Not Everyone's Mama

UPDATE – Please take a moment to read the post where Blank Park Zoo has addressed the concerns I had regarding some of the animals.

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I did it – as Christiano says.  I managed to take all 4 kids to the zoo and no calamities struck.  It was fun and everyone stayed with me.

I have a love/hate relationship with zoos though.  I don’t go to circuses because of the mistreatment of the animals.  I’ve been told that I’m making my children miss out on something fun, a chance to see animals in a way you don’t normally see them, but I just can’t get past some of the things that happen to the animals involved with circuses.  That being said, I’ve always been torn 2 ways with the zoos.  I love them because of the conservation programs, because of the fact that the kids get to see animals they never would ordinarily see, and hopefully as they learn about them, they’ll want to get involved, or at the very least take a stand for the endangered ones.  I’m an animal lover through and through, I’m just allergic to most of them.

The hate part comes when I see animals in cages that should be roaming the jungles and the cages don’t seem big enough for them, when the contents of the cages seem run down and not very useful to the animals.  When I don’t feel like the animals have enough stimulation.  The list goes on and on.

So while we had fun, there were some animals at the zoo that my heart just went out to.  Specifically the birds caught my attention.  (You know how much I love birds.)

I’ll comment on it and I go through my pics.

Alyce feeding a budgie.

Me feeding budgies as Nano looks on in awe at all of the budgies around us.  Just like at home, the budgies thought the perfect place to perch was on his head.  And just like at home, he looked a little concerned as he turned to me with wide eyes, saying, mom!  mom!  mom!, pointing at his head.

Some of the many budgies in the feed a budgie area.

When we walked in, I was amazed.  The budgies fly right to you.  They climb all over you to get to the food you have.  I asked the guy inside about it.  I said, I’ve worked with my budgies for months and they’ll take millet from me, but they won’t step up or perch on me in any way.  He said they bribe theirs with sugar.  That caught my attention.  Most people who own parrots (yes, little parakeets are in that group) know that the birds should not have a lot of sugar.  They can’t digest it like we do.  I asked him what was in the food we were giving them.  I could see seeds, but what else?  Corn syrup and a little melon.

The zoo’s website says this -

The seed mix on the feeding sticks is a nutritionally complete diet for the birds, making it not only a fun experience for Zoo guests but a healthy meal for the parakeets.

So, they get the seed mix on the stick and the big bowl of millet off to the side.  Where are the veggies, the fruits, the other grains that they need?  Budgies (parrots in general) should never be fed an all seed diet.  Seeds should make up no more than 30% of their diet (that’s the highest figure I’ve heard used) and millet should be a treat, not a meal.  In fact, here is what the Association of Avian Veterinarians recommend-

50% cooked beans, whole wheat bread, cooked rice, pasta, and seed
45% fresh broccoli, carrots, yams, spinach, dandelion greens, other green/orange fruits and veggies
5% eggs, tuna packed in water, well cooked meat

Plus, some of the budgies had spots where feathers had been plucked.  Plucking is not a healthy behavior.  When the bird does it to itself, it’s a sign of stress and/or an unhealthy bird that needs medical treatment.  When other birds do it, it’s an aggressive behavior.  In an aviary, the pluckee can’t escape the plucker as easily as if they were in the wild.  You should always separate the pluckers from the pluckees.

Alright, so the budgies upset me.  Let’s see the rest of the zoo.

Gorgeous gorgeous bald eagle!  Their feathers are so pretty!  There were 3 in this enclosure.  And it didn’t look big enough to me, plus, seeing our national symbol locked up behind bars just made me sad.  I know sometimes the bald eagles at the zoos are special needs birds who have been injured and wouldn’t be able to survive in the wild.  I really hope this is one that was saved and not one that could have survived on it’s own.

Nano – next time we go to the zoo, I’m taking the single stroller.  Alyce walked the whole way yesterday.  This picture is before I got the kids all push up popsicles.  Red/green/orange combo one.  He was so pretty.  After the zoo we went and ate at Pato’s work.  Pato made me take Christino’s onsie off and just run around in shorts and shoes.  He was a mess!

Katiana, Alyce, and Jordan in front of the elephant sprinkler.  Speaking of elephants, the elephants, bears, and rhinos seemed to have gone missing.  I’m wondering if they were in the area that was being remodeled?

The ostriches

A cute “little” giraffe

The sea lions seemed happy.

The lions – their enclosure never seems big enough compared to what they have in the jungle.  Plus, I wanted to brush the lion’s mane, but I like my hands attached to my body.

Hello Mr Camel!

Jordan and Kat on a camel ride.  Jordan said it was painful on his guy parts.  He was wondering how the guys in the middle east were able to ride camels all the time?

Sea horses

American bullfrog – ugly little thing, but I love the picture!

Egyptian fruit bats

a cayman

A very big fish – those always freak me out

Scarlet macaws – they made me sad too.  Their enclosure just didn’t seem big enough and birds need light.  The light you see in this picture is from my flash.  They need the light for health reasons and because they can’t see in color like we do without bright light.  They need that to be able to see well.  They need more light than we do to see well.  I would love to see them in a huge outdoor aviary.  I know at Henry Doorly, they have a huge area that looks just like a forest, it’s gigantic, the birds have room to fly, to spread their wings, to get some good exercise.

The one macaw without the yellow, I was told is a Mexican scarlet macaw, they are rare in the US and endangered in the wild.  See, conservation is good at the zoo.

The flamingos

Then my battery died in my camera.

See my love/hate relationship?  On a bird board that I am a member of, they told me to voice my concerns to the zoo, that everything I am concerned about is legitimate, but I need to get all the information that I know ready so I have a solid case to show them.  My ex-husband said they’ll probably kick me out of the zoo.

I just wish our local zoo was bigger to give the animals more room.  It takes a total of 2 1/2 hours to walk through it.  Henry Doorly is an all day excursion.  I don’t know if I’m just looking back with fondness or if their enclosures are really that much better.  I shall soon find out, we’re going there tomorrow.  I have my camera all charged up this time, though I think we’re going to Family Fun Night at our zoo tonight, so I better recharge it when I get home.  Yes, I did it.  I bought a membership yesterday.  That was before I saw the birds.  I figure the year long membership is $89.  When the 6 of us go to the zoo it is $39.75 for admission.  With the membership, not only can we visit the zoo, but Night Eyes is discounted (Halloween) plus admission to other zoos are either free or 1/2 price.  That’s a $23 savings tomorrow in Omaha.  Plus, maybe the money from my membership will help the birds.

On top of that, I won’t need to worry about fat burner side effects, I’ll just walk that chub right off of me.

Now that I’ve been a total downer, I’m going to head off and empty the dishwasher and get Jordan packed to go to his dad’s.

Have a great day!

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