When I was a kid my parents would take me to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, WA. This zoo has the most energetic and cooperative zoo animals I have ever met. The Polar Bears are always swimming in the water, the elephants are always active, and the cats are constantly prowling. When you include regular trips as a kid to to Northwest Trek (a wildlife park) and Wolf Haven (a wolf sanctuary) my family has raised the bar for my expectations of what my involvement with the animals should be when I attend the zoo.
Now I live n NY and needless to say NY has some "great" zoo facilities. The Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island all offer great locations to view animals in the heart of a metropolitan community. They offer great locations, but they also have the laziest animals. I swear I have been to the Bronx Zoo 15 times in the last 6 years and never seen the Polar Bear move! For the longest time I swore he was stuffed and they changed his sleeping location every night when the park closed (then he twitched one day while I was there).
So as you can tell I like the zoo. I went with my family recently to the Central Park Zoo and saw an animal that has always done a good job of hiding from me, the Red Panda.
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| Red Panda at Central Park Zoo |
It's cute, and it is the first time I have spotted it in its enclosure in four years. Now in the past I would have been excited and then moved on to the next animal. This time though I saw it and thought, "might never see you again little buddy...not sure I got 4 more years in me". I clearly have not yet come to terms with my illness, Erdheim Chester Disease is just so unpredictable there's no way to prepare for it.
At least I got to see the Red Panda, cute right!
I too have frequented the Washington zoos and I've never seen a red panda until now. Thanks for sharing. It makes me want to go to the zoo again -- and just be a "kid."
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