A trip to the Safari Park. Do the animals want to go to Gan?
After watching several episodes of Animal Park, we decided our children were finally at the Safari Park Appreciation Age. My 5 year old loves animals, especially birds and bugs and anything that vaguely resembles a dinosaur, and my 3 year old loves Giraffes.
For years we had been wondering how on earth Israelis afford such an expensive outing (we didn’t know about the Isracard benefits) so pesach was our first time. We were amused by the number of israelis happily getting out of their cars despite MASSIVE signs asking them not too. Now that would never happen in the UK.
The trip was definitely a success “Funnest day out ever Mummy!” I was told and “lets come here every day” so that was good.
Of course there was that slightly depressing element to the outing – Bored Animals. Well they are aren’t they? Not much to do looking at humans. (Incidentally there was some entertainment provided by religious women dressed up to the nines in hot weather to walk around a dusty safari park with several kids in tow. I would include here a picture of one of the most inappropriately dressed victims but Husband lost the pic. In any case – why would anyone do that to themselves??? Hopefully that at least amused the animals.)
In fact, the whole experience did make me think about the animals perspective.
Watching Animal Park we learned that the monkeys at Longleat got so fed up they starting vandalising cars. But not just crapping on the odd window. I mean ripping the windscreen wipers off hundreds of vehicles every day, to the point where the staff had to put up a warning sign stating that customers were responsible for their decision to enter the monkey zone. They showed piles of these windscreen wipers and hundreds of bored monkeys, desperate for something to do. In the end a dedicated keeper solved the problem by bringing in massive diggers to hack up an enormous tree and provide them with a climbing frame. To keep them busy, he said. Meanwhile they showed the presenters filling tree bark with peanut butter and nutella for a depressed gorilla.
The gorilla I have to say looked less than impressed. I could actually see him thinking “Oh god what would my cousins back home think? how degrading!”
But this is what the keepers have to do to keep them occupied, so that they don’t realise how depressing their situation is. Now for animals, we can justify it for obvious reasons – Conservation, research, education etc. But what about kids?
On collecting my kids from gan I hear some hilarious comments from ganenets such as how the kids washed all the dolls clothes in the playground “ready for pesach”. They recreate meal times for the children with structured set-ups yet try to provide a family atmosphere. They are moved on from activity to activity in case their attention drops, taught to do clean-up or whatever… and of course the reward systems…. It all seems strangely similar to the safari park…
So basically, we are paying them (or rather the government is) to do a meagre representation of what they would experience in their own home. Bit weird isn’t it?!
Lately my 5 year old has been saying again, that he doesn’t want to go to gan, says he prefers to stay at home. Even with all the fun of his end of year show. There are many holes in the education system in Israel, but the biggest issue remains the same – I am not convinced that anyone really thinks of the kids.