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

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J

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I already know we have a topic on most of this stuff, but I figure it'll be a lot easier to view everything in one topic.

Personally, I can go on and on for days, but here's a few on my list:

- Dumb zoo visitors (One called a Brazilian tapir a deer)

- People thinking they're smart, but really aren't. (I'd also put being obnoxious here as well.)

- People don't take the time to view exhibits (Why go if you're not going to observe what's on exhibit?)

- When making a mistake, people don't correct themselves (Not reading signs, etc.)

- I especially get irritated when people say EVERY animal looks sad/bored because it's resting or just exhausted. (It may not be the case sometimes, but I'd say 90% of the time it's not because they're bored/tired.)

- The one that irritates me most is when people tap or knock on glass of an exhibit. (A little kid kept knocking on a fennec fox exhibit's glass until it woke one up.)
 
Other visitors just annoy me in general, and not just one or two things they do, its everything :) That is why I usually try to show up not long after the zoo opens, to have some time for myself to get to know the place, as most of them arrive perhaps around 11.00, but by far most important is to last longer than they, therefore I often leave the zoo grounds lets say 30 minutes before closing time and then have had maybe two hours virtually for myself. Done it in many zoos, but especially remember Taronga Zoo in September, gosh, after 16.00 I had the place for myself! :)
 
What irritates me a lot:

1. Visitors who don't have the patience to observe animals (if they don't see one going on with their tour)

2. People who feed the animals

3. People who tease the animals (some people try to take up animals out of the water in aquaria)

4. Children that are beating on windows and parents who don't care about it

Bah I hate it :)!


I think there should be much more security in zoo's! People who don't respect the rules should be removed out of the park immediately for the welfare of the animals and other visitors.

What a irritating topic! :)
 
Jack Hanna told a funny story about how zoo visitors can be different in his autobiography 'Monkeys on the Interstate'. It was when he was director at Columbus Zoo. The zoo's bull African elephant had a bad habit of picking up rocks with his trunck and throw them at everything and anything, even if by that time they thought they had made sure that there were no small rocks in his paddock. One day the animal finds one though, throws it into the air and virtually knocks out an innocent family man who was there with his kids and wife, hitting it in the back of the head. Hanna rushed to the scene and fearing lawsuit, he offered them everything, but the man just laughed and took it easy, no permenant damage and I think he was just fine with lifetime free family zoo pass, medical bills paid, and a story to tell at the next friends party. But the same day some idiot got his hand completely stuck in a coke machine when he was trying to steal a coke. He threatened lawsuits back and forth, but Hanna told the security guard to just throw him out. Mind you again, this happened on the same day!
 
Folks, there's one easy way for all of You who clamour about misbehaving, stupid, obnoxious...visitors: get rich and build Your own private zoo like Sheikh Saoud Bin Mohammed Bin Ali Al Thani...;)

Otherwise, ignore them, educate them and object them...And if that doesn't work, have them thrown out.
 
I was watching You've been framed (yes I was bored:)) and there was a clip of a few people teasing male gorilla. This gorilla then leapt up into the air and kicked the glass. There was a huge CRACK and the glass had well.... Cracked! I'm not sure which zoo this was at, but it really got me thinking how 'annoyed' some animals must get because of the ignorance of some visitors.
 
Writhedhornbill said:
I was watching You've been framed (yes I was bored:)) and there was a clip of a few people teasing male gorilla. This gorilla then leapt up into the air and kicked the glass. There was a huge CRACK and the glass had well.... Cracked! I'm not sure which zoo this was at, but it really got me thinking how 'annoyed' some animals must get because of the ignorance of some visitors.
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I was watching that too!

The clip of the male chimp on his hind legs being taunted by the crowd was depressing... :(
 
At Beuval zoo in France in March. There was a group of very well dressed men and women in there 50's. They were standing in front of the lion enclosure. They were laughing about something in the enclosure l could not see what. The male lion very casually walked up to them and urinated all over them. At first they had no idea what was happening it seemed. They all recieved a good spray. Probaly the funniest thing l have seen at a zoo. It was great to see the lions get one back on the public!

I would say that in general the average zoo goer is respectfull. Some of them just dont know any better! The few that do cause agrivation to the animals seem to be agrevated by life as well!!

Sun Wukon l am working towards it!

Stuart R Webster
 
zooman said:
At Beuval zoo in France in March. There was a group of very well dressed men and women in there 50's. They were standing in front of the lion enclosure. They were laughing about something in the enclosure l could not see what. The male lion very casually walked up to them and urinated all over them. At first they had no idea what was happening it seemed. They all recieved a good spray. Probaly the funniest thing l have seen at a zoo. It was great to see the lions get one back on the public!
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There was a lion at Adelaide Zoo who used to do something similar. If he got annoyed by the crowds, he simply backed up to the fence and let spray.

Always good for a laugh (at the annoying people who got sprayed) ... and I'm sure I saw the lion smirk once when he did that :D
 
I wish it would only happen to those who deserve it though :) (those who tease the animals and litter the grounds) as in 2002 I was in the Ape House at Cologne Zoo and got pissed on by a Black and White Colobus! They had access to two different exhibits with a net tunnel between them, and I happened to be standing below the tunnel when one of them HAD to let go. People were smiling all around me, but I wasn't entertained. Fortunately I was staying at a hotel very nearby, so I could go back, change and take a shower, and be back at the zoo before closure. I spent 2-3 hours more in the zoo, until closing time, but kept far away from the ape house! :)
 
Sim said:
There was a lion at Adelaide Zoo who used to do something similar. If he got annoyed by the crowds, he simply backed up to the fence and let spray.

Always good for a laugh (at the annoying people who got sprayed) ... and I'm sure I saw the lion smirk once when he did that :D
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Might be good to watch, but the male lion in Dartmoor zoo pissed on me once, and it's not so funny then lol.
Quite annoying, considering I was one of the few who wasn't screaming or trying to stroke him...
 
People who feed animals, outside of designated feeding areas. The idiots who do this at the Toronto Zoo almost always do this with the carnivores.

People going over enclosure barriers, or lifting their children over enclosure barriers (or ontop of them). Barriers exist for a reason, people!

Members excluded, when people skip right past enclosures without looking at a thing. I saw this last time I was at Niagara Falls' Bird Kingdom. The place is outstanding, how could you just walk right through it without looking at anything?

When people don't take the time to watch/look for an animal, and then get frustrated, get huffy and leave.

The "all zoos are cruel" crowd. People, the tigers that are sleeping aren't bored. They're sleeping.

People who pay $20 to get into the zoo, only to complain about the zoo's aquariums -- especially when they don't do a thing about it but rant about it in these fish forums. The good thing I can say is . . . $20 more to the zoo they get their panties in a knot over :P

People who complain about "too much construction" on the zoos crowd. I've found these are also often the same people who complain about the zoo being "outdated." Well, in order to stay up to date, ya have to have construction. Silly people :P
 
I might be a tad short-tempered at zoos, but MAN there are a few things that I wish people wouldn't do:

1) Let their children chase peacocks, maras, wallabies or whatever else is running free around the zoo...

2) Take photographs using the flash. This is just absolutely disgusting! People even use the flash in nocturnal exhibits. I've tried explaining this so many times to people why they should not put their camera up to the glass and take a flash photo of bats/aardvarks/pottos in their DARK NIGHT-TIME EXHIBITS. It boils my blood! IDIOTS!

3) Similar to that already mentioned - when people do not take the time to look in exhibits - half of the fun is spotting that tree frog hiding in the branches or finding where the antelope is laid in the bushes in its enclosure...

4) Small children screaming the name of an animal at it, or worse still...trying to mimic its noise. The number of children howling their heads off near wolf enclosures just absolutely or roaring at tigers/lions just annoys me to hell!

I could go on, but perhaps shall let some one else have a turn! hehe.
 
Ungulata said:
1) Let their children chase peacocks, maras, wallabies or whatever else is running free around the zoo...
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one time when I was at Jurong there was these little brat kids chasing the crowned pigeons in the walk-through southeast Asia aviary. I told them to stop and they ignored me -- I don't think they spoke English -- so I told their parents off (twice, because the first time they just stared at me thinking I must be a nut) and they finally told their kids to stop it. But then when I had gone round the corner they started doing it again. Made me right angry.

Another thing I have seen quite a few times is kids (and their parents sometimes) biffing stones at scaup to make them dive.
 
I got another one to add:

I can't stand people who knock on glass when they are looking at the fish exhibits, it must stress the fish so bad. Most visitors are polite, but then there comes along those few that just annoy me so much.
 
From a zookeeper's perspective:

People who throw bread at every animal in the zoo, including the penguins and the sea lions--what a mess to clean up!
People who assume that every keeper carrying a bucket is going to feed something--even if you're carrying a bucket of dung.
Visitors who throw sticky drinks/ice cream at the animals.
Folks who come to the zoo just to swim in the fountains!
Beating on the glass to wake up the snake/lizard/frogs.
"Clever" folks who scream "what kind of animal are you" at every keeper working in an exhibit.
People who assume that keepers are either stupid or being punished when they see you raking poo in the kangaroo yard. These same people make rude remarks about how gross that is--often while pushing a stroller with one or two babies. At least we get touse a rake and a long-handeled dust pan!:D

I could go on and on!!
 
Rookeyper said:
"Clever" folks who scream "what kind of animal are you" at every keeper working in an exhibit.
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every job must have the same sort of thing. In my job the clever "folks", as you call them, think it is funny to point at my pistol and say "is that a real gun?"
Funny for them, not funny if you have heard it 100 times.
 
What also irritates me is that lot of people aren't aware of the important function that modern zoo's have these days ('they're better in their own habitat', 'just look at this, how sad'...). I know it's better in their natural habitat but these days zoo's doing great efforts to give animals a good place to live. The role of zoo's is underrated by many people. It's no 'exhibition' of animals anymore, not in the first place.
 
i was at west midlands safari park and saw two children bang on the glass of the amur leopard enclosure and a full grown man using flash photography at the free flying bats.
 
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