Rare White Wallabie in Georgia

Photo by Shoot It Photography

No need to travel to Tasmania to catch a glimpse of the rare baby white kangaroo. Just wait until March when the North Georgia Zoo opens and you can see a mother white Wallaby and a still-in-the-pouch baby Joey.

The new zoo albino kangaroo baby, a rare site in any zoo, is approximately five months old and is just beginning to peek out of his mommy's pouch. When he reaches about seven or eight months, the zoo personnel will start bottle feeding him. Joey's arrival was announced officially last week by Access North Georgia. 

" 'We suspected there was a baby in there, but because it was cold, we didn't want to check. It was really when we saw the pouch move around. It was just within the last two weeks when the baby started sticking its head out,' " said zoo co-director Hope Bennett in an interview with Access North Georgia.

How rare are white kangaroos? Co-Director Tom Bennett reports that less than 50 albino kangaroos can be found nationwide...and the Georgia zoo has two of them! Sometimes referred to as giant rabbits, the albino 'roos are a common sight in Tasmania with a small population found at South Bruny National Park.

Closed now for winter, the zoo will open at 10 a.m., March 2 for a special two day event to show off their 'bouncing babies', including baby Joey. Through March, the zoo is open just on Saturdays but will open weekdays after Easter. North Georgia Zoo is located between Dahlonega and Cleveland, Ga. at 2912 Paradise Valley Road in White County.

Quadruplets in Dahlonega

No one even knew Georgia was pregnant, so when she gave birth Friday, everyone (and I mean everyone) was surprised. The surprise was even greater when not one, not two, but four babies arrived.

Rare baby white tigers. Photo from Gainesville Times.

Georgia and the quadruplet's father Magnum are Siberian Tigers, who make their home in the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve in Dahlonega. The baby tiger cubs are rare white Siberians, like their mother.

Normally, Siberians usually have two or three cubs, so having four is not a common occurrence. The quadruplets join ten other Siberian Tigers at the Chestatee Preserve, which is home to a large number of big cats.

"'It's just a miracle that all four are still living,'" said the Preserve's General manager C. W. Walthen. According to him, the babies, each weighing less than 3 lbs., were taken from Georgia because she was not nursing them. The cubs are now being bottle fed and seem healthy. "It's just like having four new babies at home." The baby tigers will grow to be between 700 and 800 pound adults.

The Chestatee Preserve is known world-wide for its unique collection of animals, including an extremely rare mother-daughter set of Zedonks, a half zebra - half donkey combination. The Preserve, open 7 days a week from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., is the only exotic animal rescue and wildlife preserve in North Georgia. Obviously, this is a must-go-to spot when you visit the North Georgia mountain region.

For more details on the baby tigers, you'll want to read this Gainesville Times article -  http://www.gainesvilletimes.com/section/6/article/71013/.

Happy Birthday to our Zedonk!

Pippi, Dahlonega's very rare Zedonk, just celebrated her first birthday. Pippi (short for Pippi Longstocking) is half Zebra and half Donkey and looks just like you would think a Zedonk would look - long Zebra legs on a donkey body.

The question is - What  kind of birthday cake do you make for zedonk? Maybe a carrot cake or perhaps a rich chocolate zucchini cake, a pumpkin cake or even a potato cake? Guess D&B will just have to do more research on this topic.

Anyway, Pippi made international news last July when she was born. Since then Pippi has become one of the top tourist attractions for Georgia with tourists coming from all over the world to see Dahlonega's newest treasure. 

Pippi lives with her donkey mom at the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve along with monkeys, snakes, lions, tigers, wolves, a camel, a grizzly bear, and yes...a zebra.

While the Chestatee Wildlife Preserve may not have the international clout and reputation of the San Diego zoo, this Dahlonega zoo does have something no other zoo in America has...little Pippi.