So now that I have Adam and Grandma is visiting there really isn’t any excuse not to go to the zoo. Except Randy has warned me over and over that the general consensus is that the Manila zoo is depressing. So when my friend invited me to the Avilon zoo (also in Manila, but smaller and with a better reputation) I said yes right away and packed Adam and Grandma in the car and off we went.
The Avilon zoo is small but surprisingly chock full of animals. For the animals rights advocates out there you’re correct, the math doesn’t add up. The animals are in pretty small areas. But all in all the zoo was pretty good and Adam was in heaven. He is in love with ALL animals- no discrimination here. This includes the beetles in the playground that he insists on bringing up to show mama- thanks Adam, the fish in the aquarium at his school, the fish in the wet market (this one may get awkward soon, since they’re already dead) and any dog he can get his hands on (even the strays).
Right away, before we even paid for our ticket they had small animals for sale, hamsters, rabbits, turtles. Adam picked out a rabbit to bring home. Ha, just kidding. I’ll save the rabbit history of my family for another time but lets just say they don’t generally last that long.
In the middle of the glass cages though was where it was at. First up, some birds- exciting.
On the other side of the fish was a snake that Adam wasn’t afraid to pet. NO fear of animals from this boy.
A little way past the snakes and fish though is where it got very interesting and you realize you are FOR sure not in a western world zoo or any zoo where there is a fear of lawsuits.
First up are the two wild bear cats that hang out on a shelf just out in the open. You can buy a banana and feed it to them. One can only hope these bear cats are more cat and less bear.
After the bear cats are these huge fish that you can buy and feed chicken heads to….no pictures of this because I did not partake. The thought of touching chicken heads and of fish eating them equally grossed me out.
Then the Pièce de résistance. In the middle of the zoo was sitting a live orangutan. You ask what is so exciting about that. When I say just sitting in the middle of the zoo, I mean just that. She, her name was Jenny, was on a bench just waiting for hordes of children to come up and sit next to her and take pictures. This wild animal was just sitting there while child after child came up to her right into her space. For the first half hour I refused to get near to Jenny, but after enough time I figured, when in Rome.
The smile plastered on my face was pure fear and preparation to throw Adam out of the way if Jenny attacked. Luckily she was too occupied with Grandma Gretch’s necklace.
It’s hard to follow up an orangutan especially with the petting zoo that followed upstairs, but Adam loved that too and loved feeding the army of gerbils their carrots and the goats their greens.
So, Avilon zoo, I think we will be back. Although I can’t promise I’ll feed the bear cats, the chicken head eating fish or let the huge birds sit on my shoulder (I think those birds can do more damage than people think) but I think I will let Jenny put her arm around me, because hey how much damage can one 200 pound orangutan do 🙂
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