 ramble ramble ramble
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May. 21st, 2009 @ 09:51 am 
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Yesterday was an incredibly difficult, exhausting day.
Today, I am tired tired tired and cannot find any spoons at all. (Metaphorical spoons. I ate my cereal with a spoon I found by looking in the cutlery drawer.)
Although I have already read several Star Trek fanfics and felt a happy, warm glow like coming home.
Idle news references, to things that are not new: Afghanistan's only pig is in quarantine. The thing that really got me in the article, though, was a recap of how Kabul Zoo suffered during the 1992-4 civil war, including this bit:
One fighter climbed into the lion enclosure but was immediately killed by Marjan, the zoo's most famous inhabitant. The man's brother returned the next day and lobbed a hand grenade at the lion leaving him toothless and blind.
Dammit, it is my firm belief that anyone who climbs into a zoo enclosure and gets attacked by the occupant(s) deserves exactly what they got. Your brother got mauled by a lion in a zoo enclosure? Your brother was an idiot, case closed.
I remember hearing about people complaining after a man was mauled by a lion in a zoo in a non-civil-war-related situation. People protested that there should be some kind of security system to prevent this. (Googling to try and find the story itself, I find many references to people getting killed in lion enclosures in zoos. In a number of cases, the lions seem to get killed. I disapprove of this.)
Clearly, the lion enclosures should be fenced off. Signs would help, but fences need to be there in case people can't read. And then, for proper security, some kind of large, dangerous animal could be put inside to guard against intruders.
OH WAIT.
Here's one: Judson Brown, a seasonal maintenance worker at the zoo, was walking near the lion's cage shortly after 4 P.M. when the lion grabbed his right hand and pulled him into the cage up to his shoulder, according to Peter French, first deputy parks commissioner.
The unidentified visitor distracted the lion by banging his belt on the cage while Mr. Brown freed his arm, Mr. French said.
Dude, you were clearly too close to the cage, or something. Do not disrespect the lion's personal space and will to hurt you.
Also, "cage"? They still keep large animals in cages? My city's zoo keeps large animals in habitats. Spacious enclosures, designed to be as like the animal's natural environment as possible. On the one hand, sometimes it's hard to see the animals, if they're chilling out somewhere that doesn't have a clear line of sight for spectators. On the other hand, the animals are relaxed and happy. (This is important, because the Perth Zoo is also heavily involved in endangered species breeding programs, and it's helpful to keep the animals in a good mood so they'll have more sex and babies.)
The importance of the conditions animals are kept in was driven home to me at Perth Zoo, actually - years ago now, they had a cheetah which had, previously, been kept in a cage. The cheetah was neurotic and broken - its enclosure was a large area, landscaped to be a home for a cheetah... and the cheetah spent its time at the six-foot-wide chain-link gate at the back, pacing, turning in a way that looked almost convulsive, back and forth along those six feet of chain. It didn't know how to deal with space to roam and wander. (I think it recovered a little before it died, but it did die, and did not live as long as Perth Zoo's big cats often do.)
In contrast, other big cats at the Zoo have and seem to enjoy their space - they sleep, they play, they roam the area. Sometimes they prowl at the windows through which people can see them, eyeing the humans in a leisurely way if they feel like it - if they don't, they go and sleep among the bushes, or do whatever else it is they do where we can't see them.
Another for-humans advantage of this: no, seriously, you can actually understand why bright stripes are nonetheless camouflage on tigers.
The most awesome time to visit: when they have cubs. Tiger cubs are adorable, fierce kittens. They're all RAWR I AM A BIG HUGE FIERCE TIGER FEEEAAAR ME OH HEY YOU HAVE A TAIL *POUNCE* on their littermates/mother, it's the cutest thing ever. (Full grown tigers are not cute. Also, I find tiger cubs more cute chewing on other tigers - I have a feeling that if they were chewing on my thumb, it would hurt a lot more than when an actual kitten does it.)
Anyway, my basic point is: If you get eaten by a zoo animal because you climbed into its home for some kind of lark, the fault is yours, not the animal's.
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You gotta admire that lion, though. It survived a hand grenade.
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| From: | ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png) sami |
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| Date: |
May 23rd, 2009 04:18 am (UTC) |
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That lion is hardcore, for reals. All, "Those monkeys think that candy-ass hand grenade can take me down? I'm the fucking LION KING, so you can BRING IT and I will still FUCK YOUR SHIT UP."
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