Nightmare at the zoo

THE EDITOR: Kindly permit me a space to express my grief and concern on behalf of the innocent animals at the zoo. There is a little proverb that says “Mankind are animals greatest enemy.” On Monday July 12, the Emperor Valley Zoo revealed to me the truth of this proverb. The suffering these poor animals are going through, is indeed detestable. Before entering the zoo, my friends and I were greeted with words from an old lady. She shook her head and lifted her hands towards heaven, “it’s a nightmare, the place is stink, the animals are suffering, you’ll be sorry if you go in there.” I looked at her believing she was insane, not knowing my nightmare was about to begin.

We eagerly paid our entrance fee and walked towards the first section. And offensive smell from the crocodile section caused such a disturbance in my inward being, I had to spit even though it’s a sign of bad manners in public. The intensifying sound by macaws and parrots was not as before; dried and rotten pieces of fruit were on the ground. Tears came to my eyes when I saw the monkeys. They had no time to beg us for snacks and swing on their tails and hands, which used to bring some sort of excitement. Instead they searched each other carefully for their God-given food ‘‘like lice’’ for a meal as it seemed. Some of the monkeys were suffering from mange, a disease that caused their hair to drop from their bodies. They also had sores and traces of blood that protruded through their half-naked bodies.

My eager steps soon became loathsome. In one cage there were a variety of birds, guinea birds, roosters, doves, hens, bay chicks. Some of the birds’ heads were battered by their opponents, while the baby chicks tried to keep their heads outside the wire for protection. The abhorrent scent from the tigercat section was extremely disgusting. As I walked towards the animal, called the Tapir, I had to cry because of the sores, the flies, her faeces that surround her. She could not cover herself totally in the water because of the sores. The echoeing words from lookers, what has this country come to? Look how these animals suffering. The jaguar’s condition was worse than the Tapir. He had blood dripping from the sores. His waist was rather meagre.

The most horrible statement, I heard was the answer to a mother who asked one of the zoo-keepers for the three horses they saw the last time. He said “Oh! The horses, they were injured and we shot them and took the meat to feed the animals.” I almost dropped. The racoon seemed to be suffering from a mild stroke. I asked the workers why do they have the animals suffering like that, he said the supervisors are to blame. I could not have gone further. Please somebody in authority do something. Help the animals, it’s indeed a nightmare.

JULIANA MORALES
Sunday School Teacher