If I Could Talk to the Animals

I've never been a fan of the zoo. To me, the zoo is the Guantanamo of the animal kingdom: a sort of detention center for animals who have been captured (without due process, by the way), and confined in areas that are clearly much smaller than any happy animal would have it. In the past, if someone had coerced me into a zoological visit, I would wander from cage to cage, looking sadly into the animals' listless eyes, while working mightily against the irresistible urge to open up their pens and run after them, arms waving madly, screaming, "Go! Run away!! BE FREEEEEE!!!"

It was therefore with some trepidation that I went with Marcus and Alex and some friends of ours on a trip to the Houston Zoo this past weekend. It occurred to me that perhaps the time had come for me to give the zoo another chance -- after all, how else is a kid supposed to learn her animals? Besides, Alex seemed open to it:

So off we went.

First, we visited the giraffes. As we wheeled Alex up, a curious giraffe approached...

...and Alex, who to this point, had experience only with animals of a domesticated nature, was slightly bewildered, to say the least.

Next, we wondered over to a pond, where an alligator was sunning himself.

Alex was decidedly unimpressed.

At this point, I was a bit worried. Alex didn't seem to be enjoying the animals, and I was wheeling her around with a death grip on her stroller, muttering under my breath like Rain Man...

..."Gottastayawayfromthecages. Animalsneedtostayinalcatraz. Gottastayawayfromthecages. Animalsneedtostay..."

Why, then, were we even here? Why didn't we just leave?

But then, as I was about to suggest this to Marcus, we wandered by the rhinoceroses:

We stopped. I looked at Alex, and waited for her reaction. Alex turned and looked at me, and for the first time, she seemed... dare I say ... pleased?

So I kept my mouth shut. If Alex was starting to enjoy herself, then I supposed I could contain myself for a little while longer.

Finally, we made it to the great cats. I slowly wheeled Alex up to look at a tiger that was wading through his pond:

And Alex lost it. She started clapping her hands, and waving her arms with unbridled glee:

So now?

Well, now, I still don't like zoos. But I gotta tell ya, if a zoo can get that kind of reaction out of my kid, I'll concede that they can't be all bad.

Comments

[Lisa]

My 2 year old son absolutely adores the tigers. Loves them, chatters about them, and tries to return to them when we are visiting other parts of the zoo.
My 13 year old daughter however hates them. She loves animals and it makes her sad to see them in cages. However we have discussed the fact that many of these animals wouldn't have all that great of life in the wild because of man. Hopefully zoos hit some people on some level and encourage them to help animals. Who knows? It's what we console ourselves with.

[Robin]

We took Pearl to the zoo about a month ago. She's Alex's age, as I recall. She didn't seem to notice the animals at all. Not one. Even in the petting zoo when her hand touched the sheep, the goat.... But she did seem to enjoy the people-watching opportunities.

[Julia S]

My goodness I just want to give that child a zillion smoochy kisses. She's delicious.

Glad she enjoyed the zoo.

[Afrindie Mum]

Heeelllloooo... am I the only one that noticed?? Alex was soooooo a giraffe in her past life. My goodness, do they look alike! So cute. I just want to eat up her cheeks. So sweet. I want one just like her.

[Susan]

She was already the prettiest little girl I know but she gets prettier every day.

[Mieke]

I could kiss 'er, kiss 'er, kiss 'er. Keep her out of Venice if you ever want to see her again. She's just sooooooooo charming.

[Rachael]

Awwww it looks like she had a fabulous time. I am right with you on the Zoo though, they make me so sad. But the kids seem to enjoy them, I guess that is why they are there.