The Zoo Came to Us ...

So I was driving along near the mall today, when something in the mall parking lot caught my eye. I looked and over and kind of squinted and then said “Oh it’s a camel” and kept on driving.

Wha?


Yeah, it was a camel….


There is a “zoo” or “wild animal park” somewhere in the are that set up some tents and are were showing off some of their animals up there. So I looped around and came back to see what was going on.

Inside of their tents were some ponies and goats for the kids to feed or even ride and a couple of llamas and a baboon.

*clickr for biggr in Flickr

And there was this Burmese Python …


EEEK! I hate snakes.


And then there was this White Tiger…


And Black Panther …


And this Tiger …









Now, I love animals. And I love the chance to get up close to them. In fact, I think I deserve a little credit for those Tiger photos. That was pretty brave to get that close. Don’t let that cage fool you, she could have gotten through that if she wanted to. I put myself in mortal danger just to get those pics for you guys. That’s just the great kind of guy I am.

Anyway, as I was saying, I love being able to get close to these really cool animals, but I can’t stay long because I get to feeling sorry for them. Having to see them caged up all day long in those cages, out in 85 degree temps (yeah, I know they’re probably used to heat but whatever, I wouldn’t like to be in a cage all day in the heat) and have to just sit there while kids and their redneck parents come up to the railing and lean over and hold out there hands and torment and tease them.

There was one kid that kept grabbing the top rail and jumping up and saying “BOO” to the Tiger. And every time she did the Tiger stood up. I was really hoping the Tiger could get through that cage and get to that kid.

And of course the mom was like “oh honey, don’t do that” about 13,749 times.

Okay, I got sidetracked again. I don’t know anything about this zoo or whatever, but I’ve never been to any zoo that I left feeling good about the conditions the animals are living in. Even the zoos that make a real attempt at creating a more natural setting for the animals, it still looks like it would suck for them. Especially that having to spend all day with people staring at them, talking to them and waving at them. I know that behavior gets on my nerves when people do those things to me.

And, the people working there didn’t exactly look like a bunch of research scientists. So I really have my doubts about the conditions that these animals are living in. Which means that I left feeling the same way that I normally feel when I leave all zoos. Feeling that those animals weren’t meant to be kept in such tight quarters like that. It just doesn’t seem fair does it?