PERSPECTIVE OF ZOOLOGICAL PARKS BY A WILDLIFE LOVER
I was lucky to have been born to a family who loves and respects nature and all its wildlife. This fascination for wildlife reached its zenith with me and my cousins. Some of them became members of different animal clubs and I inclined more on the botanical and wildlife side. Zoological parks heightened my interest with animals and often times I escape to these sanctuaries to revive my spirit and refresh my clogged brain.
The Manila Zoological & Botanical Garden is the country’s first and oldest zoo which was opened to the public on July 25, 1959. I was in the 2nd grade (way back 1988) when I first entered this grand sanctuary. There were giraffes, rhinoceri, and other big animals then. Years of political unrest and economic instability affected the welfare of the zoo but at the turn of the millennium improvements were made.
Cages and habitats of animals were made more natural, there was an increase of volunteers to care for the animals who weren’t after any financial gain but just pure love for the animal they cherished; food and financial support from both the public and private sectors. This year (2011), I saw the animals being well-fed with fresh foods. The administration really made changes after so much criticism from the people and all these improvements are paying off.
The improved facilities got concrete log-like benches where one could take a rest from walking around the 5 hectare facility, rustic arches, and age-old gnarled Balete trunks that effectively make the walking feel like forest even jungle-like! Another improvement is the tagging of trees identifying the scientific and common names of each species and the large colourful “name tags” of animals enhanced further by pictures and stating the origin and some trivia regarding the animals. This way, you’ll never get lost trying to get acquainted with them although the scientific names are delightful tongue-twisters!
Manila Zoo’s Kinder Zoo was a real close encounter to wildlife! Even grown ups are welcome. I don’t mind paying an extra entrance fee as long as I got to feel some of the friendlier animals right in to my skin. Macaws, African Gray Parrots, Ecletus Parrots, Pythons, a baby Philippine Crocodile, a diapered baby Gibbon, and Indonesian Lorries are the main draws which perches not only into your hands but even to your shoulders and walking into your head! The Sulcata tortoises can give you a ride on its massive back.
When people have the firsthand feel of interacting with wildlife, they gain more respect for these animals and will not anymore succumb to the old thought that they should hurt the animals first before they hurt people. Their belief that every animal is a potential threat or killer will also turn positively that they can be warm and cuddly.
Next, the Manila Ocean Park- one of the newest wildlife sanctuaries in the Philippines. It opened on 1st March, 2008. The exotic thing about this park is that for the very first time Filipinos in the National Capital Region got to see creatures from the deep and begin appreciating while learning about them.
The curved tunnel which makes you feel you’re actually in the ocean deep is the largest of its kind being 220 degrees in curvature, while the other curved tunnels of our neighbouring Asian countries (China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong, etc.) are of the 180 degrees standard curvature!
It’s a good thing that almost all the ocean and sea creatures of the MOP were gathered from the various marine waters of Manila’s immediate provinces while others from farther provincial seas. As such, the animals will have lesser stress and could be cared for with much ease because they are FILIPINOS!
Manila Ocean Park’s Oceanarium is divided into 7 sections: Agos, Bahura, Laot, Buhay na Karagatan, Kalaliman, Pagi, and Pating which showcases Philippine marine life in different ocean depths and conditions.
The jellyfishes were said to have been collected just around Manila Bay and adjacent waters and you’ll be amazed at how beautiful they are once you see them dancing under coloured lights. The Dr. Fish section is a stress-relieving ‘though a little bit tickling must for all Filipinos who are avid walkers. I’ve been taking this “spa” and saw even foreigners enjoy and burst into laughter as the “fish doctors” “cure” you. Bottle-feeding the kois near the entrance of the Oceanarium is a fun activity as well as holding a starfish which will tell you they have a leathery skin texture when alive.
The latest attraction are the sea lions and one will leave the show wondering how so many tricks were taught to these “galunggong”-scented friendly marine mammals. Although picture-taking with them is quite expensive but yet for an once-in-a-lifetime experience it’s well worth it! I still can’t forget when the sea lion (named Ara, if I can reckon well) kissed me as our picture was being taken-wet, warm, and smelled of galunggong their food!!
Perhaps the MOP ignited the recent boom in diving and sea activities around the Philippines particularly during summer or vacation time.
The latest attraction is the “Trails to Antarctica” which opened in November 5, 2011. This is all about Penguins and the life in the frigid south. However, the Humboldt penguins (Spheniscus humboldtii) are not natives of Antarctica but rather of the eastern coast of South America from Peru to Chile-only two countries have them. They are the most endangered species of penguins in the world too! Their habitat has a more tolerable climate which averages 15 degrees Celsius so they’re really doing well in their air conditioned abode here in the Philippines. There are around a dozen penguins brought here to the Philippines from Germany.
Trails to Antarctica also features the Slide O’ Fun which is a toboggan-like long, gentle slide that wouldn’t make your heart jump out but give you all the fun and the Winter Village where you get the experience of being in a temperate country in the winter season. The temperature here is maintained at -15˚Celsius. The employees are lending jackets and they are courteous too. You can’t use your digicams or SLR’s here as the temperature can ruin your gadgets. You’re only allowed a maximum of 5 minutes inside the Winter Village but I stayed inside 15 minutes wow!!
The last grand zoological park of the Philippines I visited was perhaps the largest-at 7.5 hectares of land housing the largest collection of terrestrial and aerial animals endemic, indigenous, and foreign-Avilon Zoo!
Since the entrance fee is the highest of the various wildlife parks I’ve been in the NCR, I needed some financial preparations and because there were two of them!! The main Avilon Zoo was in Montalban and the other, Ark Avilon, was inside Tiendesitas, Pasig City.
I first visited Ark Avilon only last year (2010). I didn’t have the slightest idea of entering knowing the entrance fee so I was looking at the animals at the pre-entrance when a family entered the zoo and I was star-struck because of the rustic and quaint style inside which was teeming with animals.
Automatically I paid the entrance fee and once inside I didn’t left one corner unchecked! I kept the bird keeper busy by taking pictures of me while holding each and every cuddly bird. For the first time I was able to experience sitting beside a White-breasted Sea Eagle, touched its feathers and learn that they have a sulphur-like smell! The orangutan they have is the best perfumed animal I’ve ever known-the fragrance is of a popular brand of human perfume that I literally embraced him after I have my picture with it.
There were animals I saw for the very first time-black-eared marmosets, cougars, sun bears, the various endemic and foreign monitor lizards which made me learn more about them, the different snakes primarily of tropical America, hornbills, and a mating pair of Sulcata tortoises!
The following year I visited Avilon Zoo-Rodriguez (Montalban), Rizal. I was there the moment it opened at 8 am and good thing I was an “early bird” because it took me until 3pm just to cover the whole area while taking pictures of all the animals I could.
Avilon-Montalban, as I prefer to call it, was a power house of rare animals. There were fennecs which I only read from a story book, a clouded leopard that seem to be pregnant, Aldabra tortoises, pink carabaos and the only albino Philippine Macaque I know of!!! Also there were hyenas! If there are animals that would tire your patience of waiting for them to be seen, then those are the pygmy hippos, capybaras, and African lions that never showed themselves to me. The birds were so plenty that I believe they constitute the majority of the species of the animals found at Avilon-Montalban. My favourite was a small-“adarna”-like bird due to its very long tail feathers almost twice the length of its body-the Wydah.
As turtles and tortoises were my favourite animals, I stayed the longest at “Patio Tortuga”. There was even a slothful turtle that had grasses growing on its back! However, the turtle & tortoise tanks were so muddy and blurred that I missed the chance of knowing every species Avilon has. There weren’t also that much name tagging done on that section and I believe much improvement is needed at the “Patio Tortuga” or else fewer people will appreciate and learn about them.
There was a gigantic orangutan who had a man-made concrete island hut all to itself while nearby is the new abode of around 5 species of gibbons that are still off-limits to the public but whose howls do certainly make you feel you’re deep inside continental Southeast Asian forests.
A veterinary school is under construction inside Avilon Zoo, a testament to the commitment of serving wildlife better as well as successfully breeding its animals most especially Gray’s Monitor Lizard (Varanus olivaceus), an endemic monitor lizard of the Phlippines.
These wildlife parks might be the last places where endangered animals both native and foreign could exist and breed away from the threats of their original habitats. Thus, they have the responsibility to study, breed, and introduce their progenies back to their places of origin for each animal occupies a niche in their native environment that only they have the ability of fulfilling.
Criticisms may never cease but these same zoos must prove that they are vanguards of wildlife and must educate people of their works and their successes that all maybe enlightened that they are doing a very crucial function and not just displaying these animals for granted. The entrance fees and other payments we spend on zoos reflect the welfare of the animals as these are sources from which animal food, medicines, wages of zoo staff, and other essentials come from. Let us enjoy wildlife while watching carefully how they develop so that we can rest assure they will benefit the most.
