(STORY IMAGE:KHQ.COM)
COLBERT, Wash. -We’re just weeks away from seeing the solar eclipse come across our region. The path of this eclipse is taking a similar path as one seen way back in 1918. But as this happens, will animal behavior change too on August 21?
Cat Tales Zoo is known for their big cats. In the summer, those cats typically like to rest a lot more because of the warm weather. But they still do play.
“We've got pools for all the cats so they get up and go swimming, they like to splash the guests,” says Debbie Wyche, zoo director.
Wyche knows what these cats like.
“I've been working in cats 30 years and every day is different so you need to learn to read your animals,” she says.
She says there was a natural phenomenon that actually did cause a change in the animals’ behavior.
“A few years ago, there were a series of earthquakes from California all the way up to Alaska. We went to feed the cats and the cats were not acting like they normally would at feeding time,” she says.
She says they wouldn’t take their food and believes it’s because they felt the ground. But she actually hasn’t seen how the cats react to a solar eclipse.
So when that day comes, she can only guess how they would react. They could become sleepy because it’s dark, but there could also be a different reaction.
Wyche plans to record them to document their reactions and she’ll post them to the Cat Tales Facebook page.