by I always suffer moral pangs about zoos. I feel terrible for the animals who don’t have proper room to run and play. Zoos often come up as a “must do” in an area where we are visiting, and I waiver over it the entire time we’re there, and then decide not to go.
But I had some extra time on my hands while Doug flew to New Orleans for work, and this one had botanical gardens, so a visit to the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden would be in the cards for me.
The first thing I did was feed the giraffes. While it was only $4 to feed a few leaves of lettuce, I am very serious when I say it was over in five seconds, so that works out to a rate of almost $3,000 an hour.
The next thing I did was amble over to the lions, and even though they did have a very large area to romp in that was “done up” with interesting bits for them, the male was pacing aggressively, in a way that suggested stress. Immediately there were kids and adults alike banging on the glass to try to get their attention, and my heart broke a little bit for these magnificent animals.
I powered on, however, and was there for several hours, covering every bit that was open except the primates, who I always find inordinately creepy (and rude). Overall, the park did seem to have very nice enclosures for the animals, though I also saw several other animals exhibiting high-stress behaviors.
It also had lovely flowers throughout which I’m sure would have been really wonderful had I been there at the right time of year for them. Additionally, I got to see the remains of their Halloween set up without having had to pay extortionate rates to see it.
The zoo is the second oldest in the United States, founded in 1873. Fun fact: due to the large German-speaking population in the area at the time, the zoo’s first guide book was in German. The first English version wasn’t published until 1893!
Today the zoo is home to more than 1,800 animals (500 species) and 3,000 different plant species. Reading through the history, the zoo does seem to be constantly modernizing and updating its animal enclosures. In fact, it its current campaign is “More Home to Roam.” However, it’s still hard for me to see an eagle or condor in a cage instead of soaring, and big cats lounging in a space not big enough to really run.
The cover photo is a pair of thick-billed parrots.
