Lions on the Loose in Sydney
Did you know that two years ago five lions escaped this zoo? The father and four of his kids made a hole in the fence and squeezed out. You can see the video online. The “roar and snore” crowd, that’s people sleeping in tents at the zoo (you can do that), were awoken at 6:30 am by zoo staff charging into their tents screaming, “Get out! Leave your stuff and get out! It’s a code one!” Code one sounds pretty serious. I mean it is one, not two or three.
After a few hours and after the mother lion and zoo staff calling to the kids (and dad) to come home, they did! The escapees had been calmly inspecting the perimeter of their enclosure and finally decided to come back on their own. I love that. I think that’s great. There was just one young punk who didn’t want to go home so he was shot and killed. No, I’m joking. They tranquilized him, of course, and carried him home on a stretcher. Only one daughter stayed with the mother.
Aquatic Pit Bull
We almost witnessed a tragedy at the Miniature Hippo Home. The baby was in the water, up against the glass, trying to get out of the water. He would climb up the underwater rock ledge, get to the top, take a breath and then float back down again. The mother swam over, brushed his body and turned away to lead him out of the water. After a minute, he finally felt his way along the rocks until he found the spot he could climb up.
Which he did and promptly sat half in and half out of the water with his eyes half closed trying to recoup from his near death by drowning. The mother swam over to the spot where he had the difficulty, to investigate, and then swam away. I told Maureen that the baby looked like an aquatic pit bull.
Highlight of the Sydney Zoo Trip
While walking through the zoo we were suddenly in the middle of a kangaroo encampment and one of them came bounding toward us. He was springing up to us. It was really funny. Just as it looked as if he would jump on top of us, he turned and sprung over to his friends. They are big animals.
Elephants
There were two standing side by side touching with their enormous backs to us. Eventually, the smaller one slowly shuffled over to a lookout, away from us. She stood gazing at the Sydney skyline. The bigger one rocked side to side on his front feet, then leaned his forehead and nose on a 6×8 holding up the shelter. He stayed like that. Then the smaller one moved off toward the mud and the bigger one followed. They never faced us or looked at us. They broke my heart.
Sweet Pair
We encountered my favorite animals at the elephants who are also my favorite animals. It was a pair of people. The man was middle aged, big-bellied, and wore a hat that an Aussie would wear.
He had strong features, a good face. It looked honest and open; the salt of the earth comes to mind. His clothes were faded and he looked like he could’ve been from a farm or the country. He was talking to a zookeeper about a show that was cancelled. The zookeeper was sorry about that and tried to interest them in something else at the zoo. He was with a – at first I thought it was a boy, but I saw them again later and realized it was a girl.
Gold Streaked Runners
She was about 13, but it was hard to tell because she was mentally handicapped somehow. It wasn’t Downs Syndrome. She looked fine except when she was asked a question. She smiled slightly and looked a little lost. Her hair was haystack blonde collar length. She was wearing loose, worn, light colored pants. And on her feet she wore a new pair of running shoes with a bright gold streak along the side of the heel. I saw them later at the Lowland Gorillas and the man said to her, “Had enough?” She turned to look at him, blinked, half smiled and turned back to the Gorillas where they stood a few minutes more.
As we left, a tall man in the back was looking at me. I realized that he must’ve been watching me watch them. We exited the Gorilla camp and I heard the man talking to a woman on the phone. I imagine them as her grandparents. He is giving her a nice day at the zoo, a break from the routine. Maybe she lives in an institution, or maybe the grandfather is helping out his son or daughter. Whatever the situation, their interaction was gentle and kind. It was a balm to my senses. They looked like a really sweet pair.
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