September 19th, 2007

Unfortunate but true, just like the book said, Villahermosa was not living up to its name. It was by far not a villa anymore, but a big town, and the only hermoso thing around was supposed to be the Park-Museum La Venta, were the original giant Olmec heads were put on display after being dug out in the nearby La Venta.

Heavily covered with bug spray, just like the guard and the ticket checker advised, we went in. The park was nice and full of archeological finds, but it also happened to be a zoo, and we were sad to find the only ones free to leave and enter this place as placed were Coaties, which here were something like the local rat. Besides them were turtles who didn’t seem to care much about being confined, Birds forced to enjoy a dirty cement pond that they are not able to leave after what was done to their wings, and restless monkeys in a green pit without as much as a spec of vegetation.

I interviewed a few furry prisoners and found out how deluded they are about the length of the sentence they are given in this prison. One expecting mother was showing me four fingers when I asked her, not realizing that both she and her children’s children will have to learn to accept the green pit as their home. In fact, even if she meant four generations, I suspect she was sadly mistaken as well. Many have already given up hope, and sit motionlessly with their arms folded, others hang from their tails, catch some sun, or lucky enough to get a conjugal visit. Looking at it all, I realize how much I dislike zoos and how in the future I would like to be taking my interviews in a place without cages.

A personal thought :
Who knows, maybe if enough people ban zoos, more animals will find freedom in their natural habitats and reservations with room to run and no bars on every corner. Although going to the zoo is seemingly a happy and bonding family experience, I also suspect children will grow up to be more compassionate to fellow living-breathing creatures if their first interactions with them will not be from behind bars.

Catching some sun

Conjugal visit

Tags: ruins
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