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

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Re. coin saga: In 1992, a 11 month old California Sea Lion died after swallowing coins at Belfast Zoo.

The public throwing tennis balls to the hippopotamus became an issue in Australasia in the 1920s and 1930s with one choking to death at Auckland Zoo and at least four suffering the same fate across Australian Zoos.
 
Zoofan15 said:
The public throwing tennis balls to the hippopotamus became an issue in Australasia in the 1920s and 1930s with one choking to death at Auckland Zoo and at least four suffering the same fate across Australian Zoos.
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Sadly, hippopotamuses dying as a result of tennis balls being thrown into their enclosure is not as scarce as you might think.

It has happened at London Zoo, Dublin Zoo, Flamingo Land and at some German zoos too.
 
Tim May said:
Sadly, hippopotamuses dying as a result of tennis balls being thrown into their enclosure is not as scarce as you might think.

It has happened at London Zoo, Dublin Zoo, Flamingo Land and at some German zoos too.
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I'm under the impression that the deaths in our region were due to clowns throwing the tennis balls into their mouths as oppose to throwing them into their enclosure but either way it is an act of stupidity that has cost a valuable animal it's life. I wonder if oranges, apples etc are off the menu for a similar reason.
 
I went to the Devon County Show (an annual agricultural show) yesterday. I was sitting next to a young family watching some horses when the father said to his child 'what do monkeys say - oooh oooh aaah aaah'. There's no escape :eek:
 
Gigit said:
I went to the Devon County Show (an annual agricultural show) yesterday. I was sitting next to a young family watching some horses when the father said to his child 'what do monkeys say - oooh oooh aaah aaah'. There's no escape :eek:
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Even worse, I was near a lemur enclosure and heard the same.
 
jayjds2 said:
I saw a trio of kids throwing rocks at a king vulture yesterday.
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Oh my god this is why I hate it when people go to the zoo they have no respect for the animals there always knocking on the glass and this is a whole new level I would actually hurt this kid if I saw him
 
I've actually heard people at the zoo call the lioness a he, when no one should be stupid enough to not realize that the male lions have a MANE. It pisses me off when they go to all the animals screaming wake up or going "roar" or "oo oo ah ah" at every exhibit they pass by, and I hate it when the kids and parents are always yelling. But the worst thing is the field trips
 
natel12 said:
Oh my god this is why I hate it when people go to the zoo they have no respect for the animals there always knocking on the glass and this is a whole new level I would actually hurt this kid if I saw him
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You would physically assault a child? Is that a wise thing to say in public?

natel12 said:
I've actually heard people at the zoo call the lioness a he, when no one should be stupid enough to not realize that the male lions have a MANE. It pisses me off when they go to all the animals screaming wake up or going "roar" or "oo oo ah ah" at every exhibit they pass by, and I hate it when the kids and parents are always yelling. But the worst thing is the field trips
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If they are castrated then it's possible for male lions to never grow a mane, so they may have in fact simply been better informed than you.

Are field trips really that terrible? All those kids having fun, learning about nature and conservation, spending money in the zoo....
 
Field trips aren't that horrible to me, but I certainly dislike running into the groups. They make insane amounts of noise and scare off all the animals and in general annoy me. However, I understand that they are a good thing all around.

~Thylo
 
FunkyGibbon said:
You would physically assault a child? Is that a wise thing to say in public?



If they are castrated then it's possible for male lions to never grow a mane, so they may have in fact simply been better informed than you.

Are field trips really that terrible? All those kids having fun, learning about nature and conservation, spending money in the zoo....
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Well you are right I went too far I was really angry and I apologize. I would never assault a child that was very stupid of me to say. By field trips I mean it's those groups of a hundred kids in one giant group and it is one of those things when it's like the summer non school field trips. Also, yes I know males don't grow lanes if castrated but I wouldn't expect the general public to assume that with every lion they see. But yes I like the idea of field trips.
 
ThylacineAlive said:
Field trips aren't that horrible to me, but I certainly dislike running into the groups. They make insane amounts of noise and scare off all the animals and in general annoy me. However, I understand that they are a good thing all around.

~Thylo
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When I said I dislike these things I mean exactly what you said
 
Thankfully I live south of the border and thus don't have to contend with knobbly knees and webbed feet such as one finds from those north of the border!
 
My most recent zoo trip was almost entirely good visitors, but there were 'baby hippo' and 'baby kangaroo' comments by the pygmy hippos and wallabies. I wasn't upset, but the former surprises me here given Brookfield hasn't had full-grown hippos in some time.

There was also a boy who, after discussing with their parents that a zebra was a male, exclaimed "But I don't want it to be a boy!" or something like that, which I found amusing. Context did not help and no, this was nothing political. I just found it very amusing.
 
The school field trips bother me the most. It's not the kids. I love seeing their enthusiasm, excixtement, curiosity, and eagerness to learn. What I depise is the ignorance and utter stupidity of some of their teachers/advisors/chaperones about what they are looking at and the completely wrong information they give the children. If they don't know they will say anything instead of reading a sign or asking someone. I was recently at the gorilla enclosure when a school group came along, and the teacher said to the kids, "look at these big monkeys". I politely informed her they were great apes and not monkeys, and there are five different great apes with humans being one of them. She had no idea, but to her credit, she asked if I would explain that to the kids, which I gladly did. I hope the kids learned that day that monkeys have tails and apes don't (mostly), and the great apes are our distant cousins, more like us than different. The point is if I hadn't been there and interjected myself, the kids would still be talking about the giant monkeys they saw.
 
Ocelots being called baby Tigers..
When on a school trip this year one of my class mates continuously banging on all the glass with a hurl! google it if you dont know what it is:mad:
 
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