After the floating market our taxi driver took us to a crocodile farm and zoo. I was a bit worried because zoo's in Asia have a reputation for being terrible in terms of animal well being and my experience already in Bangkok and also in Hanoi has not been good.
They sell themselves as the world's largest crocodile farm with over 100,000 crocodiles. Well, we definitely didn't see close to that amount but there were a lot and you got a birds eye view as you peered down on them as they eagerly waited food. For a small fee you could feed them meat from a stick.
There was a crocodile show where a few Thais put their hand and later head inside the crocodiles mouth. They survived, in tact, and overall it was quite fun.
The rest of the zoo was home to tigers, bears, camels, elephants, monkeys and many other animals. I would not say the zoo is a horror show but it is easy to see the animals are not at their best. Many did not look healthy and I can't stand it when they are tied up. An elephant was tied up giving it little room to move and a big tiger was chained around its neck with no room to move so tourists could go and sit and have their photo taken. A monkey wearing shorts, which seems funny, was enough for us to call it a day.
The flip side to the lax standards means you can really get up close to the animals. I can't recall ever being so close to a hippo where you could literally put your hand in it's mouth; although that would not be a very bright idea.
It was an educational experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment