I’m a bit of a hypocrite though because have been to a lots of zoos (and I post pictures of elephants being used in the tourist industry!) I was not going to miss the opportunity to see the pandas in China the summer before last, either. But zoos upset me when I see the animals looking disturbed: that odd rocking movement and mangy looking fur are guarantees to start my tears flowing.
I want my children to see the animals too: hell, I want to see them. I LOVE big cats, I love the bottoms of animals (I know, I know I probably shouldn’t say it out loud, but have you ever just stood and looked at an elephant/hippo’s back end? They’re divine. No psychoanalysis please!)
I know zoos are wonderful places in that it’s a privilege to see animals we wouldn’t otherwise see, but it makes me a bit uncomfortable. It makes me feel it’s just about man’s power over every other species; we put them into captivity because we can. But should we?
(Rescue places are different: Monkey World in Wareham, Dorset is totally fab, and visitors are encouraged in order to raise money for the rescue work – but the animals come FIRST).
Back to Thailand, and I’ve been watching them build some kind of promotional exhibition at my local Mall, Emporium, over the last week or so. We went this weekend and both the inside and the outside were finished. It’s quite astonishing, that I hardly know how to describe it. It’s called ‘Save the Global Tropical Paradise: Flora and Fauna Exotica’ and they’ve built a jungle environment both inside and outside the Mall. Inside are parrots and a glass room full of butterflies. Among the outside creatures are real iguanas, Bengali tiger cubs, pythons and some furry critter I couldn’t identify.
So rightly or wrongly, I couldn’t resist going to look at the those wee tiger cubs
yesterday and I’m leaving you with some pictures of my visit.
And tomorrow, if you’re really lucky, I may post some of my bottom pictures: that’s the bottoms of the animals that I’ve photographed. Not my bottom, okay?
