i'm just like everyone else: i'll visit the zoo and have an absolute blast while hypocritically mumbling This and That about how very UNETHICAL it is to keep wild animals captive. i'll preach about the sun on polar bears and the cages around birds. and i will secretly hope to see a lion maul the shit out of a small child.
everyone is that way at the zoo.
but with all that said, i'm legitimately bothered by your rhino.
everyone is that way at the zoo.
but with all that said, i'm legitimately bothered by your rhino.
i'm pretty sure my first reaction to this rhino was, "what the fuck", and i'm pretty sure a young girl heard that reaction. but i'm also pretty sure she was having the same reaction inside her head. with different words.
where is his god damn horn?
if i were to make an entirely unscientific [research-free] guess, i would say you sawed if off because the rhino is the size of a mid-sized vehicle and you've already had one or two animals attack your trainers and teenage guests.
but, according to the handy-dandy rhino-placard, this is not the case!
i want to just make sure i got this right:
• you guys keep trimming it to... help it grow.
i know those are just bullet-points, but have i missed something? or did you trick me into reading thirty seconds worth of bullshit? i may not be a master of rhinoceros knowledge, but i am certainly not a dewy-eyed fool.
it was my understanding that rhinos rub their horns on trees and boulders to keep them sharp. but i would love if one of your zoologists could explain to me why a rhino might want to rub his horn flat considering it is one of his only means of offensive attack-- besides the ability to spray liquid poop twenty feet with impeccable aim.
look, i had a great time-- i'm being honest. but be straight with me-- i can take it-- why is the rhino missing his horn?
thank you in advance,
president wishnack
p.s. the owl-feeding was fucking awesome.
but you might want to consider moving it out of the Children's Zoo section.
i wanna go to the zoo!
ReplyDeleteWow.... id cehck what kind of rhino that is...
ReplyDeleteActually a zoo is quite certainly the safest place for an animal. Compared to wild nature, the zoo is like a first class accommodation. I can certainly imagine that you would not appreciate being forced to stay inside first class accommodations, but it's pretty nice to avoid the massive infant mortality rates of wild life.
ReplyDeletei don't think anyone questions the safety of an animal that survives perfectly well in the wild. you know, they die, and kill, and others are born, and the whole lion king thing. it's more about whether or not it's fair to force a wild animal to be "safe."
ReplyDeletebut still, i don't even care much about that. i'm just bothered that they cut the rhino's horn off. if that's necessary for its zoo-life, maybe it shouldn't be in the zoo.
I don't think these animals have the capabilty to strive for this kind of safety. They live off instinct. Kill eat die. Wild animals thrive and even live longer, heathlier in the wild (if when) they aren't eaten as a cub. Many insects and marne animals have bodily functions that make them die after they mate or set their eggs.
ReplyDeleteSteven, I was thinking more along the lnes that they saved this one from poachers. But it is odd that they would lie on their fact file...
Rhinos horns break quite easily, if he bashed it against something quite hard (e.g. a cage) then it might have broken or become damaged and they've sawn it down so that it will grow back evenly. I speak from the a life times worth of nature show studying - I once saw a show where they were transferring 3 rather unhappy rhinos back to the wild in lorries and when they got there 2 off them had knocked their horns off. Not a major disaster for them it seems, i think most of their defense comes from their size and weight and they run pretty damn quick too.
ReplyDeletetk-mochas: "Wild animals thrive and even live longer, heathlier in the wild (if when) they aren't eaten as a cub" This quote is just so miserably false, thanks for the laugh.
ReplyDeletei know rhinos can run very fast, and also have horrible eyesight. i also know about poachers. there are a number of ways this horn could've been lost.
ReplyDeletewhat upsets me/makes me curious, is the fact the zoo published [on their info placard] a story about the rhino willingly rubbing it off as a natural part of his behavior. that's just unbelievable. if an accident or a poacher had anything to do with the loss of the horn, the placard should say so.
otherwise i feel like something is being hid.