See the happy animals

I've really struggled with the treatment of animals in zoos in Japan.  The zoos seem to be perfectly fine with leaving animals in tiny cement jails, much like the  zoos in the 1980's in the US.  My son loves seeing the animals, but I don't want him to get used to seeing them in such a depressed state.

When my husband suggested we spend the national holiday at the zoo, I reluctantly agreed.  Umi no Hi (Ocean Day) became a national holiday in 1996 to honor the seas and oceans.  While some people choose to go to the beach, we headed to Saitama Children's Zoo.  He picked this zoo because our son has recently expressed an interest in seeing koalas.  They aren't a common animal at Japanese zoos, so he had to search for them.

We got up early and left for the train station by 8 am.  The zoo was almost an hour and a half away.  It took a train and a bus to get there.  By the time we arrived, the mist was quite thick, but it wasn't fully raining.  We paid just ¥510 ($4.75) for each adult to enter.

The entrance looked a bit dated, and I immediately began to wonder what conditions the animals were living in.  As we wandered along the path toward Penguin Hill, I was surprised by the lush landscape.  When we first approached the penguin enclosure, it looked like a big, bland pool for the aquatic birds to swim in.  But next to the pool was a gate.  My husband led us inside and we found ourselves in a little penguin habitat.  There was the pool to the right and lush green hills in front and to the other side of us.  The humans had to stick to the sidewalk path, but the penguins were allowed to roam wherever they desired.  As we strolled about, we found some penguins up on the nesting hill that featured over a dozen nesting caves. 

It was so wonderful to see these happy birds choosing from a variety of landscapes, as well as being in with them.  There wasn't glass between us and the fun black and white noisy birds.  My husband  found a great chart that explained the banding system and names of all the penguins. 

We were able to pay ¥300 to give my son the opportunity to feed the penguins.  There are only 2 chances per day to do this and it is limited to the first 30 paying guests.  He was given 3 fish in a cup and instructed to grab a fish with tongs and hold it until a penguin took it from the tongs.  My husband and son worked together as my son fed the birds and my husband told my son the gender and name of each penguin he fed.

Afterwards, my son's eyes were bright with delight.  He really enjoyed feeding the penguins.  But now he was ready to see some more of the zoo.

To be continued...