Trip to the Zoo/Animal Cruelty

Last Weekend I made my first trip back to the National Zoo in about three years! It was my baby niece’s first trip so it was quite exciting!

Let me mention that, while I love seeing the animals, my heart hurts to see their living conditions. They don’t have the freedom of living a natural life in their habitats and, instead, have millions of strangers cycling through to stare through the glass or cage, pointing and taking pictures. It’s sad.

However, it was still a treat to see my one-year-old niece enjoying all the sights and sounds of the zoo :)

What a pretty {and lonely} tiger! Around the bend were the lions! There were eight cubs and the female adult lion. They were mostly just hanging out, playing around, sharpening their claws on the tree. Ya know, normal cat things. Then, two of the cubs started to get into some mischief and mama cat had to go straighten things out. It was so cool to watch! I have it on video and you can even hear a loud ROAR! It was definitely one of the greatest moments at the zoo! Here’s the play by play through pictures :)

And then, the almighty King of the Jungle…

His mane was astonishingly beautiful with lots of darker hair underneath. He seemed peaceful and calm and when the wind blew, he stuck his nose up as if to feel and smell the breeze. Still so sad to see this as his kingdom…

Next, we went to the Ape House which mostly just made me sad. It was interesting to see these creatures that so strangely resembled us, yet, they sat there, behind the glass. The orangutan humored the kids as he made circles in his “house” swinging from branch to branch, over and over again. I felt bad for the guy.

Later on, I found a beautiful magnolia tree with the sun peeking through and the most perfect elephant sculpture.

The Giant Panda slept upside down on some cold concrete with stacks of bamboo piled up, waiting for him to munch on.

The red panda {below} fascinated me. It looks like a mixture of so many different types of animals!

We continued along the zoo’s “Asian Trail” and paid a visit to the elephants. The elephant exhibit is currently undergoing a huge revamp so it was a bit tricky to get to this larger-than-life creature. However, once it moseyed its way on over, Aubrey LOVED it! She got so excited and couldn’t stop pointing to it :)

She also loved the pretty pink {mostly} flamingo family! Seriously, how DO they stand on one little skinny leg WHILE they sleep? {Any ASA Flamingo Fam sisters know the secret?!}

Aubrey sure loved pointing at the flamingoes! She probably thought she was one of them since she was wearing pink and all :)

Vultures are so foul. This guy actually stood there with his wings spread open the entire time. Sick.

Finally, we made it over to the one exhibit I had been looking forward to. The CHEETAHS! I love cheetahs. So, I was clearly disappointed when I saw how far away they were. But, can ya blame them? You might be able to see a little cheetah head lounging in the grass over by the far left side of the fence in this first one. In the second picture, two of the cheetahs were pacing back and forth next to the zebra’s fence. I think it’s because they wanted to pretend like they were back in Africa and could actually integrate with other species. Sad.

Yeah, disappointment. Oh well. At least I’ve seen them up-close at least once.

These golden lion tamarins were pretty much all the rage in the “Small Mammal House.”

Oh, and we can’t forget the meerkats!

Well, that was a brief rundown of Aubrey’s first trip to the vet! She had a great time and was such a trooper!

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Now, if you have been reading my blog for a while now, you know animals hold a very special place in my heart. I believe in animal rights, the ethical treatment of animals, and I was even a vegan. Yes, vegan. For ethical reasons. I’m posting this about the zoo one day after 48 wild/exotic animals were shot dead. Of the 48 were 18 RARE Bengal tigers. There are only 1,400 of those animals left on this entire planet and because of what happened in Ohio, that number has been decreased by nearly TWENTY in just minutes.

While I was at the zoo, I was deeply saddened by the signs attached to so many cages saying “Endangered” or “Threatened” and the reasons being “Hunted” or “Elimination of habitat".” WE as HUMANS are the reason these beautiful creatures that have graced this Earth for thousands of years are DYING and going EXTINCT.

I do not have the reason for why the owner of this “Animal Farm” decided to throw the animals’ cages open. But I question this: WHY is it OKAY for these people to house exotic animals let alone that many? Whether the person has a criminal record {like he did} or not, I am so AGAINST these laws and permits allowing people to have and BUY wild animals.

I’m not sure what to believe of this story. I heard the Sheriff say the reason tranquilizers were not used was because operating a tranquilizer requires “excessive training” and the police just don’t carry tranquilizers in their vehicles. Then, I read somewhere that a veterinarian hit a tiger with a tranquilizer dart but the animal ‘charged at her and then turned to flee before the drug took effect so the deputies shot it dead.’ So, what’s the real story?

Who’s really to blame?

WHY are we allowing this to happen and WILL there be an end before more animals wind up extinct?