Animals are smelly

Yesterday I went on a field trip with my daughter, Sarah and the rest of the second grade from Grand Oak Elementary.  We went to Zootastic, which is a wild animal park in Troutman, NC.  I was happy to be able to go on a field trip with my daughter, but not excited about going to a zoo.  I really do not like zoos.  I have even been known to say that I hate the zoo.  My kids and my husband know that I hate the zoo.  When we moved to Omaha, everyone would tell me, oh, there's a great zoo, here, you have to take your kids to the Omaha Zoo.  Um, no, I don't. 

I'm not exactly sure why I hate the zoo.  I suppose I just was never that interested in animals.  Maybe it has something to do with being dragged to the zoo as a child.  My grandparents lived in San Diego, CA while I was growing up.  When we would go visit them, we would always go to the San Diego Zoo and the Wild Animal Park.  I remember endless walking around and looking at smelly animals in cages.

Don't feed the Zebra

please feed us!

And that's exactly what we did yesterday.  We walked around and looked at smelly animals in cages and in pens.  I saw tigers that looked really mad (and hungry?) as they paced back and forth, checking out the second graders.  There was one lone giraffe in a pen by himself.  Was he lonely? I saw a huge blind horse that had been used in cancer research.  Sad. The children we given cups of feed and were allowed to feed the goats, rams, smaller animals.  The goats knew what was coming and had been following us around.  However our guide warned, DO NOT FEED THE ZEBRA. I'm not sure why we couldn't feed the zebra.  Maybe he liked to eat childrens' fingers.

I guess zoos are educational and all, but I am not a fan.  I'd rather let the animals stay in the wild where they are supposed to live and read about them in a book.  It would certainly be less smelly.

Blind horse with his pal the rooster