Fuzzy Vultures?

As often happens this time of year, Bob and I went down to Florida Wild Mammal to pick up some babies to foster (in this case, opossums).  We won't be doing it as much this year--I'm down to one small release cage.  We *meant* to tear down and rebuild the other one over the winter--but winter was short and our physical labor was mostly picking up the ever-continuing storm debris.  And while my back deck is screened in and has often housed various small creatures, all the extra cats sort of demand that it be used for a "catio."

But I digress--we went down to Florida Wild Mammal.

And, as we usually do, we looked at all the animals they care for (I never ceased to be amazed at the type of people who can do this day in, day out, 365 days year).  A beautiful night heron.  A swallowtail kite.  Bunches of baby birds demanding to be fed.  A turtle just wandering around.

And then Jess, without saying anything, opened the door of a large crate and two little characters straight out of Sesame Street came tumbling out.  Big pink fuzzballs with funny little black faces.

I automatically fell to my knees--and with much excitement they came running over to see if I had any treats;  alas, I did not, but that didn't stop them from poking and nibbling.

The front part of my brain--the intellectual, analyzing part--actually managed to identify them.  This was ignored by my inner 6-year-old who was making squee sounds and cuddling them up and finally crying out "what ARE they???"  (I knew what they were--fuzzy, pink, cuddly, and completely adorable.)

Because fuzzy and adorable is not how people usually describe vultures.