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July 22, 2007

Good to Be Alive



I woke up with a sudden urge to go to the Zoo. And the nearly 106 F (41 oC) temperature outside didn’t change a bit on that desire. So I nagged and nagged and nagged a friend, until he agreed to give me a ride to the Kecskemet Zoo. (All right, it’s called Wildlife Park – Vadaspark – but as far as I am concerned, it is a zoo. Period.)


We got there less then 30 minutes before closing, and it was feeding time, so we had to speed through like there was no tomorrow. I didn’t see much information on this online, so I will list some of the inhabitants of the Kecskemet Zoo. Right by the entrance on the left there is a beautiful Tiger, then these furry friends on the picture (I forgot their names), and a hungry Puma on their other side. These cute, curious, and lively little guys didn’t seem bothered one bit by their large predator neighbors.


After a quick look at the pinheaded Ostriches and the Marsupials, we were strolling over to the ponies, when a flock of young chicks cut us off. They dashed across the path, and being as tiny as they were, they walked through the fence holes as if nothing was there, and started munching on the other animals’ watermelons and seeds. Then, as they got bored with that stuff, out they came through the holes, and proceeded to go next door.


Which is all right, we guessed, except that the neighbors across the street were Grey and White Wolves! So for a moment we held our breath and looked around to see who could tell the crazy little chicks to be careful, but then we noticed the Momma Chicken, and we let out a sigh of relief: there’s the perfect person to keep them in check.



More farm animals followed, and we were about to turn off on a side-path, when my friend started laughing. “Check out that goat on the ladder”, he said. And indeed, there was a goat on the top of a ladder, and he was looking at us as if saying,



And that’s when we noticed the sign next to the ladder: “Petting Zoo. Enter at own risk”. So the goat noticed that some petting clients were about to pass by without paying their dues, and climbed up on the ladder on his side, to let us know that it wouldn’t be nice if he didn’t get his back rub. And boy, do we owe him big time for being so pushy!


While we were there talking to him, and petting his neck, I noticed some commotion over at the other side of their yard. It was a newly born baby goat! Umbilical cord and all. His mom was just cleaning him up. Check him out.