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

i was looking at that earlier yesterday, its just shocking!

 

Some years ago we were at Toronto Zoo standing by the glass window and the gorilla came to look at some young people with very large drinks of coke. The kids starting bagging on the window and the gorilla just looked at them. I told them not to do it but they did and the gorilla just turned round and banged on the glass with full force with both fists. Their cokes shot up in the air, the lids coming off pouring the sticky drinks all over them. We just laughed and you could see the enjoyment the gorilla got from it.
Banging on the aquarium tanks annoys me as it is like a sonic boom to the fish. I will always tell anyone young or old if they are doing something to hurt or annoy any type of animal.

 

This is not animal related but is an example of the behaviour of some zoo visitors. I was sitting in the JubileeCafeteria at Chester yesterdayand saw a girl aged abourt 3-4 climb up onto a row of tables and run all along them. A girl of about 15 with her just laughed. I wonder if they would behave like that in their own home. Probably so.

 

The girl with her was probably her mum!

They prob do, I wouldn't let my own children get away with it, but seeing some of the other parents and what they let there kids get away with is shocking.

 

Over the weekend we have had something called Open Gates and farms are open to visitors and do farming education.
We were at an Alpaca Farm and the owner said we would appreciate it if the children at not allowed to run around or touch the animals unless a staff person is with them.
A small child about 2 -3 years old starts running around with an older brother in tow. He is asked to stop. He then found a ball and starts playing with it and spooks some of the the Alpaca's, they are sensitive animals. The owner takes the ball away then the child finds a piece of rope and is running across the field with it on the ground behind him. By this time the owner asks the parents to get the child. When they leave about 30 mins later the mother is hugging the child in her arms he seems up set. It beat me completely. There was a mother duck sitting on her babies and some older children were trying make her get up, so I am afraid I told them to leave her alone. Sorry to go on we have just got home. Mo

 

What really gets my goat is people shouting/banging on windows/disturbing the anima;s in general, and I never ignore this. One time at Marwell, a grown woman was banging repeatedly on the viewing window of the tiger house, in order to get the tigers who were in a very relaxed sleep to wake up. I subsequentley snapped "DON'T bang on the glass!" to her, and with a put-down expression stopped. The other occasion, also at Marwell, was where a man was shouting various abuse at a snow leopard, close to him, but facing the other way so he could get a photo. This really got my blood boiling, and snapped back how it can do whatever it wants and just wants peace. Again, another silenced visitor.

Heh, it's quite amusing how a 14 year old like me can discipline adults like a headteacher.

 

Good for you Marwell, you have more sense than people twice your age. But do be careful you never know what sort of person you are talking to and how they will react to a teenager.

 

Yep, I realise that too. Basically, I think I'd just leg it if it turned out for the worst!

 

You can get away things a bit more when you are older like me Marwell but even then you can't be sure. Which is your local zoo?
I was born outside of Birmingham so the local zoo to me in England was Dudley Zoo. I have not been there for many years although seen photos as My brother and his wife were friend of the zoo some years ago.

 

Heh, isn't it obvious? Yeah, I suppose so, but it's just in my nature; I care strongly for the animal's welfare, and I like to live a little.

 

Right ya are MD

Well I've told MD and others on another website about my frequent visits to Belfast and the pricks there.
1)Several visitors mistaking the animals for others. Even if the sign is, quite literally, under their nose. Such examples.
visitor: *standing in front of the Maned wolf exhibit* hey dude, check out this fox!"
visitor: Wow, look at tha leopard
me: *loudly to my cousin* "Hey look at this CHEETAH, isn't that CHEETAH beautiful?"
usually when I correct them they have a sort of "piss off before I do your head in" look on their face. They don't like being corrected by a 15 (then 14) year old, especially if they are adults
2) Banging on the glass. This is happens so often at Belfast I think the animals have learned to block it out cause when this kid knocked on the Fossa's glass, it ignored him completly and didn't even twitch.
3) chasing free-ranged animals. The peacocks wandered quite aimlessly about the zoo and the visitors, including adults, chase trying to collect any feathers that fall off. Dumbasses. They also chase some of the ducks at the pond. Hilarious a few years ago when a guy chased a duck to the edge of the water after it stole a bit of his bread on the ground. He immediantly ran back to the picnic table when he saw the group of Pelicans swim past him. Nobody chases the lemurs though, everybody likes them.
4) Feeding the animals. This happens most often at the chimps. People throw the likes of crisps and chocolate along with sandwiches and peanuts. Some even throw in stuff such as apples and banannas cause they think "It's okay, the keepers feed them fruit anyway". I hate them
5) People who think they have come to a circus instead of a zoo. You know them, you past them in the zoo all the time, you see them at the exhibits, shouting at the animals to "DO SOMETHING INTERESTING!". I hate them.

Beleive me there are dozens more.....

 

i was at heythrop, and there was a sing clearly saying PYGMY HIPPO and a guy said it looked liked a pig/tiger/wolf?

I hate all of your people to Mr Saxon and Marwell Dalek

 

The Belfast visitors sound like cretans...

Made we should nominate the "Zoo with the worst average visitor"..?

Belfast is number 1 so far...

 

I would rate Colchester. A lot of the families who visit there seem to have small children totally out of control- they all look like jobs for 'SuperNanny' (British T.V. programme about how to discipline children effectively)

 

In this day and age you are probably right... I was at Howletts the other day and here again I saw unsupervised toddlers and children swinging on and running along the seating provided for visitors to watch the Gorillas etc. Not only were they a real nuisance but if they fell from a height they'd crack their heads on concrete and then no doubt the parents would try and sue the zoo... Children do tend to use zoos as playgrounds unfortunately.

Interestingly I was watching the LION tailed Macaques there and 4 out of every 5 visitors who came past and read the display sign, translated it out loud as LONG tailed Macaque. Obviously this is the word they expect to see in a case like this.

 

Hey Pertinax, why are they called lion-TAILED macaques when their most leonine feature is obviously their mane of hair.

They should be called lion-maned macaques!

 

A good point. The adult males usually have a tuft of hair of the end of the tail like a lion's but in zoos enclosures its often worn off and not really noticeable.

The mane is the most distinctive feature. Maybe 'Lion Macaque' would be a good name? But then I wouldn't be able to count how many people misread the label and say, 'oh look, long-tailed macaque' anymore.

 

Marwell's got a good few 'pesky' visitors too. On my last visit, the September Oryx Club meeting, I saw or heard about the following happening on the day:

- The Heart of Africa became EastEnders at the zoo: Worried-looking visitors had to form a circle around two particuarly chavvy women having a screeching argument. I half expected to hear the 'Doo-Doo-Doo-Doo Doo, Doo Doo!' of the end tune as I walked out!
- A girl dropping her dummy in the coati enclosure, which one of the animals subsequently ran off with in it's mouth like Maggie Simpson! Though I think this was accidental.
- A girl dropping her pencil in the chipmunk aviary. Again, accidental I believe.
- The Walk-Through Tamarin exhibit and Australian Bush Walk were closed because one visitor had purposely let one of the tamarins loose from it's enclosure by holding open the doors. It had run into the bush walk and keepers were desperately trying to get it back.
- Apparentley, two children gained cut fingers from a penguin's tounge whilst leaning over to stroke them.

 

A similar thing on Saturday at Whipsnade, I told a girl of about 4-5 not to try and stroke the penguins because they may bite, it was near to feeding time. Her mum muttered something about a miserable old man. Well, if she did the job of looking after her kid properly I would not have to do it for her. I sometimes wonder if the adults who take children to the zoo have any common sense at all. How would the mum have felt if her child was bitten? It's not the penguin's fault.

 

I know I said I hate when people make noises to animals when animals are trying to sleep but would it be different if the animal iniated the vocalization.Last year when I was at Toronto Zoo,one of the sumatran tigers started chuffing to me so I quitely repaeated the noise.The tiger did'nt seem disturbed and kept "talking" to me for about 5 mintutes until A keeper asked what I was doing so i told her.SHe thought there was no harm to it and was amazed that I knew what the correct term for the noise was.