Ha ha.... but seriously, the Ueno zoo is great, in some ways. It covers all the bases --hippos, giraffes, polar bears, tigers, etc etc., and there are loads of exotic birds. The place is clean and the newer parts are very nicely landscaped. Ice cream is widely available. And yet, and yet...the animals have no space! They are seriously hemmed in. I did not have to zoom in to take this picture of a lioness on a rock, she was so close to the glass wall (see the reflection of the two ladies standing to my left?).
I should note that this lioness does not seem at all disturbed by her situation. She is calm, serene, regal. But, but...I just don't know.The gorillas have the same deal. Again, no zooming in here:
The zoo's giant panda, Ling Ling, died in late April from chronic heart failure, so we missed our chance to see her. But apparently China is going to send over two replacements, though the matter is somewhat controversial, as the Japanese government must pay some hefty fees to lease the animals -- $1 million per year per panda. The Asia-Pacific branch of PETA, for its part, is lobbying against the deal, saying pandas are miserable in confinement and that the money, which is supposed to help preserve their natural habitat, does no such thing. The Beijing zoo, meanwhile, has 8 new pandas, evacuees from the Wolong Nature Reserve, which was damaged by last month's earthquake. In other panda news, Chinese nationalists are calling for a ban on Spielberg's movie Kung Fu Panda, to get back at him for ditching the Olympics.
