An Alarming Visit to the Zoo

Mother Goose and her offspring love animals so much that we have a membership to the Brookfield Zoo and visit there quite regularly. We’ve been somewhat disappointed, however, at the lack of animals this year — cages empty, exhibits temporarily closed, animals out on loan to other zoos. We scratch our heads in puzzlement — is it a zoo or just another pretty park?

We were especially alarmed at the things we saw in July. Please try not to cry as you view these pictures from the zoo!

River otters. Notice the one with a plastic straw in his mouth. Where is the sense in that? I seldom let my own children use plastic straws for the choking danger it could pose to the drinker…

Gorilla depression is serious, but can be treated if detected early on.

Is this big fellow holding a weapon in his right hand and feet? Mother Goose is afraid, very afraid.

We moved on to the dead snow leopard exhibit. Perhaps the gorilla had already been here…

I hope your Kleenex box is close at hand.

And just when we thought we had seen all the possible trauma at the zoo, we entered the Australia house. Mother Goose was prepared for the potential of seeing bats flying loose within the dark places of this place. Nobody, including Mother Goose, was prepared for this:

Some joker had dropped an unlit cigarette on him in his demise. The dear, precious wombat… such an indignity to the little fellow. Please pass the tissues…

Dear readers, it was a harsh time, an alarming time. It was actually time to call the authorities to report the situation at the zoo. AnnaRose quickly dialed 9-1-1 and spoke to the dispatcher about these things.

“Hello? Yes, I’d like to report many problems at the zoo.”

But wait, there’s more! Tomorrow…