Dawes Family in New Zealand

Another Zooper Day

Before going to sleep on Friday night, Bethany turned her smile upside down, I asked her what was wrong and she said, quite randomly, ‘I miss the Zoo’. So to be able to send our princess off to a happy excited dreamland we promised that we would take her at the weekend, and that’s exactly what we did on Saturday!

Funny enough it had been nearly a year since we were there last, how time flies! So much has changed at Wellington Zoo in the last year, and for the better of course. New buildings, new areas, better landscapes and walks, and of course new animals. We started our day with breakfast and a coffee and then rugged up warm as we headed off for a slightly breezy walk around. Poor Michael had been really ill though a few days before, so it was very nice of him to make the day out with us, needless to say he needed more bed rest after being out all day!

The walk round was easy and as lovely as always, some new things for us to see along the way, we bumped into people who worked at the Zoo and had lots of lovely chats, and as usual there wasn’t many people around! Main highlights were listening to the talk at the Chimps and seeing them being fed, it was so cute to see them with their arms out waiting to catch some fruit.

We also enjoyed the talk at the Giraffe’s where Bethany got to feed them again.

Then we visited the Wild Theatre and met Tahi (the Maori word for one) for the first time, we have read about him so many times, Bethany has a book about him and the story of how he only has one leg, so it was nice to finally meet him.

Also seeing the other animals was lovely, some old favourites and some very friendly ones too. For definate a Red Panda is on my Christmas list for Santa this year, sure Denver and Bailey won’t mind!

We ended our day with a trip to the new animal theatre called The Nest, a stunning high tech building with floor to ceiling glass so you can see inside and see everything thats happening. Each day if you are lucky enough you can see the Veterinarians working on the Zoo animals, doing things like general check ups right through to serious operations. We were lucky enough to be part of a Gannet post mortem!

Outside the room a TV displays the images close up of what exactly is happening on the table, and inside the vet gets ready for action. Its all quite strange, and something you definitely need a strong stomach for! We stayed and listened to the whole thing, the poor bird had been rushed in the night before as he really wasn’t well, he responded to treatment but then died overnight. On further inspection they noticed that he didn’t have a tongue, and so to determine the reason of death a post mortem was to be carried out.

People left as the bird was cut open, and insides taken outside. The vet talked is through the whole procedure, and although hugely interesting it was also quite sickening to watch, but something you felt you needed to see. And the fact the vet mentioned how lucky we were to be outside without the smell made us grateful!

The final straw for everyone was when she pulled out the saw and started cutting into his head to examine the brain, we watched to make sure Bethany was OK with all this, but she was absolutely enthralled, and loved the whole thing!! She was amazed to see what was happening and was asking lots of questions. A very brave and clever little girl indeed. The results were that the bird had a torn gullet and some type of infection on the lungs, poor thing.

We do like Wellington Zoo, but its nice to keep a visit to once a year unless there is something amazing going on, not only is it quite expensive but a Zoo is a Zoo at the end of the day, and they are all the same! I do still also struggle with the fact the wild animals are kept locked up, especially when you read stories of the animals actually escaping in a bid for freedom. But I can honestly say that it does seem Wellington Zoo are truly 110% a proactive animal sanctuary, more than a money making freak show, and that’s something to be proud of.

Another Zooper day out for us all, with some very different memories this time!