A Trip to the Zoo?

So, today we decided to try and take the kids to a zoo. We heard there was one out near Kan Zaman (a very nice restaurant/gift shop type area). After much searching (literally we backtracked 10 times), we discovered that it was farther down the road. There were no discernible signs on the route there. Finally, we did find it though. We paid the entry fee (a steep 2 dinars for the 6 of us, teehee) and went in. This was the most interesting calling itself a zoo that I've ever seen. The animals were in cages. Understand these were not exhibit areas, they were cages made out of cement and chain link fencing. The poor pitiful animals. Terribly, all animals looked underfed, underbathed, and generally suffering. Perhaps the most unusual thing about this "zoo" was the selection of animals.

Let me enumerate the animals for you. As we entered, we saw two ostriches which appeared to have no tail feathers left. I don't know if they pulled each other's feather off or what. Next we saw that they had 4 baboons in the two cages across the pathway. Next door to the ostriches were two cages with pelicans (in Louisiana, these roam free, you see the on the side of the road). These cages had about 8 pelicans each. Next to the baboons were eagles (about 10 in the cage) and then came the buzzards (about 5). Next to the pelicans were goats, lots, feeding on food that was tossed among the veritable plethora of goat droppings. Ewww. Poor things. That ended the first path. The second path started with a peacock and peahen (female peacock). There were more baboons (4), some dogs. I don;t know what kind, the sign said wolf, but I'm skeptical. There were 3 cages with one in each. There were three cages with a hyena in each. Next came the tiger. He was alone in his cage. There was also some sort of wild cat that looked like 1/2 bobcat, 1/2 house cat and one black jaguar. They had two very large grizzly bears. Next were two cages with 6 lions between them. In case the zoo wasn't holding your interest, there were also carnival-type rides and fair-type games. I commented to El 3atal that I am amazed that all around the world they seem to find the same type of cheap prizes in lurid colors. If it weren't for the fact that the stack of cans that you should upend was played with a real gun, you could have been at any state fair in the US. There was about the saddest playground I've seen since I was in Jordan (and THAT's saying something). As we were just about to exit, we noticed there was one more set of cages. Not wanting to miss out on any of my 2 dinars' value, we walked down this path. This was my favorite section of the zoo. They had more baboons (they MUST have received a discount on baboons). Next they had a dog. Not like a wild dog, like a peek-a-poo. It looked like it needed nothing more than a bath and it would be ready to head into the house for dinner. Finally, this path had a cage of cats. Again, not wild cats. The sign said they were Siamese cats. The funny thing is that there wasn't a Siamese cat in there. There were a couple of tabbies, a couple of mutts, and a couple of kittens. That's it. Just plain old cute little housecats. Too funny.

All in all, it's an experience we won't repeat I'm certain. By the time we reached the last set of cages, ButterBean was more than ready and asking to go home. The twins happily waved bye bye to the kitties and off we went to seek out greener pastures. I can certainly see why one blogger talked about the abuse of the animals at the zoo (if this is the zoo they were referencing). PETA would definitely have a field day. Again, two dinars was barely worth it, and we won't be going back.