A trip to Animal Prison

Assalamua'laikum,
I would like to share my feelings regarding our trip to the zoo. I've always wanted to bring Musa to the zoo; I thought it would be one of the most exciting trips he'd have to see all those animals with his own eyes.

The first animal right smack at the entrance was the macaw; we were so excited to see it because it was so huge compared to our everyday small little birdies. The next most exciting animal (after seeing much deer-like animals) were the rhino and the zebra.

But it was the giraffe that struck a chord in me. You know the giraffe is an "African" animal.. So suddenly I thought... How has life changed for it to live in a country so different from its "home" country?

Then soon after... Things started to get really depressing. The animals looked so withdrawn and depressed, the caged birds, the tapir, the foxes. They really looked the part of a prisoner being isolated and 'locked up' (against their natural instinct and outside their true natural habitat). They were sleeping, and lonely (only most of the deer-like and cow-like animals were in herds).

There was a sign which said, should there be an emergency involving any of the "exhibits", please take shelter in places marked with a red triangle.

Exhibits? The word made me feel that these living animals were dead ones showcased under a glass in a museum. Perhaps they were even better off that way.

I saw some dead fish in a bird's cage and it struck some more chords in me. My hubby said that the malayan tiger looks flabby, especially since, he said- that it does not hunt as it does by instinct/nature but it is fed.

As a conclusion, though it startes off as something which was fun and 'amazing' to see these animals with our own eyes, but in the end it seemed very depressing, very sad. I really felt as if I was visiting cells of a prison... And their inmates are suffering.. Not because their are physically tortured, but their natural instincts has been tampered with. And I would rather not see a real zebra than have the zebra's natural instincts sacrificed just for the joy of my eyes.