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Fierce Creatures
Aug. 4th, 2006 10:10 pmOne of the nice things about living at my house is looking out the sliding glass door and seeing the creek. Today I saw a Great Blue Heron cleaning his breast feathers in the sun on the bank nearest me as my cat slept on the porch.
At night, I have to deal with the occasional opossum and a family of raccoons. Though the raccoons are cute, they are destructive and can hurt my cat, so I tend to run them off. I prefer them to the 'possums, which are ugly and mean. Even baby 'possums are ugly and mean.
Imagine, however, being a citizen of Chiang Mai, and having to deal with a Canadian grey wolf in your neighborhood. It seems a grey wolf has escaped from Night Safari Zoo in northern Thailand about a month ago.
I am not one of these militant types that is against all zoos, but there were things about Night Safari that tipped me off that it might not be an attraction I would frequent on my next trip to Thailand. The story notes that plans to offer exotic meats at the restaurant, like ostrich and zebra, were shelved. Who wants to bring children to a zoo and them say, "Look, Bobby, let's go eat that nice zebra you just saw!" You don't have to be a vegetarian to be disgusted at that notion. Any zoo that would think of animals in such a way is not a zoo I would frequent.
But what really got me was the fact that the place is owned by none other than Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It seems everything this man touches goes badly, including government projects like the new airport in Bangkok. Last month, protesters held up the transfer of elephants from the same zoo to Australia on the grounds that the pachyderms in question may not have all been domestically-bred animals, but may have been from wild stock. That would have violated international law.
Thaksin fancies himself another Bush. He does not care about international law.
Next time you have a chance to visit Thailand, I highly recommend an excursion to the elephant hospital and reserve at Lamphang, just outside of Chiang Mai. They actually help animals.
At night, I have to deal with the occasional opossum and a family of raccoons. Though the raccoons are cute, they are destructive and can hurt my cat, so I tend to run them off. I prefer them to the 'possums, which are ugly and mean. Even baby 'possums are ugly and mean.
Imagine, however, being a citizen of Chiang Mai, and having to deal with a Canadian grey wolf in your neighborhood. It seems a grey wolf has escaped from Night Safari Zoo in northern Thailand about a month ago.
I am not one of these militant types that is against all zoos, but there were things about Night Safari that tipped me off that it might not be an attraction I would frequent on my next trip to Thailand. The story notes that plans to offer exotic meats at the restaurant, like ostrich and zebra, were shelved. Who wants to bring children to a zoo and them say, "Look, Bobby, let's go eat that nice zebra you just saw!" You don't have to be a vegetarian to be disgusted at that notion. Any zoo that would think of animals in such a way is not a zoo I would frequent.
But what really got me was the fact that the place is owned by none other than Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. It seems everything this man touches goes badly, including government projects like the new airport in Bangkok. Last month, protesters held up the transfer of elephants from the same zoo to Australia on the grounds that the pachyderms in question may not have all been domestically-bred animals, but may have been from wild stock. That would have violated international law.
Thaksin fancies himself another Bush. He does not care about international law.
Next time you have a chance to visit Thailand, I highly recommend an excursion to the elephant hospital and reserve at Lamphang, just outside of Chiang Mai. They actually help animals.
