Cool Cats

As I mentioned in yesterday's Blog, I went to the Denver Zoo Sunday afternoon to walk around, take a few photos, and generally just enjoy the nice fall weather.  Eventually I walked over to the feline area and took photographs of some of the big cats on exhibit.  Of all the animals at the zoo Sunday afternoon, they were the ones who seemed most willing to pose for the camera, or at least glare at it.  The photo on the left is of a "leopard of the north."  The Denver Zoo distinguishes it from the "leopard of the south" by putting sun glasses on those southern leopards.

Both the "leopard of the north" and the snow leopard in the photograph on the right (also looking none too happy, I might add), are in tiny cages, and spend their days pacing up and down. Animals like this need room to run, and in my opinion, if the Denver Zoo doesn't have the space to allow them to do this, they should send them to a zoo that does.  Or at least let them run freely throughout the zoo grounds, like they do with the peacocks, although zoo officials don't seem to be too keen on the idea, for some reason.  I get the feeling that these animals blame me for their incarceration, which explains the hostile looks.  Or am I just paranoid?

To prove my point, I took a photograph of one of the four "teenage" lions ( now 17 months old) that the zoo recently acquired.  The compound for these animals is fairly large, and as a result, they appear very serene.  They have a lot of space, and can run up and down the compound at will.  Of course, all 4 of them seem to just lie around all day, barely moving at all, but at least they have the option of going for a little run.  Kind of like Denverites who never go to the mountains, since they know they can always go if they ever want to. Or suburban Chicagoans who never go into the Loop.  I still say the zoo should have some trainee poke the lions with a stick to get them moving, but nobody ever listens to me.  I wonder why?