As I mentioned in yesterday's blog post, I went to the Denver Zoo this past Wednesday afternoon to take a few photographs. And walking around the grounds, I noticed a number of "red flags" concerning the animals, that zoo officials should address. For one thing, when any of the other mandrills approach mother Kumani and Akali, her baby daughter, she goes into the stance seen in the photograph on the left. Are the other mandrills, including father Jelani, that threatening, or is she simply being too overprotective? Either way, the zoo social worker needs to talk with her.
Another concerning issue is that Cerah, the 2 year old orangutan, and daughter of mother Nias and father Berani, seems to be hitting the bottle pretty early these days, as seen in the photograph on the right. Granted, Cerah has had a lot of trama in her short life. Her mother Nias passed away last December at the age of 32. Her father, Berani, has stepped up to raise the youngster, but it is always a struggle for a single father. He can't be around all the time, and might not even be aware of the problem. Definitely another issue for the zoo social worker to address.
Finally, one look at the hyena in the photograph on the left tells you that it is dealing with severe depression. As I have said many times before, being locked up for life at the zoo is a very hard thing for many animals to deal with. I have suggested that a program be started to let zoo visitors take some of these animals home for the weekend, where they can play with the kids, and get a break from their monotonous routine. Of course, zoo officials refuse to do this, thinking that taking a hyena, or any other animal, home for a visit might cause problems, and possible lawsuits, although personally, I think their concerns are misplaced. In any case, the zoo's animal psychiatrist needs to deal with this problem immediately. Perhaps anti-depressants will work. And as usual, I am available for consultation 24/7.
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