As promised, here are the goods from our field trip to the zoo. Jared loves to take the kids to zoos, and we had heard lots of good things about the zoo here, which is just a few minutes away, so we finally decided to go! (Plus I had the luck of getting the free pass from the library this week--love that!) Overall, we were very impressed and had a great time. Many of the outdoor "cages" were huge habitat enclosures, not just cement boxes. You really felt like you were observing them in the wild. That was cool! There is a downside with that though--a few of the animals we "saw" were so far away, I didn't feel like I could really see them. Plus, it meant for a lot of walking for relatively few animals.
There I am being negative again, and I don't mean to be. It was a lot of fun, really, but we decided it was kind of a "sophisticated" zoo, and it was missing some of the run-of-the-mill things that are fun to see in zoos like elephants, zebras, giraffes, etc. What's up with that? It seems like this zoo focuses on the more obscure things, like Bactrian Camels. Kind of different.
While I'm complaining, I have just one more beef. What's the deal with zoos these days getting so environmentally crazy? Why did my kids come home with coloring books with octopuses surrounded by garbage? Why do they have to make it seem like the very same grocery bag that I got at the store today will be killing a sea lion tomorrow? That if I've ever used a water bottle, I must hate the environment. That if I don't compost all my own garbage and buy a hybrid car and LED Christmas lights, I am a terrible, irresponsible person! We sat for a while during the shark feeding time and the lovely, ancient zoo volunteer had the nerve to say that sharks may even kill a few people each year, but many, many sharks are killed by people each year. As if that makes it fair--those people obviously deserved that shark attack! Why can't they just celebrate the wonder of the animals, and teach us about them without attempting to convince us that we are the bad guys ruining their homes?
I noticed that most of the signs about the animals had a little section called How am I Doing? Well, I noticed one that said that animal was "doing just fine." I could almost hear this being added--but if you don't start recycling NOW I will be completely extinct before you lay your head on your pillow tonight!!! Good luck sleeping.
So, there you have it. By the way, I am not against caring for the environment, I just think that things get so dramatic sometimes. Sheesh. It's like they are trying to scare us into action, instead of encourage or inspire it.
I don't want to end it like that, so I'll talk some more about some of the positives. I got to have a front row seat to two Russian bears wrestling in the water right behind the glass I was touching--awesome! I got to watch my kids touch some kind of shark and ray and starfish (I was busy taking pictures that didn't turn out). I got to watch a HUGE tiger pace an inch away from my kids. I got to chill with a skunk. I got to see lots of other rare things from all over the world and feel the sun shine on me at the same time.
It was a good day.
5 comments:
It's interesting that a zoo that locks animals up would have SO much to say about what we are doing to hurt the animals. I'm all over conservation and protection of wildlife. I just think that zoo's freaking out on us is like Al Gore telling us OUR homes are creating global warming. just sayin
Ha,Ha LeShel...so true! If you cared about the amimals you wouldn't cage them up, even in a nice habitat. Why preserve their "homes" if we are just going to snatch them from them for our own amusement anyway?
Lest ye think I am a member of PETA after that comment, I should clear the air and tell you that I have a turkey carcass in my fridge at the moment.
Sounds like a fun day but it is weird to think of a zoo without elephants and giraffes. I love the pictures of the bears, very cool! And...Sara's hair is getting long. Yay Sara!!!
The best thing about being so far away from or behind the glass at the zoo is no smell! That is always off putting to me. I loved the tiger picture of the kids so close to them. Awesome shot! I do what I can for the environment, but think the grocery stores give us way too many plastic bags. My milk doesn't need it's own sack. It's grocery bags that are kiliing us, besides being the state bird of NM! Happy Thanksgiving, wish you could come over for dinner!
Katelin you are destroying the planet. How many of your cars are electric huh?? Just kidding.
I think the same thing when we go the Indy zoo. The dolphin show that they do is amazing but the first 5 minutes talk about how leaving your cell phone charger plugged in during the day wastes electricity. I wonder if the zoo even turns off their computers at night much less unplug them. If they really wanted to make a difference, try convincing universities or big corporations to turn off their computers at night and stop printing so much paper.
Glad you finally hit up the MN Zoo. It's a fun place, but I agree that other large zoos have more to offer. You are preaching to the choir about "being gree" these days. I'm so sick of seeing commercials, signs, billboards, ads, etc....IT'S EVERYWHERE! I saw an article about a study of children ages 6-11 that an overwhelming majority of these children believe our world is going to end by the time they are adults because of all the hammering of "being green" into their brains. Disney World had a lot to say about being green, too, all over their parks. Mike made a good point though is that how can a company who cleared away 10's of thousands of acres of land (probably killing tons of animals, too) to build theme parks have the audacity to tell us we need to be better to the earth. Al Gore is the biggest hypocrite, too, with his many mansions, private jets, yacht, etc. Can you tell you've hit a nerve here...LOL?
P.S. I'm so glad we were able to get together during our visit to MN. Hope you guys had as much fun as us. Tell Jared I'm sorry if I hurt his feelings about talking a lot. I didn't mean for it to sound mean, I was really just teasing him:)
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