People Breaking the Rules at Zoos

I feel like everytime you got to a zoo you see minor rules getting ignored, like kids touching the glass of the aquarium or people going onto big grass area to sit down there even though there is a sign which says it`s forbidden.
I guess the two most memorable things i witnessed things and have in my mind right now are, that once a family the the Zoo Schwerin fed bisquits to meerkats right beside a sign which says that you shouldn`t feed them, a keeper saw it and she said that they should immideatly stop feeding them, but after the keeper went away the kept throwing these bisquits into their enclosure.
And another time at Wildpark Lüneburger Heide, i stood beside a fence to the petting zoo for goats and i saw this little girl, maybe 10 years old, picking up a baby goat which was like a week or so old, the goat screamed and apparently the mother of the goat came and attacked the girl, she ran away and finally put the baby goat down. At the end of my visit i walked beside her and her parents and i just heard the parents saying something to eachother like"How can they allow kids getting into one exhibit with such aggresive animals, the Wildpark is really irresponsible."
I think these two stories speak for themselves.
 
You'll see some appalling behaviour at pretty much any Chinese zoo despite there being signs everywhere: banging on glass, throwing food to the animals, standing/sitting on barriers etc. It's incredibly frustrating to see, but zoo staff mostly do nothing about it. There have been multiple stories with deadly consequences, for example people getting out of cars in safari parks, or climbing over fences (into a tiger enclosure) to avoid paying an entrance fee.

I remember a local news story from a few years ago when some scumbag visitor at the Welsh Mountain Zoo took a rabbit from the petting zoo and threw it to an alligator.
 
Fort Worth Zoo: A girl tried to feed a bird in a walkthrough aviary a Cheeto or something. When its beak (based on appearances and my memory) touched her, she apparently tried to slap said bird away.

Dallas World Aquarium: Some aracaris live in a mesh enclosure right next to the path. A bird sat on a branch right next to the mesh, beak pointed outward. A girl touched the bird's beak.

Toledo Zoo: In the walkthough Africa section of the aviary (noticing a recurring theme here?), a grey parrot was on the floor. A guy literally let it perch on his arm for a while and he put it on a branch. Probably the most brazen thing I've seen in a zoo so far.

African Lion Safari: In the drivethru safari section, (though probably exclusively) the part with the baboons, so many people open their windows, put all sorts of human food on the roof (if you can eat it, it's fair game), and let the baboons eat it.

And who hasn't seen glass banging every now and then?
 
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When I'm volunteering at the Los Angeles Zoo
I ensure everyone has a safe and good day on their visit and follow the rules for their safety and the animals and telling them in a polite way.
-making sure everyone stays on the path especially letting them know not to go on the restricted staff and shuttle roads and so they won't trample any plants especially the garden landscaped areas
-people especially with children leaning, standing, or trying jump over the fence for their safety and not to fall into the animal exhibits (Recently the zoo has been changing and upgrading the fence barriers)
-that everyone must keep their voices down as it could spook or annoy the animals
-no food or drink allowed in areas like the bird show, aviaries, and Australian nocturnal house
-A petting area making sure everyone shares brushes, not to sit and hit the sheep and goats nor stand or sit on the crates and boxes which are for the goats placed on the exhibit, wash their hands with soap and water after petting the animals, and not to stick their fingers through the fence of the exhibits that include miniature horse, pot-bellied pigs, and the nursery yard in the children's zoo
-don't bang or tap the glass on some of the animal exhibits that have glass viewing.

We had an incident that was caught on tape and in the news of a visitor jumping over the fence and hit the rump of the hippos, named Rosie which led to changing the fence layout of the animal exhibits.
 
At various zoos, I have witnessed a lot of people throwing coins into koi/waterfowl ponds, when a sign that is literally two feet away says not to.

Also, when I went to the Monterey Aquarium when I was little, there was a teenager in the Seabird Aviary trying to touch/grab one of the avocets over the railing.
 
Yes, quite a few actually. There are a lot of visitors who routinely break rules at zoos but it isn't just visitors either.

For example, I knew a volunteer at the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico who had her arm and shoulder dislocated and two of her fingers bitten off by a male orangutan (this was after a visit from the vet which involved a vaccination and this ape was having a bad day).

This woman had put her arm through the bars to stroke this animals face even though she was aware that this strictly forbidden and suprised the animal and made it react aggressively.

The end result of this wasn't just this particular person being seriously injured but actually a press s*** storm which was courtesy of the "animal rights" brigade who claimed that the zoo was "involved in cruelty against animals".
 
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That reminds me, there was a time a few teenagers were jumping in the Lincoln Park Zoo pig pen to harass the mother potbelied pig. Unsurprisingly, she chased them out of the pen with aggression.
 
At many Indonesian zoos, people really like to give food that the animals shouldn't eat, like I remember seeing a little kid giving a crackers to the elephants and deers.
 
I've never been to a foreign zoo. But there are dozens of bad visitors' actions in the zoo photos I took.

Due to the Korean people's perception of zoos and animals from the old days, and the growing number of private zoos since the 2010s, many people think that it is natural for visitors to give food to animals, Throw stones, sticks, and trash at the animal that stays still, To scream, to try to touch an animal.

In conclusion, few people follow the rules of viewing in Korean zoos. While zoos in other countries need to find people who do not abide by the rules, it is faster to find people who obey the rules in Korean zoos.


There is a bad visitor I remember specially. It happened at Jinyangho Zoo, a public zoo in my hometown, on Saturday, April 1, 2017. That was when all the zoos in South Korea had been closed for months due to bird flu, and Jinyangho Zoo opened on March 31, the previous day.

At that time, there was a male visitor in his 20s who was carrying a child in his chest, and has 'rice snack' that sold at the zoo's snack bar. He threw that snacks to many animal enclosures he went. I didn't want to see it, so I was avoiding him, and while I was filming the stereotyped behavior of a wolf that had only one at Jinyangho Zoo at the wolf enclosure, the man came to the wolf cage.

He asked his child, who seemed unable to answer anything he held in his chest, "Do you want give snacks for the wolf?" Then he fed the wolf the rice snack. Seeing the sight, I unconsciously said, "Shouldn't give it," and he asked me curtly, "Why can't I give it?" I couldn't answer properly then, just saying, "It is natural not to do that". Then he retorted, "'Natural not to do' is what?", "Animals like this. Why not?" and added, "Do it logically if you want to talk."

And in the meantime, a family visitor passed in front of the wolf cage. Among them, a woman who seemed to be a middle school student threw her nacho snack over the wolf cage, and the wolf ate that. The whole that family mocked the wolf by saying, "Ha ha, It's not a wolf, it's a dog!" Maybe that man saw this happen felt good, because persons appeared who did the same thing as himself.

Then the man asked me, "Do you have anything more to say?" and I said, "No,". He looked at the camera I was holding and left the wolf cage with a derisive remark, "Take a lot of pictures." But watching the man leave, I was worried that he would do the same elsewhere, and in the end I organized my thoughts and followed him for saying again. Then the man said bluntly, "Did you come zoo to say that?" Then he said, "Everyone else does it like me," and "This snack is being sold at the zoo snack bar for give to animals." "I won't do it anymore, so you stop the others," and I broke up with him.

But after a while, I felt as if he would, so I observed the monkey cage from afar. The 'liar' was still feeding the monkeys his snacks.


DSC_0380.JPG
The last picture I took that wolf.
2017. 11. 25
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About six or seven months after it happened, the wolf died. that wolf was old, but I believe that there must be a responsibility of 'bad visitors', who fed all sorts of snacks.

Finally, that rice snack was made for only people. but the jinyangho zoo snack bar was paying no attention to the animals. Because it makes money for them. Only a zookeeper knew that was a bad thing.
 

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I’m slightly surprised this happens in a highly developed and educated country. It appears to be rare in other wealthy and developed countries in Europe and Asia.

Not to be too classist, but stereotypically things like this would happen more in developing countries with a lower level of widespread education, countries with a new and growing middle class that is wealthier than it is educated and “gentlemanly.”

dt644 said:
I've never been to a foreign zoo. But there are dozens of bad visitors' actions in the zoo photos I took.

Due to the Korean people's perception of zoos and animals from the old days, and the growing number of private zoos since the 2010s, many people think that it is natural for visitors to give food to animals, Throw stones, sticks, and trash at the animal that stays still, To scream, to try to touch an animal.

In conclusion, few people follow the rules of viewing in Korean zoos. While zoos in other countries need to find people who do not abide by the rules, it is faster to find people who obey the rules in Korean zoos.


There is a bad visitor I remember specially. It happened at Jinyangho Zoo, a public zoo in my hometown, on Saturday, April 1, 2017. That was when all the zoos in South Korea had been closed for months due to bird flu, and Jinyangho Zoo opened on March 31, the previous day.

At that time, there was a male visitor in his 20s who was carrying a child in his chest, and has 'rice snack' that sold at the zoo's snack bar. He threw that snacks to many animal enclosures he went. I didn't want to see it, so I was avoiding him, and while I was filming the stereotyped behavior of a wolf that had only one at Jinyangho Zoo at the wolf enclosure, the man came to the wolf cage.

He asked his child, who seemed unable to answer anything he held in his chest, "Do you want give snacks for the wolf?" Then he fed the wolf the rice snack. Seeing the sight, I unconsciously said, "Shouldn't give it," and he asked me curtly, "Why can't I give it?" I couldn't answer properly then, just saying, "It is natural not to do that". Then he retorted, "'Natural not to do' is what?" and added, "Do it logically if you want to talk."

And in the meantime, a family visitor passed in front of the wolf cage. Among them, a woman who seemed to be a middle school student threw her nacho snack over the wolf cage, and the wolf ate that. The whole that family mocked the wolf by saying, "Ha ha, It's not a wolf, it's a dog!" Maybe that man saw this happen felt good, because persons appeared who did the same thing as himself.

Then the man asked me, "Do you have anything more to say?" and I said, "No,". He looked at the camera I was holding and left the wolf cage with a derisive remark, "Take a lot of pictures." But watching the man leave, I was worried that he would do the same elsewhere, and in the end I organized my thoughts and followed him for saying again. Then the man said bluntly, "Did you come zoo to say that?" Then he said, "Everyone else does it like me," and "This snack is being sold at the zoo snack bar for give to animals." "I won't do it anymore, so you stop the others," and I broke up with him.

But after a while, I felt as if he would, so I observed the monkey cage from afar. The 'liar' was still feeding the monkeys his snacks.


View attachment 458337
The last picture I took that wolf.
2017. 11. 25
​
About six or seven months after it happened, the wolf died. that wolf was old, but I believe that there must be a responsibility of 'bad visitors', who fed all sorts of snacks.

Finally, that rice snack was made for only people. but the jinyangho zoo snack bar was paying no attention to the animals. Because it makes money for them. Only a zookeeper knew that was a bad thing.
Click to expand...
 
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Jesus, some people are just so irresponsible that they shouldn’t even go to a zoo anymore.

Thankfully American zoos are stricter and for good reasons.
 
1280px-Ppeong-twigi.jpg


This is the 'rice snack' I mentioned earlier. It is called 'Ppeongtwigi' in Korean, it is sold at most of all tourist destination in Korea, so can see a many people throwing it at local zoos in Korea. Even the shape is disk-shaped, so it flies well to a long distance.

RatioTile said:
I’m slightly surprised this happens in a highly developed and educated country. It appears to be rare in other wealthy and developed countries in Europe and Asia.

Not to be too classist, but stereotypically things like this would happen more in developing countries with a lower level of widespread education, countries with a new and growing middle class that is wealthier than it is educated and “gentlemanly.”
Click to expand...

I think this is because the cultural level of Koreans is not keeping up with the pace of Korea's development. The development of Korea today comes only 70 years after of the korean war that destroyed almost all parts of the country in 1950-1953.

While foreign zoos would have been able to inform visitors about the preservation of wildlife and the right way to treat captive animals because of their long history, but most of Korean zoo's operating policy and Korean's thoughts about zoos were just started from "Place of watching captive animals and animal's show" and just reached level of "Place of touch and feeding animals."
 
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