By Fran Carlisle
In February here at Ocean Reef, I had the pleasure of hosting Thane Maynard, the CEO of the Cincinnati Zoo. When I'm not at Ocean Reef I'm happy to call Cincinnati my home, and I'm proud to report that the Cincinnati Zoo is consistently ranked among the best zoos in the United States - It's also one of the oldest.
During my day with Thane and two staff members from the zoo, I introduced them to the "animal world" of Ocean Reef. This included the Grayvik Animal Care Center/Home of ORCAT, Mobile Pet Doctors, and the Ocean Reef Dog Park.
We started with a tour of the Grayvik Center given by Director Susan Hershey. In addition to leading the center, she is also the director of the ORCAT TNR (Trap, Neuter & Release) program. This program is commonly recognized as the premier model of its type in the United States, and is currently ranked first out of 73,000 programs across the country. Thane was impressed with Susan and the high level of care that she and her staff give to our cats through our ORCAT program. As always, the cats were very cuddly and welcoming to their new visitors.
After enjoying a few minutes of cat cuddle therapy, Thane went to the parking lot to visit the Mobile Pet Doctors' big white bus and meet with veterinarian Dr. Michael Claudio. Dr. Claudio showed Thane the bus with its fully equipped, self-contained veterinary practice, complete with state-of-the-art surgical, dental, and diagnostic equipment, including a CT scanner. Thane commented on how passionate Dr. Claudio is regarding his care and services for animals, and how lucky Ocean Reef is to have him and all of this equipment onsite. Thane added that he was jealous, and would love to have a CT scanner at his zoo but they are not widely available.
After the Grayvik Animal Care Center we visited the Ocean Reef Dog Park. There we found many happy dogs playing on the newly installed artificial turf playgrounds - One for small dogs and one for large dogs. What a great spot to take your dog to socialize and play!
To complete the day, I invited many of our Cincinnati friends at The Reef to our home for a cocktail party to meet Thane and hear him give us a thumbs up on our excellent animal care facilities. As an added surprise, Ron Magill of Zoo Miami brought a few animals to spice up the party. It was wonderful to hear a top-notch animal lover's expert observations, and enjoy a fun filled day with the animals of Ocean Reef!
