when i get children and they kicks and screams to go into the playpark, down comes the trouses and a good spank on the a**. If we have time at the end of the day, of course i would take them into the playpark, but the animals are top priority, this is how my parents teach me
I do think though I'd rather have too many playgrounds than to have the zoo exhibits turn into a playground where kids are turned loose to run and scream at the top of their lungs stressing the animals out of their minds. Leaving visible only the animals that don't have any place to hide.
I'm sure this sounds wrong but adding to this, stupid people get to me at a zoo. Example: Women with 4 kids. Each kid asking the mother what the animal is called. One starts to cry. Another does. "Mommy, what is this animal ca-a-a-a-a-a-a-alled?!?!" Mother: "I don't know." Pandemonium erupts. Yet, the mother never looks at the sign. Example #2: I was at the Cat House in Cincinnati when a man and his girlfriend looked at one of the cats. She looked at him and went, aw that looks like my cousins cat. He read the sign (I don't recall for what cat) and went aw, it must be an African housecat. In Africa, they keep America housecats in the zoos. Just think how awesome that is! *head palm* I also get annoyed--in addition to everything everyone else has said--at parent's who think I should grant their child permanent front row access to an animal. When your child has been staring for five minutes and I stand besides him, don't shoot me an evil glare when he's the one taking the few from other people who paid more to be there than he did. Yes, children are small and need a closer view but don't act like I've committed a crime for wanting a good view myself.
Totally have to agree with this one. When I'm in on my volunteer duty I usually keep my volunteer badg on after my usual hours just so I can correct people without looking like I'm being a show off. It's when, whilst looking at the chimpanzees, parents will say to their children to "look at the funny monkey"! All I think is "It's an ape, it's not a bloody monkey! Give your kids correct information" Or whilst standing in front of a sign that say "Koalas are not bears." they say to there children, "Isn't that Koala bear cute!" Are you blind as well as stupid? Also, the way people seem to have "television eyes". If the animal isn't square in the middle of the enclosure they can't see it. If it takes any longer than 10 seconds to see an animal "it isn't there!"
I can't even tell you how much I agree with this. I was at the zoo last weekend and a women went "Look at the moose honey! The sign says it's an OC-CAPPER-IRE" I just wanted to kill myself lol.
tbh this thread has turned into what people dont like in zoos, e.g other people! but what really does annoy me is when people don't look at the signs and call a orang-utan and gorilla or a lion a tiger etc etc... yesterday i went to dudley and i was watching the new male and a family came and started singing a song to it (from jungle book not sure the same) it didn't like it and it showed the two finger salute and waved is behind in their faces. 1-0 to the animals also as mentioned, im polite and i let pushchairs in front of me if the ask nicely and not run me over!! same with the motorchairs (as i call them)!!! does anyone have spacial awareness! erhm i think the local residents at Dudley zoo are dumber than the orangutans, the new male manipulated them to give him cornbeef, but WHY?! there were signs everywhere even painted onto the floor! Also it was funny i was with one of the keepers and this visitor came up to use and said those otter look funny they have grown wings and feathers while we were next to a sign saying "The otters have been moved to Moneky Tails and have been replaced by waterfowl" is he blind. Zoo visitors are annoying.
Last Saturday at Jihlava Zoo really made me wonder whether some visitors are oblivious to things they don't understand-or just plain stupid: As you can see in the gallery, the pygmy hippo enclosure in this zoo allows the visitors to get really close to the animal, being seperated from each by only a rather low wall. That very day, and to the utter joy of the visitors, one of the hippos casually walked to the wall, slowly turning around until its behind was touching the wall. Those zoochat members familiar with pygmy hippo marking behaviour will understand why I backed up immediately. The mass of visitors, however, given the rare opportunity to pet a hippo, instead moved closer, pushing their children into the first rows. As a result, quite a few got a nice little shower of tail-stirred hippo faeces droplets. What is particular, though, is that none of them seemed to have noticed that the hippo had literarily **** into their faces-nor did they seem to care. Given the otherwise high sensitivity of the public when encountering animal faeces, quite weird, isn't it? Maybe the pygmy hippo should increase the quantity of the output to get noticed...
I know this thread hasn't been commented on for weeks, but I have something to add. When I was at Chester a few weeks ago a child who was behaving quite well quietly stood and watched the red river hogs, obviously interested in them. Then his dad says "Hey, look mate, want one of them for your tea". The boy wasn't happy.
One time when i was at Toronto Zoo in front of the asiatic wild dog enclosure, A lady looked right at the sign and said "Oh! Look at the cute little foxes Jenny!" Another time at the cheetah enclosure, soem man said " I can't see the snow leopards!"
The number of times I've heard anteater is shocking, I think every time there has been a crowd at a Tapir exhibit actually. Read the sign people
wat i find annoying is where someone misreads the sign of a leopard enclosure and says its a spotty lion! than they go and read it again and say its a big tabby!
I really dislike people who are trying to educate people about the animals but have got it all wrong e.g. " oh nah, Africans are only endangered not asians" umm do you know that there are 30,000 asians and 400,000 africans roughly? And like said beforehand people saying a particular species in the exhibit that is completely wrong.
back to the parent/misbehaving child thing.............. at the a wildlife park a few weeks ago and was on a behind the scenes bandicoot tour with about 6 people (two of which were a mother and son). as we entered the off limits breeding facility to see the bandicoots and there pouch young this young boy started kicking and stomping on the ground nests (thank heavens there were no bandicoots in them). his mother was oblivious to the behaviour until the keeper had to intervene and the mother very gently told the boy off and escorted him back to where he was sitting. the kid however disagreed and started screaming at the top of his lungs scaring the poor little creatures to death. there were a male and female contained in a pillowcase waiting to be exhibited but because of the young boys actions everyone had to leave. i should let you know the tour was free
