Now as bad as the animals were at the Jungle Adventure, the Brevard Zoo was that much better. This was a REAL zoo...not a zoo wannabe. The animals were in spacious habitats that resembled their natural habitats, they seemed very content, no one was panting or pacing restlessly, and some of them we didn't even get to see....which means they were off doing whatever a wild animal does. (I suspect some of them were at their mid-week poker game) That is fine with me. Yes, I didn't get to see some animals that I really was interested in, but in a zoo environment if the animals are happy, so am I.
The day was very hot...but what day wasn't? Every animal has access to clean water and plenty of shade. Those that enjoy climbing trees were doing just that. Just as those that enjoy playing in water were doing that too. Everybody seemed to have what they needed to make them as comfortable as possible and I really can't object to that. In theory at least I don't really approve of zoos in general. I believe that wild animals should be left in the wild. But I also know that it's out of my control so instead of avoiding zoos on principal I go to them to satisfy myself that these captives (lets face it, that's what they are) are at least being well treated. Most of the time that is the case. There may be something that isn't as good as it should or could be but overall there is a sense of caring and responsibility with most zoos. However, that does not extent to a circus. I will never set foot in a circus again. Keeping wild animals captive for the enjoyment of humans is bad enough...when you start making them perform stupid tricks and un-animal like stunts (riding bikes/jumping through flaming hoops, etc.)..well that's where I draw the line. Why do you think elephants go crazy and kill their trainers??!!
Anyway...we had a lovely day at the Brevard Zoo. It's well run, clean and seems to be a happy environment for all the animals. They had brightly colored birds in different areas of the wooden walkways that would sometimes talk to you. You never knew what they'd say. It wasn't always the usual bird lingo. First we came upon a very blue parrot that kept calling me a cracker! He wasn't saying he wanted a cracker...he just kept calling people cracker. Then we came upon a happy older man that worked there and he offered to take our picture with some very pretty red parrots. He told us when he first started working there he eventually ended up working with these parrots. He was doing his job and suddenly one of them said 'your fired'....later on the other one started telling him to 'get back to work'. He said he found himself telling the birds to make up their minds..is he fired or should he get back to work??
We seemed to have a lot of bird interaction while we were there now that I think of it. One area was exclusively for birds and I ended up having three very brightly colored small parrots following me. It started with one bird and I swear he said something to the others and before I knew it I had three of them walking on the railing and following me. They cracked me up! As it turns out there is some kind of honey cup that they sell to people on the way in and the birds are used to being fed. I didn't see the cups being sold so I came in empty handed. Poor birds were probably wondering why I was holding out on them! Good thing these birds didn't talk. I can just imagine what they would have said to me.
So here are some of the pictures I got from the zoo. Of course I have tons of them but there are just too many to post.
