Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Lack of sensitivity

If the zoo is a place to view animals in as `natural' an environment as man can recreate for them or is it a place to make animals `perform' in front of the `paying public'?

Many a visitor to the city zoo will immediately tick the second option.

The result is there for all to see; primates are hissed at and whistled at to try and make them `monkey around', the glass cages of snakes are given vigorous taps by visitors so that they can enjoy the sight of a rearing cobra, pebbles are thrown at the bear to see whether it retains the `character' of its cousins in the wild...

But are not the zoo staff charged with preventing precisely this kind of behaviour?

Ask zoo officials and they will say that there are not enough of them to go around the zoo and keep an eye on errant visitors.

Often, such things happen under the `benevolent gaze' of some staff.

However, it is also true that some visitors are loath to obey the instructions given by the staff.

Caught in the middle of all this are the hapless animals.

G. Mahadevan

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