Animals are
interesting - People throng to Zoos to
see and enjoy animals. Is animals coming
out of their enclosures a rarity or a general occurrence ? Human mind tends to
compare – and nearly identical instances expect identical handling… World over there are Zoological parks housing
animals, some in their natural habitats, frequented by people. Children enjoy
seeing animals, so do most of us.
Taiwan is a sovereign state in East Asia. The
Republic of China, originally based in mainland China, now governs the island
of Taiwan, which makes up over 99% of its territory, as well as Penghu, Kinmen, Matsu, and other
minor islands. One of the cities in
Northern Taiwan is – ‘Hsinchu’, popularly nicknamed "The Windy City" due to its climate.
The zoo at Vandalur
in the outskirts of Chennai is sprawling
and attracts huge crowds – far cry from the days, it was housed in Lily Pond
complex [Moore Market] nearer Central Station. Early this year, the zoo was in
news – reportedly, a portion of the retaining wall of the tiger enclosure
collapsed - reports of the big cats
being at large created a scare. There was
some drama and conflicting reports and later the two-year-old Royal Bengal
tigress, was found within her enclosure.
That is not an isolated incident, earlier
a python escaped and there had been news of crocodiles found in nearby water
bodies.
Away in California, the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical
Gardens founded in 1966 is a big zoo. The Los Angeles Zoo has had a number of
notable escaped animals over the years. One particular spate took place during
the late 1990s and early 2000s when, in half a decade, at least 35 animals
escaped the zoo including zebras, chimps, kangaroos and antelopes. Evelyn the
Gorilla was the star escaping from her enclosure five times. In one widely
covered incident, she used some overgrown vines to pull herself out of her
exhibit, and remained at large for hours.
In
Taiwan, the Mayor of Hsinchu City warned residents that a tiger and two fully
grown orangutans were on the loose after escaping from the local zoo, there was
more than an air of panic. The freshly-elected mayor saw
perfect chance to impress his voters ! ,,, though they were urged not to panic
reassuring that the Mayor would be personally supervising the capture and return
of the animals – the reaction was one of panic – People’s Daily Online reported
that doors were locked, children dragged
indoors and pets secured as the hunt for the beasts began.
Mr Lin, 39, had
announced the animals' escape on his Facebook page after a member of the public
phoned to tell him that the zoo's three most famous residents were missing from
their enclosures. His post was quickly picked up and widely shared by concerned
locals …… embarrassingly for him, however, just an hour later - after calls
from bewildered zoo officials - he had to admit he had been mistaken.
The reason was simple – the animals were no
longer in their enclosures because they were being renovated and they had been
temporarily moved to Taipei Zoo in the island's capital city. In his follow-up
post, the mayor wrote: 'I appear to have been misinformed, and the animals are
safe and well and at another zoo while their enclosures being renovated, but
this underlines the fact that we should always be careful about our animals,
and I would urge everybody to take interest in their welfare.' The gaffe
attracted a stream of ridicule online, with critics accusing the mayor of being
too quick to issue the warning just as a means of gaining publicity.
One user on China's
micro-blogging website Weibo writing: 'Typical politician, leaping in with both
feet to grab the glory and limelight without checking the facts first.'
With regards – S.
Sampathkumar
20th Mar
2015-03-20
News
source : Daily Mail; photo – tw.people.com.cn 
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