Trifter

There are zoos and then there is Fuengirola Zoo on the Costa del Sol in Spain. If anyone is ever on holiday in this area I strongly recommend you visit this zoo. My husband and I, his niece and her daughter went to the zoo last week and it was amazing. Not only were the animals kept in an environment very like their own environment in the wild but they were all in excellent condition and the place was spotless.

My main reason for saying this zoo is exceptional is that over the tanoy they announced there would be an exhibition of birds and animals in the arena behind the childrens playground in 5 minutes. We decided we would go and see and arrived to find staggered concrete seating around an area in the middle which had trees, bushes and shrubs with a small stream running through. There was an area of ground made of bark shavings and the whole thing looked like a fairy forest in a film. First to come out were a falcon and an eagle that swooped around us flying from one keeper to another. Ok I thought this is normal I have seen this before. No doubt they will just bring out other animals and show them to us. How wrong could I be. After the birds had left, suddenly from out of the fairy forest came two baby armadillos on their own, yes on their own. No strings attached, no people in sight. They just snuffled around the little forest for a while and then made their way past us to a side entrance as if they were just going off stage. It was amazing. Within a few seconds a very large porcupine did the same thing. He seemed to be sniffing around the forest floor and then also made his way past us to the side entrance and off he went. He could have deviated in any direction, made a run for it if he wanted but he didn’t. Following on from that a wild boar did the same thing and then two playful otters scurried down to the stream, dived in, picked up a fish and started eating it, dived down in the water again and then jumped out, fish in their mouths and went out of the same side entrance. However, for me the absolute highlight was to see a serval do the same thing. Servals are normally nocturnal and very shy but this little beauty came out of the forest, gently walked around looking at everyone and then made her way delicately and slowly out via the side entrance. It was at this point I actually had tears in my eyes. I have been to many zoos in my time and in fact even worked in one for a year but have never witnessed this before. It must have taken weeks if not months to train these animals and in front of quite a big audience too where we were all clapping our hands.

I have been told Fuengirola Zoo has got an award and I can understand why. I just felt I had to share with you my visit and even if you say zoos are cruel please just go to this one and see how they are kept.