February 25, 2015
The
Portland Observer Black
Arts &
History Month
Page 15
Entertainment
Showdogs is a full service salon. We do
baths, all over hair cuts, tooth brushing,
nail trims, soft claws, flea treatments, mud
baths, and ear cleaning. We also have
health care and grooming products to
keep your pet clean in between visits.
Show Dogs Grooming Salon & Boutique
PHOTO BY M ICHAEL D URHAM , COURTESY OF THE O REGON Z OO .
Tracy Modde and tour guide Dave Thomas get an up-close visit with Zuri, the black rhino, during a
behind-the-scenes encounter at the Oregon Zoo.
Going Behind the Scenes
Zoo offers
rhino and hippo
encounters
Visitors can come face to face
with giants, and find out what it
takes to care for some of the larg-
est animals on earth at the Oregon
Zoo’s new rhino and hippo en-
counter tours.
The tours — available Fridays,
Saturdays and Sundays from
noon to 1:30 p.m. — begin in the
zoo’s animal commissary, where
participants see the variety of
animal diets and treats. Visitors
then go behind the scenes at the
hippo/rhino barn and learn from
an experienced keeper about how
the zoo cares for these animals.
“You don’t fully grasp how
large a rhinoceros is until you’re
standing next to one,” said tour
leader Dave Thomas. “And I don’t
think you walk away from an expe-
rience like that without caring a
little more deeply about these
animals and their place in the
world.”
The rhino and hippo encoun-
ters are the latest offerings in the
zoo’s growing behind-the-scenes
program, which launched last year
with giraffe and penguin tours.
All of these encounters are led by
Thomas, a former animal keeper, the zoo.
who peppers his tours with anec-
To register or for more informa-
dotes from his nearly 40 years at tion, visit oregonzoo.org.
926 N. Lombard
Portland, OR 97217
503-283-1177
Tuesday-Saturday 9am-7pm
Monday 10am-4pm
Yo dawg is gonna look like a show dawg
and your kitty will be pretty.