Tuesday, March 13, 2007

Another gorgeous day today, if a bit schizophrenic at times. Got up to 17 degrees this afternoon, but now it's back down to freezing. To add insult, there's a fresh layer of snow on the ground right now. And I just spent today trying to get my big piles of snow to melt. D'oh! That's life here in central Alberta. Clearing tomorrow afternoon, allegedly, with a high of six degrees. We'll see.

Along with the freak snowfall comes this terrible wind that's been ripping through town today. Steph and Theo went for a walk into town, and it was all she could do to push the stroller against head-on wind. Crazy stuff. I stayed in--it's probably safer.

Anyway. Today's substance is going to be a recap of our day at the zoo on Saturday. The Calgary Zoo is quite a place, let me say that. I'd forgotten what a real zoo was like, being from tree-hugging, animal-loving BC where zoos are verboten. An amazing collection of animals, really, from all over the world, including some I didn't even know existed (and whose names I can't recall at this moment).

Theo, of course, loved it. I'm not sure if he loved it more because there were animals or because there were a whole lot of other kids around. Probably a little bit of both. We started off in the Africa section; they have a baby giraffe named Richard, born back in November. Amazing to see. Well, it's amazing to see giraffes at all, let alone a baby giraffe. Really amazing stuff. We also got a look at the lions (not sure the snow in their exhibit really caught the spirit of the savannah, but hey, who's counting?), zebras, hippos, and all sorts of other creatures. They have a great gorilla area, too, with a whole bunch of them hanging around.

Let's see, I can't give you the whole play-by-play because (a) it's pretty boring--you sort of had to be there--and (b) I can't really remember all the animals we saw. Suffice it to say there were many, and there were really neat.

Here's the thing with the zoo--the one thorn among the roses, if you will (and I know you will). Maybe it's all the Zoo Tycoon I've played, and maybe it's the fact that I live in tree-hugging, animal-loving BC, but I have to say, some of the exhibits made me cringe. Take the giraffes (please)--their enclosure was a concrete floor with concrete walls. Same with the hippos. Just concrete (and water to swim in). The giraffes had some tree branches affixed to some poles so they could eat. But that's about it.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not opposed to having animals in captivity. I grew up going to the Vancouver zoo when it was in Stanley Park, and we always had annual Aquarium passes, too. I personally think that part of being vice-regents of creation means that we can domesticate animals, provided that we treat them well and use them to learn from. Nothing better expresses the handiwork and amazing creativity of God the Creator like the variety of animals in the world.

However, what I object to is treating animals like we somehow own them, and have no responsibility to make sure they're at least satisfied with their conditions. Now, maybe there's something I don't know about giraffes (just maybe) and it turns out they really are satisfied in a shelter made of concrete or one made of savannah grasses, but I'm not convinced. Show the animals some respect, is all I'm saying. Give them an environment that at least makes an effort to mimic their own, and I'm happy. I just don't think there's much concrete on the plains of Africa, that's all.

Whatever. I doubt that any of that had any credibility whatsoever, so I'm going to move on. Actually, I'm going to stop moving on and go to bed (I obviously need it). Tomorrow marks the beginning of a visit from my sister, which should be really fun. I'm not sure what impact if any it'll have on blogging time, but I hope to continue on unabated. We're taking our second trip to Calgary in four days to pick her up, so that should be fun. It's actually a really nice drive when the weather's nice, and while we're there, we get to have dinner with my cousins and, well, my cousin's kid, who I guess is my second cousin, but that's always been a fuzzy relationship to me.

Anyway, fun will ensue. And I'll be sure to give you at least something of a report tomorrow. That's all for now, but I'll see you tomorrow.