A trip to the zoo

*OKAY GRAMMAR ERRORS EVERYWHERE. :) I was still young when I wrote this :p But as usual I'm too lazy to edit :p





By Denice Sharina P. Lao

It was my life-long dream to be able to visit the zoo and see real live animals moving and acting. I was very much excited to prepare for the day that was already marked in my calendar a week before. Everything was packed, the bottled water just in case I needed water for survival of dehydration, my hand towel ready for any dirt and my camera to take memories home with me.

My sister and I, together with her friends first paid the entrance fee which is about 40 pesos for the adults. When you look at the exterior of the zoo, everything was not so tidy but it kind of gave a warm and happy atmosphere especially when the kids who go out of the gate are all joyous and energetic. My nerves fluctuated badly, the feeling of excitement and a leaping feeling started my whole experience.

When we entered the zoo, the first thing that caught my eye was the elephant whose eyes looked lonely and whose skin was torn out as if it’s leather that’s often used. He had no companion with him and was just walking in circles as if there was no sense and direction at all I tried asking why the elephant was alone but my sister’s friend told me that its companion died about a year ago and that it was broadcasted on television. I wasn’t amused by what I saw but in fact, I was heart-broken. Living in a place walled by steel and eating the same food everyday isn’t really what I expected it to be. Looking in that elephant’s eyes was like looking at a window that’s wet by rain, it’s sad, dark and hurt. The look on him gave me a feeling that I want to free him but I am just a visitor of that place, I didn’t even have the strength to complain about it.

We continued the sight-seeing and tried enjoying the various animals that was there. With all my might, I tried erasing the memory of the elephant’s teary eyes but before I was able to succeed in the deletion of that scenario I saw an unusual monkey hanged in one of the logs. Why was it unusual? Well, the monkey was eating a chocolate pinipig ice cream with a Popsicle stick and looked like he was enjoying it. I was first amazed by that unique picture until I noticed that the children were the ones who gave the innocent monkey the ice cream. They were laughing and making fun of the monkey who did nothing but follow the orders of the so called “most intelligent animals.” I felt smoke coming out of my ear, wanting to scold those children that giving that monkey ice cream to eat is not at all a funny thing. However, before I even laid a finger on those children, another thing caught my attention. There were actually guards and animal assistants that were supposed to be watching out for the animals and giving care to them. Those assistants saw the monkey-eating-ice-cream and just ignored it looking straight and blank in thin air. My sister tried to hold me back when I started making loud complains so that people could actually realize how immoral their actions are.

I cooperated with them and decided to move to the other side of that cage and unsurprisingly another monkey is bullied by “great people.” They throw chips inside the monkey’s cage and the idealess monkey eats up the chips. The worst part is that the parents are the ones initiating the act of their children. They even laugh while handing over the pack of chips to these three year old kids and point out where the chips should be thrown. I once again tried forgetting what I saw and started leaving the place before I could disrespect unrespectable people.
We went up in a little hut to rest and beside the hut’s stairs stood the old ostrich. I watched the ostrich with amusement and was glad that there was actually something that day that I shouldn’t be frustrated of. I enjoyed looking at the ostrich until a family came to enjoy the sight as well. The next scene was the worst scene I’ve seen the whole day. They gave the ostrich chocolate and the ostrich started to choke. I waited for the ostrich to calm down but it was already five minutes and still his throat kept on moving as if choking continuously. His eyes were like same as the elephant’s, it was teary. I didn’t want to look because every time I try to I feel like crying seeing his little eyes wet. Just like before I wanted to scold these people, but seeing the scenes around me made me feel hopeless. I realized that even if I made a scene out of a tortured ostrich, nothing will change and no one will listen.

It was hard to say but the zoo experience really struck me badly. I saw that people take our fellow animals for granted and worst make fun of them without even thinking of what they feel. They too have feelings and they too get hurt. It was already bad enough that they are caged and taken away far from their homes but being tortured and made a fool when in fact they are already doing us a favor by enduring the smelly cage with no one beside them is already too much. Let us open our eyes and see how valuable these creatures that we belittle are. They may have feathers or are bald but still they are living creatures that are made to be treasured and respected. If it weren’t for them we humans won’t be so great at all. Caging them up and stealing their life from them is not right. They also have a life like we do. We complain if anyone of us is hurt or if someone was fooled but we never think of these poor innocent creatures that, we, humans abuse. We are the highest forms of “animals,” this just means that we are no different than they are. The term was just differed because the word “highest” attached to it. We are the same types and we both are brothers and sisters. Let’s not wait for the day that we’ll be the ones caged up and played around, the ones dragged away from our homes and the ones treated like slaves. They may be small and they may look different but a creature’s worth is not on how they look nor how they speak but how their heart works and how they act. It’s shameful to think that in this world nothing is acting the way they should, it’s simply because animals behave more like humans and humans ironically act like animals.