Charlene TS #4 Adult

Met with Soon Gyu at the Tallahassee Museum, as previously planned. Soon Gyu is an excellent student, who studies almost daily. I could tell from my conversations with her, however, that she has been feeling a bit "burnt around the edges" and could use a break. When I suggested a couple of trips to local museums, she was eager to go. After entering the museum, I asked Soon Gyu whether she wanted to view the Florida History trail or the Florida Wildlife trail first. I did not think we would have time today to see both. She chose the wildlife trail. I provided her with postcards from the museum, which featured photos and brief descriptions of most of the permanent animals on exhibit in their natural settings.  I told her that these were her vocabulary words for the day, and she referred to these cards as we visited the exhibits. Ironically, the first  exhibit was the  guest exhibit and held the Amur leopard that historically ranged throughout southern Russia and Asia, including all of Korea. This was a beautiful cat; we both marveled at it. Soon Gyu told me that the area where this cat is found in the wild today (only in Russia) is very cold. Judging from the leopard's coat, she did not believe it would be comfortable in South Korea. We moved onto the other exhibits that included the full aviary (hawks, vultures, eagles, ducks, screech owls); the birds were not shy. For some reason, the museum's famous white squirrels, that run freely, were no where to be found. We visited the enclosures for Florida panthers and Red Wolves. I was able to tell her that these animals are part of the state and federal captive breeding programs.  While we were visiting the panther exhibit, the Red Wolves suddenly began howling. We were never able to find out why this happened, but they were very loudly vocal for some time. We also visited the turkey, skunk, otter, deer, and bear exhibits. I talked with Soon Gyu about the recent resumption of bear hunting in the state, following recent black bear attacks in the state. Until 2015, hunting was banned in Florida. I let her know about the state's admittedly, in-hindsight foolish decision on the part of wildlife authorities to relocate nuance bears from the Ocala National Forest to the Apalachicola National Forest. Introducing new breeding adults to this area is thought to have boosted the local bear population, which in turn exacerbated the nuisance bear problem in this part of Florida. Soon Gyu said she is not aware of her country having to deal with these kinds of issues, but that she lived in an urban area in South Korea. However, she was interested in the local bear issue since she and her husband have camped in Florida and would like to do so again. So, we discussed some area camping possibilities. By this time, we had spent more than an hour at the museum, and it was hot. We decided to meet again next week at he Museum of Florida History, which is downtown, and importantly, inside and air-conditioned.