One-Offs: All-Animal Edition 2

Shots from the Chiang Mai Zoo* in northern Thailand—especially for Zoe!

Giraffe feeding*.

Giraffe

Drying off.

Cranes

Sweetness.

Peacocks

Where are the munchies?*

Monkey

Tadpoles in the murk.

Tadpoles

The zoo’s prudish star attraction has lunch.

panda.jpg

* Only read this if you’re prepared to have your cute-animal high given a severe downer (so perhaps no Zoe eyes). Chiang Mai Zoo is of dubious standards. The animals seem generally okay, though almost all lacked water—though considering forest fires had been ravaging the north for weeks, perhaps this was understandable. But the zoo follows the typical Asian zoo policy “let the people feed them.” Visitors can buy bags full of nuts, leeks, and other munchies and throw fistful after fistful at animals who have learned to open their hands and mouths for the bounty. Staffers—guards, let alone a zoologist or two—are nowhere to be found. This is crappy animal husbandry.

Absolutely neglected were the poor otters. When they saw me, they rushed over and tried to climb the walls of their waterless, foodless, stinking cement pit, desperate to escape, pleading in otter chatter to be rescued. It was one of the saddest things I’ve ever seen.

One Reply to “One-Offs: All-Animal Edition 2”

  1. You were very brave to go to a zoo. Since growing up they have always inevitably been very sad places – especially when overseas/in developing countries. I love the photos, but thanks for not posting the ones of the otters…

    I can’t wait to see you and hear about all these adventures in person!

    xoxo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.