Just down the highway from Darlington Point is Altina Wildlife Park. I admit that zoos and wildlife sanctuaries, private or public, present something of a dilemma for me. I am wholly in favour of conservation efforts when it comes to endangered animal species – though many such travesties are due to human activities. I understand there might be scientific and educational aspects too. Yet, I also can’t shake the feeling that there’s a commodification of animals happening.

Not only do zoos cage exotic animal species that are endangered in the wild, they also often display other species that face no threat of extinction at all. Is there a reason a common Cockatoo or Dingo might be caged other than to simply complete a menagerie for an audience? It might be argued that increased ticket sales support further efforts in conservation, of course. True, perhaps. I’m no expert in these things, other than to relate some vague feelings and thoughts that gnaw at the edges of mind.

Still, a tour of the large back pastures of the park did draw my attention to numerous amimals I’d not seen before – most notably the African Painted Dog and the long-legged Maned Wolf (a curious canid omnivore with a sensitive stomach and a delicate diet that walks in the same manner as a Giraffe – both right legs, then both left legs, and so on).

Despite the promise of the above words, I have no pictures of these exotic creatures, partly because I don’t like steel cage wire in my photos and also because I’d not packed the fastest camera in the world to acquire focus and record unpredictable animal movements. Yes, I could have switched the camera to a high-speed recording mode, but the heat of the day clearly melted my problem solving skills.

Instead, I give you a handsome Meerkat, and some closeups of a Zebra and a Giraffe – not overly exciting, I know:

Apparently, Zebras are considered one of the most dangerous animals by zookeepers. People tend to get fooled into a false sense of security, thinking they’re just friendly horses with stripes. They are, by all accounts, very skittish and don’t mind kicking anything that freaks them out to death, zookeepers included.

Giraffes, on the other hand, are quite gentle. We were taken to see both the Zebras and Giraffes and could hand feed them apple and carrot slices – the flighty Zebras only through the wire, of course. This was all part of a purchased package that permitted us exclusive up-close access to some of the animals. It was actually great to see them this way.