

You’re not just tossing in meat and watching from afar. You’re close enough to see the texture of their tongue, the flecks of meat in their fur, and the way their eyes lock onto yours — not out of affection, but calculation. You’re holding the food, and for a second, you’re part of the hunt.

Christmas At The Indianapolis Zoo #ISMMCATZ

My family recently received four admission tickets and a parking pass so we could check out the Christmas At The Zoo at the Indianapolis Zoo. Upon arrival we were welcomed by a nice display of lights. It was just dusk so you can see them a little in the picture below.

Our Trip to the ZooBoo at the Indianapolis Zoo #IndyZooISMM

This past weekend we visited the ZooBoo at the Indianapolis Zoo as a family. The weather was perfect, not too hot and not too cold. We had a wonderful time from the moment we arrived all the way through the zoo up till we left. Below you will find some of the displays we saw and activities we participated in along the way. I figured the best way to share our experience was through pictures!

We made it and are ready to start our adventures. Some a little more prepared (with sunglasses) than others, but all in all we were all roaring to get our evening of fun started.

Upon our arrival to the zoo entrance we showed them our tickets and were given a brochure to get our adventures started. It gave a listing of all the activities for the evening as well as a map of where each activity was going to take place. I love things like this because as a scrapbooker I'm always hanging onto stuff like this to add to my books.

First stop was a cool gate covered in cobwebs and spiders. Gave mom the opportunity for her first photo-op! And just off to the side was a painted board where you could insert your face for yet another photo-op! Tonight started off just the way this photo mom likes it.

Next we decided to head inside to the underwater displays. I think this part was more for us than the kids because they just wanted to get onto the fun and games. Me on the other hand wanted to look at the Seahorses because they are one of my favorite underwater animals. Of course once we got to the shark tank they were singing a different tune, they both couldn't wait to reach in and pet a shark.

I guess it was a good thing we went this way because before we left the building we came across a bunch of tables with activities for the kids. My son wasn't quite as interested as my daughter so he just hung out with mom and watched. My daughter really enjoyed coloring paper animals and face masks. I even had to prod her to get moving so we could do some more stuff outside.

When we left the building we saw a costumed shark so of course we stopped for a photo! This time I think the kids even enjoyed it not just mom.

As we walked through the park we found lots of great places to take pictures. The first was one of many decorated hillsides through out the park. The second was at the end of the hay straw maze.

And here are a few more of the hillsides all decked out by various groups from the zoo staff. I loved that several of them were actually interactive where the kids could climb up the hills and have photos taken.

Of course they had and entire section of the zoo dedicated to "trick-or-treating". They had several treat stations throughout the Plains area of the zoo. At each station the kids received different candies.

There was even someone handing out special chocolate candies to the adults. Now that was a really cool thing in my book. It's not very often places stop to think of the parents that are out there taking their kids to these places.

One of the things I thought was cool was different animal exhibits were even decked out for Halloween. The bat exhibit had cool pumpkin buckets hanging all around. We even got to watch a bat eating lettuce.

Overall we had a really great time at the zoo. And on the way out I saw information about Christmas at the zoo! Now that sounds like a lot of fun to me. I'm thinking that will be top on our list of things to do while the kids are home for two weeks over Christmas break.

Disclosure: I was provided with admission tickets and a parking pass for the zoo in exchange for my posting about our trip.  No other form of compensation was received and all thoughts and opinions are my own.

ZooBoo at the Indianapolis Zoo #IndyZooISMM

 

For all of my local to Indiana readers wanted to share this information with you ahead of time. I'm actually headed there next Saturday with my family and will be posting all about the adventures we had.  But in the mean time here's lots of great info about the Indy ZooBoo!