Thanks <3 It is! My dad didn't respond to my text tonight, which is unlike him, but at this point I think I would have been informed if he had been injured and he probably went to bed early or something.
Being a zoo-goer, what are your greatest fears?
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Thanks <3 It is! My dad didn't respond to my text tonight, which is unlike him, but at this point I think I would have been informed if he had been injured and he probably went to bed early or something.
For me it's probably seeing an animal die (which is not a feeder like some insects in a terrarium).
Unfortunately, I experienced something similar years back in Stuttgart. During my visit, the temperatures reached around 40°C and one old elephant cow (61 - the oldest one in Europe at that time) got a heat stroke and fell in the moat between the animals and the visitors. They tried to lift her back up but sadly she passed away after a few hours and failed attempts.
There was an article about the incident which used my photos.
That is always disappointing. Happend to me with "Baby" in Duisburg. The house was always closed due to Covid...
Unfortunately, I experienced something similar years back in Stuttgart. During my visit, the temperatures reached around 40°C and one old elephant cow (61 - the oldest one in Europe at that time) got a heat stroke and fell in the moat between the animals and the visitors. They tried to lift her back up but sadly she passed away after a few hours and failed attempts.
There was an article about the incident which used my photos.
That is always disappointing. Happend to me with "Baby" in Duisburg. The house was always closed due to Covid...
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Three things.
- Chimpanzee. I wouldn't like to work with this animal if I'm a zookeeper, this animal terrifies me.
- Low number of specific species holding at zoos/phasing out specific species making it even harder to see them, have to go zoos that are hours, hours away from where I live just to see the species because it's not common in my country's zoos.
- Not seeing my "bucket list" animals at zoos. This is the worst feeling ever, one time I visited to the zoo, knowing that zoo had Amur Leopard which I was looking forward to see most. I got to their exhibit with a sign saying they're not holding Amur Leopard anymore, the last leopard died. I was SO gutted not seeing Amur Leopard in that zoo anymore.
- Chimpanzee. I wouldn't like to work with this animal if I'm a zookeeper, this animal terrifies me.
- Low number of specific species holding at zoos/phasing out specific species making it even harder to see them, have to go zoos that are hours, hours away from where I live just to see the species because it's not common in my country's zoos.
- Not seeing my "bucket list" animals at zoos. This is the worst feeling ever, one time I visited to the zoo, knowing that zoo had Amur Leopard which I was looking forward to see most. I got to their exhibit with a sign saying they're not holding Amur Leopard anymore, the last leopard died. I was SO gutted not seeing Amur Leopard in that zoo anymore.
In general, conflicts with or being accosted or assaulted (verbally or physically) by other visitors is something that worries me a lot. Even a dirty or angry look in my direction really stresses me out.
A specific fear I have with regards to being at zoo is hitting or being hit by a child allowed to run around freely by its parents, and injuring the child or falling being injured myself. Even accidentally injuring a child might well get you assaulted by the parents or guardians, and could easily result in being arrested and possibly sent to civil or criminal court, and could possibly result in jail time or a zoo ban, especially so if you were to be considered to have been negligent or incautious in any way.
I hardly ever think about (escaped) dangerous animals, but I often think and worry about the dangers of other humans, and it is one of the major sources of anxiety around zoo visits for me.
On a lighter note, something that I really dislike the thought of is having to make the choice which parts of a zoo I will see and which I will skip, especially if it is a zoo I haven't visited before, haven't visited recently or don't often have the chance to visit.
A specific fear I have with regards to being at zoo is hitting or being hit by a child allowed to run around freely by its parents, and injuring the child or falling being injured myself. Even accidentally injuring a child might well get you assaulted by the parents or guardians, and could easily result in being arrested and possibly sent to civil or criminal court, and could possibly result in jail time or a zoo ban, especially so if you were to be considered to have been negligent or incautious in any way.
I hardly ever think about (escaped) dangerous animals, but I often think and worry about the dangers of other humans, and it is one of the major sources of anxiety around zoo visits for me.
On a lighter note, something that I really dislike the thought of is having to make the choice which parts of a zoo I will see and which I will skip, especially if it is a zoo I haven't visited before, haven't visited recently or don't often have the chance to visit.
Terrible zoo guests and escaped chimpanzees.
cerperal
Well-Known Member
Often hard to differentiate
Lota lota
Well-Known Member
Would that elephants death be attributed to heath though? Elephants live in tropical climates,and it is not the first animal you'd think of that would be fatally effected by heat.Albeit,it was an Asian elephant,and since the access it has to water is often greater compared to their African counterparts,it wouldn't surprise me if their heat tolerance is lower.Did the elephant have any other health concerns,and that the heat was the final nail in the coffin? Or was it that they were a normal, healthy individual and the heat was simply too much?
This thread is straddling "things I fear in general that can possibly happen while at a zoo" and "things I fear that have specifically to do with a zoo" a lot. I don't say that to sound critical of it, I think it's interesting, but man, it feels silly to have expressed such a very first-world, privileged fear about maybe not seeing an animal while other people are discussing serious, life-threatening situations like mass shootings, physical altercations with angry visitors and dangerous animal escapes. These are very real and legitimate fears and risk of violence is a very frightening thing.
I'm going to throw out something new in the middle of both - I fear the killing of an animal, particularly by another member of its species, in front of visitors. Yes, those of us on zoochat are very, very well aware killing is part of nature, but I don't think it does well for zoos for visitors to observe that kind of aggression, especially keeping in mind the criticism some zoos have faced when visitors observe natural aggression between animals as if it is a consequence of captivity. I fear not only the effect but also bearing witness to it myself or being there on the day it takes place.
I'm going to throw out something new in the middle of both - I fear the killing of an animal, particularly by another member of its species, in front of visitors. Yes, those of us on zoochat are very, very well aware killing is part of nature, but I don't think it does well for zoos for visitors to observe that kind of aggression, especially keeping in mind the criticism some zoos have faced when visitors observe natural aggression between animals as if it is a consequence of captivity. I fear not only the effect but also bearing witness to it myself or being there on the day it takes place.
I actually don't know what the true reason was, but maybe the age, the general health of the animal and the heat were all factors. One should although take into account that it's normaly not that hot in Germany and I can't remember if the elephants had much shade in their enclosure.
Interestingly, this was not the first case in Stuttgart in which an elephant fell into the ditch (i don't know if it was the same one) but that time the elephant was rescued.
For me, my posts have hinged on the word "fear". Is it disappointing if the food is bad? Sure. But am I *afraid* the food will be bad? Not at all (and I'm someone with a pretty big list of fears). Disappointed, annoyed, frustrated, all of those emotions aren't the same as fear.
The one you mentioned is one I never really think about, but is a real possibility. We know it happens - tigers and polar bears being the most notable - but so far they've mostly (all?) been during times when the facilities are closed or the animals aren't viewable to the public. Hopefully it stays that way, and stays a rare event!
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Was Marius actually shot in front of the visitors or just dissected in front of them? Reports I’ve read suggest the latter.
In my experience there’s quite a lot of precautions taken by vets destroying animals in this way, so I’d be surprised if they had used it with a crowd present.
Marius was dissected and fed to lions in front of visitors. Some sources (such as A Young Giraffe At The Copenhagen Zoo Was Publicly Killed And Fed To Lions (buzzfeednews.com)) say it was killed in front of visitors
Lafone
Well-Known Member
The headline says publicly killed but the article doesn’t say that I’d be surprised if they used a bolt pistol with a crowd of people present for safety reasons but who knows if they were bothered. Killed and dissected are two separate things. The shame really was in them breeding an animal they knew they wouldn’t breed from just so they could have a baby zoo animal for visitor numbers. Not very conservation imho.
This subject was discussed in Zoochat: Another article on the Copenhagen giraffe (but one that is really worth reading). - ZooChat
Lafone
Well-Known Member
Yes however I just commented on it as you chose to raise it. I mentioned it as there’s a difference for some people I think between publicly killing an animal and publicly dissecting it
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Reasonable question, but the last time I commented on this matter, I said something incredibly, incredibly ignorant that I would rather not risk repeating, but it has put me off saying anything more on it.
The example in my mind during the previous post was an adult chimpanzee killing an infant in front of visitors, as happened at the Los Angeles Zoo, and which in the wild is sometimes accompanied by cannibalism, as well as recently reading a story about a male tiger attacking his own cubs leading to one's death, though that was not public. I didn't want to leave my post strict to infanticide but those were the examples on my brain.
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That's perfectly valid. It's just interesting to me because I know many people who describe their anxieties as fears; but again, fear of violence feels like an entirely different and more serious world from strictly psychological and emotional fear.TinoPup said:
To me, anxiety is different from just straight fear. I definitely get really anxious about way too much involving zoos, especially for some of the reasons mentioned here, like not seeing an animal; I do day trips that involve driving 5-6 hours each way sometimes, so going all that way and then not seeing what I went there for is incredibly aggravating. But they're animals, it's out of my control. I can plan as much as I can (and I do), but there's still things I'll never be able to know or control, and I try not to let that get to me. As much as I can, anyway.
Fear is gonna keep me away from Cheyenne Mountain and Oakland, though!
What’s scary about those two zoos? Are their locations dangerous?