Last Monday (April 9), less than forty-eight hours since Padang (Sumatran Tiger) passed, it appeared the Keepers were taking down her fence and less than an hour later they had Shastyuh in Padang's yard. To me that was just plain disrespectful. Don't get me wrong, I love Shasty, I just think there could have been a "moment of silence" so to speak. As well, there was a sign up, explaining about the passing of Padang, yet there was a Tiger in the yard. To anyone who doesn't know the difference, it wouldn't make sense.
Since the January passing of Tunya and the merging of the Lions, there has been enough yards for the amount of Cats, none had to be on rotation. That said, with Padang now gone, there is an extra yard. There was no reason for Padang's yard NOT to be left empty out of respect, at least for a few days. It would have been nice if they had put out some flowers also. When we lost Tony (Siberian Tiger) in 2010, the Big Cat Keeper who had been there at the time, let Lee and I bring flowers and she kept them in front of Tony's room inside the Lion House for two weeks. There has been an obvious change in respect for the Cats since that.
Today, one week to the day of Paddy's passing, I also noticed that there has been a change to the entrance to her yard.
Logs now add a buffer to an area that a hazard cone had been covering. There are wood chips on the ground creating a covering as well. I have to wonder if this wasn't the area that was causing the injuries Padang had to her limbs in the two weeks prior to her passing? If so, this makes me upset because I saw her in the yard before these alterations were made. I was shocked to see she had access outside to the yard. Curiously, there was an orange hazard cone covering part of the yard entrance. I thought it odd, as I could only think it was to cover possibly the problem area she had been rubbing against? But, really, if that is why, she should have just been kept inside til it was fixed, I'm pretty sure a Tiger doesn't know the meaning of a hazard cone.
I also saw her in the yard four days before her passing, with no bandages on her limbs, which really upset me.
I can never get over the disrespect that the zoo has for the animals in their care. I saw the changes (dramatic ones) done right away and it immediately made me wonder yet again, what is the zoo trying to hide? So many outright errors, it appears, in my opinion that that don't even try to hide their ineptness anymore. There has been a dramantic loss of animals in a short time and different tales told, it all makes me wonder. Again, it's my opinion of what I have seen. Paddy obviously kept injuring herself on something and I wonder what braniac decided an orange cone would do the trick? I miss Padang every day. The zoo is not the same without her. She was incredible and feisty and that feistiness kept her going even when things were appearing to be wrong. Only those guilty know the truth and it all makes one wonder. RIP my precious Paddy, I love and miss you very much.
ReplyDelete@Lee- Thank you for sharing your thoughts about what appears to be going on at the Zoo in many instances. Sometimes I feel like its just me, but I know its not. I may be the only one who's publicly vocal most of the time, but I'm not the only one who thinks the things I post about. Even Staffer's share some of these observances and opinions. It is sad, frustrating and curious why there is so much that just isn't right. There was most definitely something wrong in the events that led to Paddys passing, but like always, they blame old age and such. I even heard they posted her passing date as April 12th when it was the 8th. Either no one there has the brains to keep facts straight (and we know this to be true because they didn't even get Gene's age and bio correct when he passed) or they form complete stories around passings that fit with their "story" of the facts. ... I too feel like with certain friends not there, the Zoo isn't the same. Without Paddy and Tunes the Cats aren't the same. Walking by Wishy's killer grotto is really hard. I just wish they had done something with that grotto years ago so it didn't kill our boy bear. Sweet Orkney waving and swimming over to greet us. I miss them all with each visit.
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