I’d Stay Away From The Sydney Zoo
Australia has, of course, surrendered to the Animal Uprising™, as we have reported several times in our thoughtful and measured way. We're good like that. But we seriously hope that there are still some people resisting the animals down under. If so, it would be a very, very wise move to stay away from the Sydney zoo. They have hungry bears there. Hungry, old bears.
Bethel and Cynthia, brown Kodiak Bear sisters whom zookeepers said are among the oldest in captivity, started their birthday at Sydney's zoo with a special breakfast of fresh, whole salmon.
The sisters, born in Colorado Springs in the United States in 1977, were tiny cubs when they moved to Australia. They have been in Sydney since 1985.
"They're old women now," said Louise Ginman, a senior carnivore zookeeper who has been looking after the bears for more than 10 years.
"Bethel and Cynthia used to be fairly excitable," she said. "They would occasionally be very impatient with us, forcefully ask for their food, now they are gentle old ladies. They hand-feed with us really nicely, now they are really a pleasure to work with, their manners are wonderful."
In our careful, reasonable and measured way we will point out that hand-feeding a Kodiak bear involves just that - hands. The huge predators are very fond of hands. They are like potato chips for bears. So unless you want to be a part of the birthday celebrations - or leave part of yourself at the party - it would be best to keep your distance.
Aren't you glad you come here for all the important information?
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By wheels, Friday, 19 January , 2007 @ 4:43 pm
It’s not just Sydney. The National Zoo and Aquarium in Canberra also allows you to place yourself in proximity with large carnivores.
When I was there last April, besides their “Meet a Cheetah” program, they had a “hand-feed a bear” program in which, they said, you could dip your hand in honey so that a bear could then lick it clean.
Clean of honey - fine. Clean down to the bone - not. I didn’t participate, although I did hold a wombat on my lap at a different animal park.