Why the introspective start to the blog ? Well, given it is a Sunday and my one day off for the week I was struggling to think of things to do when it struck me that I had driven past the Naples Zoo countless times enroute to the flying school. Which animals would it hold I thought and so on another warm cloudless Florida day with the temperature a pleasant 27 degrees I ventured downtown to find out. This thought process in itself gives you an insight to the not so exciting make up of Naples. I mean seriously. There can't be much to a town if going to the zoo by yourself is one of the last entertaining things you can think of doing. I should have given myself a left uppercut for even entertaining the idea and stayed at home to watch some sport. However I did not and off I ventured.
Here is quick synopsis of what I saw. As you can imagine there is an alligator enclosure. Sadly also a collection of big cats who all looked a long way from home and very very bored. Lion and Lioness , Bengal Tigers x 3, American Cougars x 3, Black Bears x 2, Giraffe x 6, alligators x a gazzillion, primates x alot, Hyena x 2 and lo behold over in ''Kangaroo Corner'' was a lazy looking Skippy looking very bemused by the attention it was getting. 60 minutes is all it took before I found myself bored and so I headed back home to my own gated community. The irony of that did not pass me by.
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| Two very bored looking big cats |
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| One very tall and bored looking Giraffe |
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| Skippy and rather industrially sized set of ...... |
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| A rather regal looking Bengal Tiger |
Gated communities. Now there is a subject that I have had plenty of time to think about this last week or so since I moved into one. Below are two snapshots that give you an insight
As far as I can ascertain there are two types of gated communities. There is the stock standard one as per above where I'm residing with automatic gates and then there is the gated community with security manned gates where you basically have to carry a passport to gain entry. So to mine. Every house is the same colour, same design, with the same facade, and the same exterior lights. But for planting an American flag on your porch you are not allowed to change the external makeup of your house in any way shape or form. Entering these ''communities'' gives you the impression you have just walked onto one of those sets for a TV series like Melrose Place. As far as I can ascertain the average age of resident here is 102 (not a typo), I have yet to see a child and the car of choice is a Cadillac. I find it somewhat bemusing that despite the imposing looking gates the entire complex is surrounded by a 7 foot hedge. Now this hedge does not mask a fence and nor does it provide an impenetrable barrier. This I discovered last night when staggering home I couldn't be arsed walking around to the gates so I simply walked through the hedge. So let me get this right. Surround yourself with gates to give the impression of security and yet enable any would be burglar or car thief direct access through the hedge. Whatsmore let's assist that car thief by making the exit gates open automatically when a car approaches. It seems to me to be almost representative of American society as a whole today. All facade, no solidity.
Living in these communities comes with a whole set of rules and regulations you must abide by and the list is long believe you me. I just don't get it. If you moved here from a large house in the midwest why would you give up that space to live in such close quarters with someone that you can hear what they are watching on TV and smell what they are cooking. On the other hand if you are coming down here to live from a major sized city where your life has been spent in an apartment why wouldn't you buy somewhere with space of which there is plenty down here and very affordable.
Gated communities ? Not for me.
There's a name for people who sneak around taking photos of unsuspecting animal's genitals.
ReplyDeleteZoos are indefensible on the whole, mate.
And penning huge, wild animals simply to allow economically disadvantaged people to see them in real life is a poor excuse for torturing these creatures.
A zoo should only exhibit animals which it can reasonable display in close approximation of their natural habitat. Small mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, certain marine creatures...but not large African herbivores and carnivores.
It's nothing but savagery to keep animals that need huge amounts of space locked up in captivity for our amusement...
I think we are in agreement there Fingers. Now if we could get the Chinese to stop thinking that rhino horn, giraffe toes, and lion bladder help increase erectile functionality then perhaps these great beasts would stand a better chance in their own habitat.
ReplyDeleteSadly a lot of these animals are so endangered that zoos are the only way to guarantee they'll avoid extinction. It's true though, looking at a lion in a confined space just aint right.
ReplyDeleteAs for gated Florida communities... SHOOT ME NOW!