It was a lazy sunday so I asked my hubby to take me and the kids somewhere we've never been to. I told him I had enough of malls and that he should treat me like a tourist and take me somewhere exciting and fun.
Manila Zoo popped into the conversation and being a self-confessed OC, I searched for the place in the internet. There were a lot of negative feedbacks about the place. Many say the place is low-maintained and the living condition of the animals are very poor. This I got to see, I told myself.
An hour or so later, we arrived in Manila Zoo and found the place to be packed with so many people, locals and tourists alike. We paid the entrance fee of Php40 (for adults and kids with height above 4") and Php20 (for kids below the height of 4"). There were 4 adults in our group (Me, hubby, my 10-year old daughter A. and two yayas) and my 17-month old son, H. Hubby paid a total of Php220 and off we go.
The first thing that caught my eye was the aging elephant banging a chain on the wall with his trunk. Hmmm, he must be having a terrible day, I thought. After taking a few pictures, we moved on to the ostrich pen. As we were nearing the place, I noticed a guy splashing a cold water on the poor ostrich and he was having the time of his life. The ostrich kept on dodging himself from the splash and I can't help but to give the guy a dirty look and so he stopped. I just couldn't help myself from reacting. That wasn't funny at all and even my daughter reacted on how mean and cruel the guy was.
We went from one pen to another and as hubby stopped to buy himself an icecream, I went to the nearest cage of crocodiles. I initially thought they were statue models of crocodiles but when this guy beside me (this is another guy from the one mentioned above) threw a pebble on one of the crocs, the harmed animal instinctly snapped his jaw, obviously hurt. He told his companion he needs to take a picture of it awake. I walked away from the pen, shaking my head.
Manila Zoo is not the upscale type of zoo you have in mind. True enough, living conditions of the animals could have been improved but what do you truly expect from local officials nowadays? What really bothered me about the trip was that how some people can be so cruel on treating these poor creatures? Lack of education is not an excuse. It's the lack of empathy.
If local officials will make these animals' habitat livable, how can they protect them from these kind of people? Living conditions is important, I agree but emphasis must be acted upon on how to treat these animals humanely possible.
There was one area in the zoo where you can get your pictures taken with all those exotic birds. There was a long queue and I could see from the distance how these birds were grabbed to be placed on the arms of the customers, and they don't even have any water or food available. They were simultaneously and continuously placed on one customer to another without any rest, water or food.
My kids had fun but I can't turn away from the ugly sight of mishandling these poor creatures. It was a heart-wrenching trip not because the animals were caged or confined but because, how we people can be so cruel. We are all made under one Creator and we should never think so highly of ourselves t0 we think that we the God-given right to abuse the nature and the animals alike.
Please let be us kind to all the things around us. Dyed chicks aren't cute. Would you like your body to be dyed in blue and orange at the same time. I don't think so.
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