Petting zoos are not the right way to teach children to respect animals. What children do not know is that these animals, most of whom are babies, were stolen from their mothers and are destined for a dire end. http://animalplace.org/the-truth-about-petting-zoos/
A friend of ours just came back from a cruise that went to Ensenada Mexico. There they were ‘treated’ to their zoo. The first thing she said was that they do not permit any photography. Now what zoo does not allow photography unless they are hiding something? Anyway she said there were lots of baby animals there and for a price they could go in and pet the baby animals. Okay, where did all these baby animals come from which includes baby tigers? Then they were brought to an enclosure where there was a grown White Tiger and also a Jaguar. She said they almost did not seem that they were alive, and no one wanted to go in and pet these animals. They even asked if these animals were drugged to which the tour guide said “No, these animals are not drugged” yet as he was trying to wake the animal up he could get no response.
Shame on #Tripadvisor and others who promote this to tourists. Our friend, along with everyone else on this tour declined to continue on to a horseback riding venture, which would have cost even more, and lord knows what condition those animals are in, and insisted they be brought back safely to the cruise ship. NO, I repeat, NO trip is worth the suffering of animals or the safety of the tourists. Especially if your tour guide might be on the take for some of these ventures like this nefarious zoo in Ensenada. Do your homework folks before travelling to another country like Mexico, where not only animals’ lives and well being mean NOTHING, but tourists, especially white, American looking tourists, are targets for crime and exploitation.
Our friend also said that they went to Catalina Island off the coast of California and she said it was so beautiful, and that it was worth it to go there. Seriously folks, your tourist dollars can and do speak VOLUMES not just to your travel guides, but to the countries you plan on visiting. Call these cruise lines, vacation packages, tour guide outfits and demand that they not bring you to a venue that is not only cruel to animals, exposes our citizens to exploitation, and at a high risk for kidnappings. My friend said they were afraid and just wanted to go back to the ship after being told several times to stay withing the group and not wander off.
At least here in the U.S if you go on a staycation and visit places like Yellowstone, or Mammoth, or any other State or National Parks you will be far safer. If something does happen you stand a much better chance of getting decent medical care, law enforcement, access to communications, and you will not have your documents taken from you and held from you until thousands if not tens of thousands of dollars extorted from you and family members. You will also likely not experience the corruption that is rampant in countries like Mexico, where often law enforcement is on the same racket as those who trick tourists into visiting questionable venues where they can be robbed, assaulted, even murdered with no recourse for families here to seek justice. Since tourism is a big dollar revenue for many of these countries perhaps folks should just stop going until there is more safety, more humane venues for folks to visit that does NOT drug animals, or keep them in inhumane conditions, and treat us as valued guests instead of targets for exploitation and crime.
The Death of Harambe was unnecessary. Zoos should operate like an animal sanctuary or rescue center. GUIDED TOURS ONLY. These damn zoos certainly do make enough $$$ to afford to have a staff member or two at each station. A staff member should have been there to quiet the people down as they were the screaming banshees that were frightening the Gorilla in the first place. If they had kept quiet and calm this could have went down very differently with both animal and child coming out of it okay. A STAFF MEMBER SHOULD HAVE BEEN THERE FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.
Before you go on that elephant or camel or any other animal for a ride or other tourist activity, please consider what these animals have to go through just for your entertainment. http://world-animal-protection.msgfocus.com/c/1MK8g1MEfouWCtVkbCn5
These babies needed their mothers. The folks running this zoo were handing out cups of hay for these babies when all they wanted to do was nurse. I asked the guy where their mommas were and he said he did not know. I told him “These guys are trying to nurse, where are their mothers?” and he said “They are bottle fed.” So where are their mothers? These poor babies, along with the exploited camels giving people rides were even more tragic than the rodeo I went to.