Want To see Wild Animals In Las Vegas?

In today's edition of the Las Vegas Sun, the newspaper that only prints half the story,, they tell you where you can view animals in the Valley. http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/jul/09/las-vegas-lacks-major-zoo-abounds-specialty-habita/

Well, sure, if you want to see aquariums full of fish or lions behind glass cages or a nice petting zoo at Bonnie Springs that you have to pay to go see. Bu the Las Vegas Sun misses two places where you can see wild animals up close and personal.

The first is in the Town of Blue Diamond and there you can see wild donkeys/burrows as they roam the town.

Blue Diamond is located just south of Bonnie Springs. To get there from downtown, get on Hwy 95, get on the Summerlin Parkway, turn left at the 215 and get off at Charleston and turn right. Follow Charleston to the end where it turns into a state highway and take it past Red Rock Canyon, travel a few more miles and look for the sign say Blue Diamond.

Once you get there, and if you are lucky, some wild donkeys will be grazing at the baseball field. They also graze throughout the town, which is a small town of about 400 residents. The donkeys are not always there and they usually show up around around late afternoon or so.

The donkeys are very tame and you can feed them if you so desire and don't mind getting slobber on you. You really aren't suppose to feed them but everyone does. carrots and apples are the best. And again, they are not there all the time or come at different times, kind of like some Strip performers.

The next place to stop to see wild animals is in Boulder City, on your way to Lake Mead. At a small park, in a small subdivision, you can see a large herd of Big Horn Sheep. They come down from the mountains and they graze in their neighbor's yards and at Hemenway Park, which is located on Ville Drive. You can get to Ville Dr. by going down the hill towards Lake Mead and the road is on the left side, about half way down the hill. http://www.bcnv.org/parksrecreation/PublicParks.asp

The sheep come down during the afternoon and the evening before the head back up to the mountain as the sun goes down. The last time I was there, we saw about 40-50 Big Horn Sheep, ranging from babies to full grown adult males. Sometimes, you will see them butt heads. They are skittish and they probably won't let you get closer than 10 feet, at best.

There are other places to see wild animals around Las Vegas. Up in the Mount Charleston area, you can see deer, especially in the Fall and sometimes, a wild horse.

Close to where I live, you can see chipmunks and rabbits. I have also seen and heard coyotes.

So, because of the heat and dryness, there are not a lot of wild animals in the Las Vegas area, but if you know where to look, you can find some different kind of wild animals.