It’s every grandpa’s
wish to carry his grand pillu on his shoulders to make it easier for the child
to see the distant objects clearly. Being tallest in the family the privilege
naturally befell on me. It so happened that we decided to visit Rani Baugh for
Arsh, my grandson to have look at the animals which so far he had seen in the
nursery books only. The very first enclosure was for elephant his dearest
animal! But the elephant walked away slowly just as we reached his enclosure to
have his grub; naturally it was me to carry him on the shoulders to have a look
at him from a height. ‘See, Chee, Chee, [an elephant in his gibberish], is
eating grass with his trunk’. And it went on! Nobody would have believed that
Corona Pandemic is going on strong; the zoo was more crowded than the Virar
Fast in the peak hours. We realized our mistake and turned homewards as early
as possible. That took me to my childhood and visits to the zoos and other such
children’s’ specials!
I spent my formative
years in Pune, so naturally in those days it was ‘Peshwe Park’! To call Peshwe
Park a zoo was crime of the highest order because the ensemble of the animals
there was less than the humans on the South Pole! I feel SPCA was not that vociferous
in those days. The cages for wild cats like lions and tigers did have less
carpet area than the biggest room in Dharavi slum. It was pathetic to see those
kings and queens of jungle to pace restlessly in that cramped space. The
elephant cow, if I remember right her name, Sumitra was tied with iron chains
to the iron posts and was allowed to have the rounds in the park only in
specific hours. A joy ride for the children, of course at a cost. If I dig more
I remember she was given on rent to parade in the weddings of big wigs, or
other such events regularly.
After visiting ‘N’
number of zoos all over the world I pity the animals in Indian zoos; especially
from cities where I stayed. My elder one, son was, still is, very fond of
animals and every jaunt abroad was not complete without a visit to the local
zoo. After visiting those vast zoos I realized why SPCA’s existence is
necessary, rather must!
Sydney’s zoo is
located on an island, so you have to take a ferry from Darling harbor to reach
it. Taronga is spread over 69 acres of land. It has more than 4000 animals of
350 species.
The specialty of the Australian zoos is, that they have so many varied species, naturally, because an island continent, country has been separated from the main land millions of years ago, ending in developing altogether different ecosystem, that includes flora and fauna too! Marsupials like Kangaroo and less commonly found Duckbill Platypus are natives only of Australia, and found nowhere else.
Not only marsupials but the flightless birds like Emus and Kiwis, big rodents like Wombats and bears those sleep for 22 of 24 hours of the day, Koalas are found only in Australia. My daughter Saana was hardly 6 years old then, dropped her talisman in the enclosure of Wombat. To her it was Australia so it has to be English. She pleaded Wombat to return it to her in English, ‘Please Wombat give it back to me, it’s very precious for me’. Remembering it still brings chuckle on the lips.
Sydney’s aquarium is
totally different a story. It’s actually built in the sea in Darling harbor and
to visit it one has to go underwater 3 floors down, really! It has 700 species
of sea creatures and they are more than 13000 in number. In the underwater
tunnel when a giant sting ray passes over your head, gives you goose pimples!
It’s full with all types of sharks, turtles, octopuses and you name a fish and
it’s there! Taraporewala is not even distant poorest cousin!
New York zoo made
famous by the movie, ‘Baby’s day out’ is in Bronx and sprawls over whopping 265
acres of land! Bronx otherwise is a low brow area, only plus point could be the
‘New York Zoo’. Incidentally when we climbed down the metro station, a movie
hall next to it was screening a ‘Govinda’ movie then. I was not much inclined
to visit the zoo because the entrance fees were really very hefty. If I
remember right, $ 25 for children and of course more for the adults. When it is
zoo, Saket’s, my son’s dictates are final, so after spending more than $100 in
entry fees when the first exhibit turned out to be ‘Indian Buffalo’ you should
have seen my face! It too has more than 650 species and number of animals is
more than 4000. For me except for ‘Armadillo’ nothing was surprising. But we
visited every nook and corner of the zoo because according to the map, till the
last cage/ enclosure is not visited, Saket would never give up! The best part
of these zoos is the animals are kept, as far as possible in acres and acres of
their natural habitat and there are actually no cages. La Rani Baugh Style! In
India, only Hyderabad zoo may pass the bar with difficulty!
Another zoo that made impression was Madrid zoo.
Though in area it’s smaller than New York zoo, 49 acres, it may be the oldest zoo in the history. Opened to public in 1770 it has maximum number of species as compared to the other zoos.500 species and 6000 animals. It was the only zoo where we could see Giant Panda, and is the only zoo where Female Panda gave birth to a young one in captivity, which normally is improbable.Apart from it, it also has two humped camels, again a rarity along with Llama which are not seen in any other zoo away from South America. Komodo Dragon too was sight to see for its ferociousness. But it was not the novelty for us as we already had seen it in Taronga.
The title of the blog
is Animals in Captivity. Denoting a pathetic undertone. Yes, it’s definitely
there because all said and done the wild cats are fed on ready-made meat and do
not have to use their killer instinct that’s most primal for the survival in their
natural habitat, jungles! It came to my notice very objectively when we visited
Tadoba Andhari Tiger reserve. You may call it by any name but in the end it
boils down to ‘Tiger Tourism’! I was very thrilled, almost had goose pimples ,
when a tigress encircled our open jeep, attended to her nature’s call and had another
round and then she vanished in the deep jungles I could have caressed her on
stretching my hand, that much was the distance between us! We were 5 in our
jeep and the drama that unfolded in front of us was one of its kinds! When I
returned to Mumbai I had my doubts and I found entire scenario unnatural.
Though we were in her domain she was least bothered about us. Does it sound
normal? May be she was so used to humans around her that her natural behavior she
might have kept on the hold. There were at least 50 jeeps behind us and around
1000 of tourists, waiting for her ‘Darshan’ impatiently for hours together! Tiger
tourism making most profits for the government.
Due to the whims of the prince now we have Penguins in Rani Baugh, all 4 in numbers and jailed in watery enclosure of not more than 25 feet by 30 feet. The temperature maintained too was on higher side.
For someone like me who had seen them in much much better condition in Sydney and Singapore Aquariums apart from pitying them I could not do much apart from chuckling!
The concept of zoo
here has to be examined with stern principles. Where the animals are used as
exhibits in most unnatural conditions those zoos must be locked. Animals too
have equal rights on the earth it being their mother too!
