Free Shamu

What can I say, I love zoos; loved them since I was a child.  I can spend all day at the zoo without getting bored, but often times I don't get to stay all day because no one else wants to stick around all day watching animals lounge around, chew on cud, and lounge around some more.  I'm always told to 'hurry up so we can eat lunch/dinner'.  So I begrudgingly leave the zoo.  Nowadays, it's gotten even worse because I go to the zoo with J; and if you know J, you know that he lives to eat, and if he misses a meal, he gets a bit fussy (oh, and he can't get too much sun either; that's like pouring oil on fire).  So our visits to the zoos tend to be 'rushed' to say the least, and I vow to be back soon.  This Labor Day Weekend I managed to convince J that we had to visit the Wild Animal Park and Sea World.  Got to see some interesting animals at the WAP.  Here are a few pictures I took...

Gerenuks

Long and sleek like mini giraffes.  Actually, the name gerenuk in Somali means 'giraffe-necked'.

Standing on its hind legs.

Meerkat

At attention...

My Favorite, Winston the 35 yo silverback hoarding his gorilla biscuits...

Two biscuits in his mouth...

The magnificent lions, chewing on their bones

Kind of reminds me of Mocha and Truff when they're chewing on their bones.

Naturally, we had to leave without seeing the elephants, dik-dik, etc. because it was getting too hot, and J was ready for lunch, but I was somewhat satisfied with our visit.

The next day we went to Sea world to check out 'Shamu' and the 'Believe' show.  The last time I saw 'Shamu' perform was when I was 7, when my dad drove the whole family down from NJ to FL.

Killer whales swimming in their tanks.

Pre-show preparations.  Felt like we were at a ball game...

To prevent getting soaked during the show, they were selling ponchos for $5 and towels for $20.  Any way to make a quick buck.

Shamu, with it's 'collapsed' dorsal fin.

The show was incredible and the killer whales were amazing, but I was left with a nagging feeling that these animal were not happy, as evidenced by the 'collapsed' dorsal fin .  If you've ever seen the size of the tanks that they're swimming in and the size of these animals you'd know what I'm talking about.  How can we confine such massive animals that belong in the ocean in tanks that may be equivalent to wading pools to them for their entire lives.  Who gave us the right to hold them prisoners for our own entertainment and to even make money off them.  This visit to Sea World left a bad taste in my mouth and I've come to the conclusion to never visit Sea World again, and I've created a petition to have Sea World release these animals.  I guess this would apply to all zoo animals, but I need some time to get around that idea.