In Reply to: Drugging animals in zoo and safari park? posted by assilem on Wednesday, 22. April 2009 at 18:58 Bali Time:
I have only just returned from Bali and we spent a night at the Safari Lodge. We had photos taken with the tiger on the first day (afternoon) and I too wondered if he was drugged as he was asleep the whole time, same with the lion cub. However it was very hot that day and like already stated, these animals usually sleep all day anyway (up to 20 hours a day).
The following morning we went and saw the tiger again and this time he was up, playing, walking around and DEFINITELY NOT DRUGGED!. I have heaps of photos and video of him, the keepers actually started playing up to the video my daughter was taking and started playing with the tiger. He pounced, played, grabbed a sign, grabbed the keepers leg, He was full on. To the point that a lady with her sons who was going to get a photo, changed her mind because they got scared of him. He can reach that stool you sit on behind him. He was jumping from the stool to the log.
Many times the keepers reprimanded him and it was amazing to see him back down to them. We watched all this for over an hour, I took photographs the whole time and my daughter took video. At one stage the tiger got a bit too playful and swiped the keeper across the face, (claws in I think as no damage was done). However the keeper was not pleased and the tiger got a punch on the nose. It was not a severe punch, but enough to put the tiger back in it's place.
Shortly after this my daughters and I had our photo taken with this tiger and he snarled while looking at my daughter a couple of times. To me the keepers appeared a bit nervous at how the tiger was behaving. He was then reprimanded continually (with words and gestures, no physical contact) and eventually laid down and went to sleep. He was not sedated, I was there the whole time.
I'm not saying that they don't sedate them, I am just stating what I saw. I did ask if they sedate them and the keepers said no. I would also like to mention that the dog collar that tiger was wearing surprised the hell out of me, if that tiger wanted to, it could easily break that collar and all hell could break loose. You would want to hope that they have tranquilisers on hand "just in case!".
The keepers told me that tiger is 14 months old and that they wouldn't be able to do that with him after he turns 2 years old. The keeper when he was playing up to our video, put his arm in the tiger's mouth and the tiger played just like a big pussy cat. I could tell that the keepers were very fond of the tiger, they often patted him, and were affectionate with him. The tiger is in beautiful condition. All the animals at the safari park are in beautiful condition.
The orangutans, we had phtotos with 2 different ones were extremely alert both times and were constantly given food treats/bribes to behave.
The elephants are also amazing and you can feed them yourself (buying the carrots of course, 10,000 rp from memory)
We also went to the Bali zoo while in Bali. Seeing the white tiger in it's enclosure was the ONLY time I got UPSET at the conditions of the animals. On this day the white tiger was in a concrete dungeon (only way to describe it really) you climb stairs that go above him and he was pacing, he stunk! and he seemed unhappy. Condition wise he appeared OK, it was the enclosure that he was in that upset me.
All in all I was surprised at how well looked after all these animals are. I wasn't expecting that. I know it hasn't always been that way but I do believe that they are doing the best they can. You can see the bond between these keepers and the animals they look after. The experience of being so close to such beautiful creatures is something I will never forget. I do hope that the big cats are not sedated but what I saw, photographed and video'd on our recent trip shows that they weren't. I cannot see why they would chance it in the morning and then drug them later??. I am a huge animal fan, I come from property here in Australia, my whole adult life has been around animals, I have worked with animals and both the Bali zoo and Safari Park impressed me and I will go back to both.