One Day At The Zoo - Part 4. - Expectations vs Reality

This is a new episode of my zoo series, that I started almost two weeks ago, when I had the chance to visit this amazing place, that is situated at 488 m above the Black Sea level and at 197 m above the city if Targu Mures, Romania. Thee zoo is a 40 hectare park with more than 750 animals of 150 species. It's a very fun place to visit regardless of the season. Any season will do as it's open all year round.

Unfortunately or fortunately, it depends of the point of view, the zoo was closed for about two month during the lockdown but it's open again to the public. Domestic tourism is rising now that borders are closed and many countries are requiring a 14 day quarantine for arriving people. This is good for the economy and for the zoo as well as visitors are coming every day.

Expectations

Imagine yourself going to a zoo. I believe everyone has some expectations, some are checking online to see what the zoo has to offer, others have been there before and kind of know what to expect but even so, they are expecting to find new animals and some changes. Obviously a good zoo management involves all these and this zoo has all these but people are expecting even more, from the animals as well.

When you pay for a ticket, with is not exactly cheap if you have a larger family, you expect the animals to do what you want. To be out of their sleeping place, in front of the fences, so you can see them, take photos of them, or ... feed them.

Reality

Big size animals are the most popular in a zoo, especially those who are dangerous and can't be found roaming around. There are a few big and also dangerous animals in this zoo, one of which is the brown bear.

I'm always happy to see them as it's one of my favorite animals and was looking forward to see them. When I arrived to their place, I heard a well known noise that was strange as you don't expect to hear that in a zoo. You will never guess what it was, so let me tell you.

This big guy was snoring like a bear 😁 Yes, that's right, he was sleeping and snoring like a bear, this is where the expression comes from.

After a good laugh I told him it's not nice to sleep while visitors are here, this is not the way to greet them, but he (or maybe it was a she? I don't know) couldn't care less. At some point he woke up, started to roll from one side to another.

He turned to the other side and continued his afternoon siesta, without any problems.

These two were having a bath. No one can blame them as the temperature was around 32C. Imagine how hot that fur must be.

This guy, a jabali was also having a siesta, sleeping like a pig, not giving a damn about anything or anyone.

Here's another one, sleeping in the shade.

Meet Gina! This giraffe was named by the people, there has been most likely a questionnaire about the name of the giraffe and that's how she got the name. Gina wasn't interested in visitors either, she was showing us her rear end all the time, obviously as a sign of respect and appreciation.

The distance between the fence and the place you can stand as a visitor is big and in many cases I had to use zoom, which made the quality of the photo not good.

These guys were sleeping like lions 😁 One was showing us his rear end (just like Gina, the giraffe) the other was facing us visitors, but was sleeping, taking an afternoon nap.

These lions were also resting. One was watching what was going on from the shade, the other was on his back with his legs in the air, sunbathing probably, or he was too hot.

This is the place where I could have cried. One thing that makes me sad or nervous or both, when I see animals suffering or mistreated. My heart aches when I see them suffering. This Asian elephant is obviously sick. She was in the same condition as two years ago. She is rocking herself all the time. The same move all day. You know, like people suffering from mental illnesses. I was looking forward to see her and unfortunately I found her in the same condition as last time. She is obviously not well, and probably nothing can be done for her to get well.

This is the other Asian elephant of the zoo, this one seems to be fin as he (or she?) was enjoying his day. It is known elephants, and not only, protect their skin from getting sunburn with dirt, mud, whatever they can find. That is why you see them rolling in the mud and dirty all the time. This one here was throwing dirt on himself when I arrived. He did that for like 5 minutes.

Elephants are huge, compared to other animals, so they need a lot of space and in captivity that is a problem in some cases. Not here though. This is the indoor space they are kept in during the cold season. As you can see, visitors can't get close to them, you can only watch from above.

This is half of the outdoor space elephants are using during summer. It's just half as I could not capture all of it.

People vs Animals - The Big Picture

As I said in the beginning of my post, we visitors have a lot of expectations, we want animals to do what we want but we forgot they were not born to entertain us. Most of the animals you see in the zoo are wild animals. If not in a zoo, they are living free, hunting and fighting with other animals to protect their territory. They are not used to people. That's how things work in their world.

Animals that live in captivity for long, or those who are born in captivity are different as they don't have to hunt or fight with other animals. They grow up with people caring for them, so they got used to people till a certain point, but even so, they are not circus animals to perform all day, every day.

During the lockdown they had their peace and could live a quit life without being bothered by thousands of visitors every day. It is know in many zoos around the world new animal babies, cubs were born, some a rarity that people thought will never happen. This is the proof of how bothered they are by those people visiting every day. They can't speak, can't tell us they had enough and have no choice anyway but the fact that they were able to reproduce in captivity during lockdown is a proof that they need their privacy too.

I'm not saying I wasn't disappointed when I saw the only kangaroo out running inside the shelter but I understood and so should everyone. Next time you go to the zoo and are not satisfied with the animals behavior, think about how it would be for you to be watched 12 - 14 hours a day, every day.

Please feel free to check out my first three posts about this zoo and stay tuned for the next one.

Check out my latest travel posts:

• One Day At The Zoo - Part 3. - Education Matters
• One Day At The Zoo - Part 2.
• One Day At The Zoo - Part 1.
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 6.
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 5.
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 4.
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 3.
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 2.
• Haveyoubeenhere, Pinmapple And The Huge Potential We Have Here
• The Medieval Fortress - Part 1.
• The Medieval City - Part 3.
• The Medieval City - Part 2.
• The Medieval City - Part 1.
• The Blacksmith Workshop At The Dracula Daneș Domain
• The Park At Dracula Daneș Domain
• Horses And The Stable At Dracula Daneș Domain
• Horse Riding At Dracula Daneș Domain
• Carriage Museum At Dracula Daneș Domain
• Lunch At The Dracula Daneș Domain
• Kindness I encountered from strangers while traveling: Vienna, the city where everyone is helping