Since I can remember I was always very connected with nature and animals. As a child I spent tons of time outside the house, had many pets – dogs, cats, fish, hamster, rabbit, frog, picked up snails and even had a caterpillar in a jar, providing fresh leaves each day and admiring her color changing.
Several times I found a small kitten on a way home from school and my mom really went crazy sometimes. I clearly remember how I had the deepest wish at that age, when I walked home, that all the pets from the neighborhood would go home with me, sounds like Noet right :D
We had a tradition: each year my grandma and grandpa took me to the zoo in our capital city. It was more than an hour drive. We always had some snacks with us, since it was a whole day trip. I was extremely looking forward to going there. The zoo seemed so big to me, I felt like we needed the whole day to see all the animals.
After many years I decided to visit it again. Now as a grown-up lady. I even took my dslr, to make some great photos, since I love to do that in my free time. On a sunny Sunday I drove to the zoo, it was so crowded, families with kids, young couples on a date. We were waiting in the ticket line for a while. Finally, I got in.
First thing I saw were these cute little Suricates. You probably remember them from different cartoons and they are even cuter in real life.
Well after that my good-mood started to fade big time. Seeing every next animal filled me with sadness. Now I saw this place with different eyes than years before. Such a small place, fences everywhere. Seems more like a prison. Animals that are wild creatures, freedom is in their blood, now captured on a few square meters. Walking around the fence, nowhere to go, people and children screaming around – how can this be compared to living in wildness, where you can hear just sound of the wind.
I started thinking, animals are put into the zoo for the amusement of human beings. How selfish is that? I know there is a story – animal species are endangered, we are preventing extinction by putting them here. But for what cost? If some living beings are not meant to continuously habitat this world, I prefer they live few years in their natural environment and experience what are they here for, then be imprisoned. If we can watch recreations of dinosaurs on TV, we can obviously do that for other creatures too.
Instead of working as »collectors« maybe would make more sense to be »preventors«. To be kinder to our planet, nature, woods, environment and prevent the damage we cause with our way of living and as a consequence extinction of several animal species.
I got tears in my eyes at the monkey cage and I didn't have the will to watch this anymore.
These creatures are so unique, magnificent and special, I wish to see them in their native home, not here.
