Lincoln's Children Zoo

It is a beautiful early fall day in Lincoln, the sky is clear and there is a gentle breeze carrying a slight smell of flowers and feces. Yes, that’s right, the smell of feces is in the air, the first sign that you are at a zoo. By the time I pass through the entrance, the smell is becoming overwhelming and there is not an animal in sight yet. The first thing that I notice once inside the zoo is a bulletin board announcing seal performances at 11 and 3 and encouraging children to have their birthday parties at the zoo and “party with the animals.” This area is surrounded by a wall of trees and other plants, one would hardly know that they were at a zoo if not for the pervading odor of animals. Walking past this I catch my first glance of some of the animals over the line of trees.
Before I get close to these animals I am hit by an array of sounds, the bleating of goats as wells as shrieks and giggles from the children petting them. The first animals that I notice are the goats in the petting zoo and they seem to notice me as well, because as soon as I come near them they jump onto the fence, practically begging me to feed them. One of my friends had gotten some goat feed and a feeding frenzy ensued. I took some of the food and offered it to the goats in a less crowded part of the area, but a large goat followed m e over and looked ready to fight the others for the small morsels of food that I was offering. I soon ran out of food, but the goats did not seem to notice and continued to crowd the fence whenever someone got close to it, whether or not that person had food.
After the goats begin to realize that I have no food to offer them they move to another part of the enclosure, hoping someone else will have something that they can share. Free of this distraction I take my time to observe the goats’ habitat. There are almost twenty goats in this one area and there are also, I notice for the first time, several llamas and other horned animals that I do not recognize. The llamas are isolated from the goats in a smaller section of the petting zoo and they appear somewhat board with their surroundings and are a lot less eager to get near the visitors than the goats are.
Visiting the petting zoo was a fun experience for me because it was always my favorite section of the zoo when I was younger. I always enjoyed feeding the animals and seeing them fight each other, jostling for my attention and the food that I had to give them. Looking back, I realize that it is somewhat sad how domesticated and dependent on humans some of the animals in the zoo have become. You could offer these goats anything and they would eat it, and this is something that many little kids might do. This can harm the animals health and make them very ill.
The experience of feeding these goats reminded me of an area in the Omaha zoo that used to be one of my favorite to see, but as I got older my opinion of it changed drastically. There is a large pond with a bridge over it where my family would always stop to feed the fish in the pond. Just like at the petting zoo in Lincoln, you could purchase food to feed to the fish, but often people would just throw anything over the bridge, watching it drop to the smooth water below. As soon as the object hit the water there would be 25 fish fighting each other for a bite. This used to amuse me, seeing the fish swim through the water and each other, competing for a small piece of food, but I realized that it was very dangerous for these animal to behave like this. It is not normal for fish to fight for unknown bits dropped from above them and it is not natural for goats to behave like that either, but being in an unnatural environment has destroyed their natural instincts.
I have wonderful childhood memories of visiting the zoo with my family and friends, but as an adult, I have realized that zoos are not the wonderful places that I always thought they were after visiting them. Many zoos, such as the Lincoln Children’s Zoo do not have proper habitats for their animals or the animals are not stimulated and they lose their natural characteristics and instincts. Some of the worst habitats at the Lincoln zoo were in the indoor area, which housed a lot of the smaller animals. What I noticed first about this building was a very strong smell as soon as I walked through the doors. I smelled somewhat like animal waste, but that was masked by a stronger smell, probably cleaner to eliminated the scent.
The first room I saw contained several small monkeys that were jumping around and making a lot of noise, but what caught my attention was the small, sad looking creature towards the back of the room. This animal looked like an oversized mouse and appeared very timid and scared. Looking at the signs to the right of the exhibit, I read that this animal was an acouchi whose natural habitat was the riverbanks of the Amazon Rainforest. Reading this I could understand why this creature looked so lost and nervous, not only was it alone with a species that it would rarely naturally interact with, but it was in a strange environment.
In the next room there were several small monkeys, a sloth, and another acouchi, looking just as tentative and frightened as the other acouchi. Watching both achouci for several minutes I did not see either move. Seeing cages of these animals and how it was so different to where they would be living in the wild really angered me. I could not understand why the acouchi would have to be separated from each other when they were clearly uncomfortable in their current habitats. Looking around the rest of the indoor enclosure I realized that none of the creatures were looking very active as they would normally be, not even the small monkeys, who are normally hyperactive.
Going to the zoo used to be a very fun experience for me as a child, but during this visit I noticed things that I would normally overlook because I was distracted by my surroundings. I noticed that the animals were not as active as they should be and that their habitats did not look anything near what their natural environment would be. Visiting the zoo was an important part of my childhood and I think that every child should have the opportunity to visit a zoo so that they can learn about animals. I also think that zoos perform an important role in protecting animals and conserving endangered species. It is important that zoos focus on education and conservation instead of entertainment. Instead of spending money installing a train to carry children around the outskirts of the zoo, money should be spent improving habitats or adding more educational exhibits to the zoo, especially when it is a children’s zoo. Zoos must also work hard to maintain the animals habitats and avoid causing more harm than good to the animals.