Thursday, November 19, 2009

What happens when you take an anarchist to the zoo

Last summer, me and my boyfriend visited the Korkeasaari Zoo in Helsinki. It was a hot sunny day, and all the animals were either lurking in the shadows or laying in the sun staying as still as possible. We were standing in front of a fenced area hosting some red-necked wallabies. Next to us stood a little pink-dressed girl with his father. The girl pointed at one of the animals and asked: "Dad, why is it just laying there?" "It's sleeping", answered her dad.

"But...", started my boyfriend then, "...how can we know it's sleeping? What if it's just passive and depressed? Depressed cause it has to live whole of its live in a cage?"

The dad stared at us, took the little girl's hand and walked away. As quickly as possible. I started to laugh. "In my opinion, it was a very good question", mumbled my boyfriend. And I had to agree it was. The situation just was so awkward I couldn't help laughing.

I love him cause of making questions like that. But I'm wiser now. When he comes to meet me in London, we're not going to the zoo.

2 comments:

Riikka said...

Oh, I know what you mean, the London Zoo is just horrible (and thats in a wealthy western country capital) and when I visited it years ago the tiny ape cages almost made me cry.

Riikka said...

And I think that is a very good question too. And it's a pity the dad felt the need to go away.