Best of the Zoo VI: Dangerous Beauty

Posted by liaso (Bay Area, United States) on 11 December 2007 in Animal & Insect.

Those who know me know I love the big cats. Their beauty and grace just amazes me. I do remember they are dangerous, but they make me so happy and sometimes they even make me laugh. (At the San Diego Zoo there is a fabulous don't torment the animals sign. Some teenage boys decided to torment a jaguar anyway. The jaguar promptly stood up and peed all over them. It was awesome!)

I had a hard time at the zoo in China, because I loved seeing the lions, tigers, leopards, and other big cats they had there. But they were definitely there for spectacle. Our bus went through a tiger area and a lion area where the tour guide threw chickens to the cats to feed on for our entertainment. It was disturbing. (The chickens were whole, with feathers, and alive.)

I was also saddened by how little room the other big cats had. A lion cub was on a leash and collar for photo opportunities. I am quite sure he was also heavily sedated, as you could sit next to him and touch him. (Again, a horrible conundrum for me. I could not resist getting that close to a lion, but I knew that the conditions that allowed me to do that were very wrong.)

This snow leopard looked so bored in his/her tiny cage. Barely enough room to prowl and not much to entertain it. You can see from the sign that once again the zoo is playing up the predator aspect of the animal, standing over a fresh kill. (On another, somewhat contradictory note, I actually really like the artwork on the sign. I love that style of painting.)

I am not sure why the zoo in China made me so much more uncomfortable and torn than the ones in San Diego. The animals are still caged in San Diego; they are also probably bored. I guess I had the ability to see over time how the San Diego Zoo was always striving to improve the facilities, to provide larger habitats rather than cages. I also was able to learn about their conservation programs and how they were helping species move off the endangered list with their reproductive programs. Visiting the zoo in China, it was a one day thing. I have no idea whether they were working on funding to improve that habitats for the animals or what sort of environmental programs they might have had or whether it was a purely profit driven venture.

Going to the zoo in China was still a very interesting experience for me, despite some of the issues I had with what I was seeing. I am glad to have been there and to be able to share my thoughts on it with all of you.

P.S. Aren't snow leopards so pretty? They are one of my favorites. There was also a snow tiger at the zoo, but the picture of it was not as good. The fuzziness on the top picture is the cage bars. I had to use manual focus in order to get just the cat and not the bars as well.