Animal encounters

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I assume many of you are anjmal lovers, have any of you had private 1on1 interaction experiences?

The last 3 years for my birthday we've petted and fed the meerkats at London zoo

Petted and fed the capybara at Chessington and this year had some interaction with the sea lions

All of whom have been utterly lovely and makes me want to have them all for myself (unrealistic of course)

We are saving up now as we want to go on safari in Africa and see if we can do similar things there

Oh capybaras are amazing! It was my non-verbal pupil who introduced me to this amazing animal via YouTube videos. When you see them walking around the family home with the pet dog, just hanging out, it’s incredible! They’re like a guinea pig version of Gulliver in the Land of Lilliput. They look like they’ve taken a sip of ‘Growing Potion’. Beautiful! What were they like in person?

And meerkats are just the best. They were my dad’s favourite animals. The meerkats at Battersea zoo are amazing.

Capybara and a family dog. ❤️

A lot of those encounters on Safari are very unethical, with animals bred for baby lion experiences then killed when they are too big to be controllable.

www.thecrowdedplanet.com/5-animal-activities-avoid-south-africa-responsible-alternatives/

Please be careful about the ethics of this.
Many places that offer 1:1 experiences abroad are focused on the experience of the visitor rather than the animal.

For an obvious example many of the tiger/elephant sanctuarys abroad actually breed their own animals in to a less than ideal conditions captivity, (rather than just rescue ex circus, working etc as they report), and use a variety of methods to get them to interact with the public (including drugging, and general nastiness). Being so familiar with humans means they have no chance of being reintroduced back to the wild (which makes sense for the genuine rescued animals, but not for the others these sanctuarys breed)

Places in africa etc should be focused on reintroducing wild animals. Wild animals should have no business in becoming used to humans as this places them substantially at risk. They should rightly be scared of humans, and something had gone massively wrong if they are accepting interactions from an untrained, human tourist.

Please know that the best thing is always to look from a distance and respect the natural instincts

Please think of it in terms of why the organisation and animal are allowing you to do this.

For example i see a lot of work being advertised where you can go pay to be volunteer as part of a turtle patrol/or wildlife survey for a couple of weeks. This so they can get the funding, organisers usually agree that it would be much better to use local people, giving local people jobs and training and money back to the area, and that it would be miles better if people were trained. They dont really need untrained british people (usually young people or people with zero experience) to come and do it, but what they do need is their money to continue the project. They weigh it up and decide that people wont fund unless they can feel involved, so sacrifice the other bits. Its the same when zoos let you be a keeper for a day etc, obviously they know the animals would have better care from keepers and it would be more efficient from keepers but they need the money that people will pay.

I used to live in a popular country to do aid work, and there was a place near me where people would come out and "build or paint things". Inevitably people you wouldnt let build your house in the uk but for some reason thought that being abroad meant they were now qualified. The charity would then knock it down and the next group would 're paint it and so on as they needed the money much more than the painting however their was minimal harm done

You need to be sure you are funding what you think you are funding. With the baby lion example someone gave, they will market it as helping out with their baby lions etc, they of course wont mention the rest. It will be up to you to explore if youre funding a legit programme (of which their are many) or one which breeds animals specifically for this experiences, or is keeping animals in captivity, poor states or unethically so people have things to visit and play with (which their are also many more of). Think critically of why are there always baby lions? Why can i do this if i wouldnt be able to else where (eg if the uk deem you should be trained, why isnt that the case here?), What happens after i leave?

Unfortunately tour providers like thomas cook etc dont do that level of homework and have recommend sanctuarys that are completely horrendous and inexcusable, so you'll need it yourself

The capybara were amazing, so gentle and their fur was very coarse very similar to the meerkats fur which was coarse but a little bit soft,

Some pics are below

The pics are not uploading I don't know why

For those mentioning unethical places I am aware of these and maybe it would be just best to do a safari and see them in their natural habitat

We fed giraffes at an animal park In Fuerteventura. Highlight of the trip. Gorgeous creatures, so gentle too.

Pics below

The article posted is a good one, and explains things much more eloquently than i can!

It doesnt have to mean you dont do anything with animals, but it might mean touching or interacting closely with anything that is supposed to be wild is out.

Safari can be absolutely beautiful, i used to live near a safari park which didnt have apex predators so you could cycle round it. It remains the most extraordinary thing i have ever had the privilege to do. I miss it terribly

Natural habitat is always best, and the money you pay will help secure that habitat for the animals and animals to come. Theres nothing better than seing a lion, just being a lion.

Just a few more

I'm sorry but this is awful. The poor bloody things shouldn't even be in captivity let alone having people slobbering all over them. Yuk.

Great pics. I envy you the capybaras. I think it's best just to stick with the Safari and I hope that you have a wonderful time.

Squashyhat

I agree they shouldn't be in captivity but the poachers and the people who destroy habitats out there are the ones to blame for the loss of species and if being in a zoo or wildlife park means that these species can flourish then that's the next best thing

Once in Brazil a hummingbird landed right next to me.

Beautiful bird!

Its woth noting that capybara are on the least of concern regarding conservation status, as are meerkats. Im not very good at sealions but id assume that's a Californian? If so once again they arent endangered (of least concern)

Its about being able to exhibit natural behaviour and particularly for things like sealions, this is not allowed in captivity and they are trained to interact with visitors/perform shows instead. This is not natural behaviour for them (to interact with humans like this, not to show fear etc) , and means there is no end goal of release, that they will remain having to interact with visitors, as will all their children

Just go to Afr7ca and see them in the wild that is a priviledge (sp) the encounters are usually baby wild animals you pet and imo is unethical nobody needs to be petting a baby lion,

I held a giant cockroach at longleat not quite a cute giant rodent but it was fascinating.

UK zoos are generally ethical but I’d be careful and do a lot of research on zoos abroad OP.

This isn’t me saying that all zoos abroad are unethical, not at all. It’s just that many countries don’t have the same laws as us.

I know of a wildlife park in Kent that has successfully started chimps or gorillas to go back in the wild in Africa i say wild but I think it's a massive protected reserve where the animals are left alone to regain their wild instincts

The aspinall foundation send gorrilas back to the wild well it is a release site where they monitor them it works well apparently.

When I took dd to the farm an emu had chicks. We were cooing over them, as you do. Anyway we hadn't noticed another one who was a few feet away from his brother and sisters, so. Mummy emu does no more than walks over to him and points to him with her beak, almost as if to say "look at my other baby"
I was crying. Baby animals are just delicious though, aren't they.

I love the way baby elephants are always smiling. You can see the mischief in their eyes. Just like little kids

I wouldn't get involved in any 'encounter' on safari. Wait until the kids are older, do the safari so they can enjoy it (long days, not comfy journeys).

This is one of my favourites. Friends and I rented a bothy in the Scottish Highlands for a few days, and every morning and evening this little guy would wander up to the living room window looking all interested and hopeful. I’m guessing he’d learned that visitors often put food out for a cute face 🙂