Things people do that irritate you when you go to the zoo? #2

One of those PETA people who think zoos are the meaning of evil.

 

I accidentally did something like this at the Columbus Zoo because in the aviaries I forgot you have to wait for the first door to close before opening the second. I was too used to being back in Detroit where you walk through chain links and then a door.

 

You'd think they would want the best for the animals then right. I dunno how well those birds would do if they escaped and if they could survive.
Don't think the man thought it through very well.

 

No - in fact there is a busy road right outside and I bet even if the Grey-backed trumpeters got past the gates, they wouldn't stand a chance crossing the road without being run over.

 

It's okay! Just, fears are rarely rational in the first place.

(I've shared this elsewhere on here before) Even for myself, after I had a wild bat dive bomb me and get tangled in my hair, I developed an outright phobia of them. I knew it wasn't intentional on the bat's part - I won't call it an attack - and I had previously been fascinated with them, knew how great they are for the environment, etc., but initially I couldn't even read or say the word in the context of the animal without starting to have issues. I had a full-on panic attack, sobbing and hyperventilating, at my dad's work when an idiot employee was trying to get me to help him with one that got into another building (he wanted to call the local bird rescue...). It has taken me a lot of work over the years to be okay with them! The incident happened ~13 years ago and last August was the first time I was able to look at them in a zoo. I made a lot of progress last year, but I can now be near them behind glass without any issues. Being around loose ones still makes me nervous but I'm improving on that. The key was I had to want to fix myself, and even that took years of really pushing myself.

 

I am slightly arachnophobic, and I can tell you sometimes fear is near-to-impossible to overcome, especially when you have a close encounter with the animal in question. For example, I was at a hotel eating dinner with my grand-parents and parents, and I spotted a spider on the window next to where I was sitting.
Suddenly, the spider, as I watched it, swung right into my face on a piece of silk and danced in front of my eyes for a split-second. I was too terrified to cry out. The spider jumped off my face and onto the floor. I stayed kinda paralysed for a sec and then started to look around on the floor. For those who are interested, it was about 5 cm in diameter, and hairy.
Looking back, it was irrational, but it didn't help that everyone kept talking about it afterwards.

Edit: for clarification, the spider touched my face several times, and that made it TONS worse. I'm fine with spiders as long as they are behind a glass pane.

 

I heard both a cavy and a Capybara called a prairie dog the other day.

 

I mean, I can kind of see it in the face, but they are completely different animals.

 

if there was any real justice , this is what you would have done

Al Pacino Scarface GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY

 

Not exactly something that happened at the zoo but I've just found out PeTA is starting a club at my college and they were passing out flyers for students to join in the halls. When I walked past one of the student girls talking to the rep said that they were "helping investigating the elephant that died [at Bronx]".... Should I transfer immediately?

~Thylo

 

Maybe join them and destroy them from the inside??

 

Depends on how many people start joining and talking about it!

On a more serious note, I don't like that they're trying to get members from younger members of the population.

 

Well this is a college where most individuals are over the age of 20, but I do agree. They even had the audacity to offer out Oreos to those who watched a short video and filled out a short survey

~Thylo

 

Now there's your angle: World wakes up to Oreo's dirty palm oil secret - Greenpeace
Now all you have to do is set Greenpeace after them.
Image tagged in let them fight godzilla

 

They're trying to make a good impression... but some of us know better...

 

Off-topic: I find it incredibly worrisome that organizations like Peta is trying to recruite impressionable and influencable young people in an environment like a college. I also find it very troubling that colleges allow anti-democratic and nearly criminal organizations like Peta on their campus.

On-topic: When I visited Antwerp Zoo a few weeks ago I was seriously irritated by a group from a youth movement. The children were loud and unruly, and the (young) adult leaders were not really doing anything to keep them in check - in fact they were being really loud themselves. Especially in Antwerp Zoo's historical buildings this was a major irritation. I have grown to hate such groups as they are usually loud and unruly, and I hate that the leadership of such groups is not educating these children better - what they are doing is learning these children that it is okay to be noisy and disrespectful of other people and animals. I believe that these groups should either be banned from visiting zoos altogether, or be subjected to very strict rules and be watched closely.

 

Thing that an animal did that annoyed me at the zoo: A Sulphur-crested Cockatoo in a walk-through aviary walking up to me and biting the top of my foot very hard; totally unprovoked. It would have drawn blood if I hadn't been wearing shoes.

 

Personally I have in fact wondered before whether having large parrots like macaws or cockatoos in a walk-through aviary is a good/safe idea, and honestly I don't think it is.

 

Generally I agree. Topeka Zoo has Scarlet Macaws in a walk-through and they were attempting to attack visitors. On the other hand, Sedgwick County Zoo has roughly six large macaw species in their large SA walk-through and I've heard of no issues.

~Thylo

 

I guess factors like size of the enclosure, breed of macaw, previous life etc.. influence the behaviour of the macaws...