bird sanctuary
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thirty years have passed by since the last time i went to a zoo..............
it was 1988, i was twenty and i lived in London.........
money was always scarce and by that time the London zoo was an opportunity to do something different for just a few quids....
so there i went with my spanish friend pilar and my hindu friend padmini...................
the experience was shocking........the London zoo still had some victorian air (and premises) and the animals did not seem to live in the best conditions...............
i still remember one of the giraffes as if it was today..........she was locked in a huge room which had a glass wall...............no matter how huge that room looked, the giraffe looked much hugger and in need of so much space............i still remember the feeling of anguish and distress in her eyes........
i also remember the polar bears and the penguins..............London was a really cold city thirty years ago.......much colder than it is today.......but the last thing that i expected to see there were polar species strutting along a wite-painted cement pavement meant to imitate snow.............
when we left the zoo i promised myself that i would never set foot in a zoo ever again..............
i fulfilled this promise till last friday, when i had to go to the wildlife park in Murcia with my students............a school visit with educational purposes...........organised by the department of english and the department of science.................
i felt really anxious
and scared...................
those nasty memories did not stop hammering inside my head..............
but.................
actually..................
the experience was kind of pleasant...............
in spite of bars, fishnets and glass walls, i could feel that this kind of places have changed a lot............for better........their objective is pretty educational........and the conditions for decent 'wildlife' seem to be ok................
but...................
actually.................
in spite of all this, i do not think i want to repeat the visit next year.................
.
thirty years have passed by since the last time i went to a zoo..............
it was 1988, i was twenty and i lived in London.........
money was always scarce and by that time the London zoo was an opportunity to do something different for just a few quids....
so there i went with my spanish friend pilar and my hindu friend padmini...................
the experience was shocking........the London zoo still had some victorian air (and premises) and the animals did not seem to live in the best conditions...............
i still remember one of the giraffes as if it was today..........she was locked in a huge room which had a glass wall...............no matter how huge that room looked, the giraffe looked much hugger and in need of so much space............i still remember the feeling of anguish and distress in her eyes........
i also remember the polar bears and the penguins..............London was a really cold city thirty years ago.......much colder than it is today.......but the last thing that i expected to see there were polar species strutting along a wite-painted cement pavement meant to imitate snow.............
when we left the zoo i promised myself that i would never set foot in a zoo ever again..............
i fulfilled this promise till last friday, when i had to go to the wildlife park in Murcia with my students............a school visit with educational purposes...........organised by the department of english and the department of science.................
i felt really anxious
and scared...................
those nasty memories did not stop hammering inside my head..............
but.................
actually..................
the experience was kind of pleasant...............
in spite of bars, fishnets and glass walls, i could feel that this kind of places have changed a lot............for better........their objective is pretty educational........and the conditions for decent 'wildlife' seem to be ok................
but...................
actually.................
in spite of all this, i do not think i want to repeat the visit next year.................
.