Monday at Palm Beach Zoo & Thrifting
Feb. 23rd, 2010 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
windinthemaplesYesterday morning, we drove over to the Palm Beach Zoo.
The last time I'd been there, twenty years ago, it was the Dreher Park Zoo and distressingly bleak. I recall cages decked out to resemble brightly draped circus wagons with pacing large predators. I remember camels shifting in a bare dirt enclosure, sauntering up to the fenceline to spit at us passers-by. Whatever that day held for me as a ten year old, I'd steered clear in the future.
I'm naturally reticent about zoos. It seems like showcasing once-wild animals has too long been a booming business. I don't want to pay admission and continue that exploitation and yet I cannot ignore that recent years have brought significant changes to the accredited zoo world. Keepers are investing time and effort into providing enrichment activities and the public is beginning to demand larger, more natural enclosures. Conditions that were standard twenty years ago now look, by comparison, backwards and barbaric. There is a trend towards better standards of care. So I don't know. I don't want to go to Sea World, but I can appreciate the knowledge and care they are able to provide to animals brought to them for rehabilitation. During the recent cold shock events here in Florida, they used their resources to provide care and quick release for hundreds, if not thousands, of wild sea turtles. I can't help the twinge I feel when the topic of zoos comes up and yet, I appreciate the educational opportunities it affords my animal-loving son. I don't know where the balance is for me, yet.
I do know, however, that the Palm Beach Zoo has made a herculean effort over the past twenty years since my last visit.
The place was unrecognizable. Small but delightful. Fewer animals occupied larger habitats, lushly planted with local trees and plants and laced with running water features. Daniel was telling me that they have become something of the great non-profit success story, having raised tens of millions of dollars for all the renovations they've made. As a zoo, it wasn't ideal, but obviously there were a lot of minds at work on behalf of the captive animals. It was shady and tropical, so pleasant to stroller around and take photos. Graeme was especially thrilled by their brochure map and used it to successfully navigate us to the parrots (priority #1), the kangaroos (priority #2), and the white alligator named Mardi.
Animals were separated into geographic areas. The South American section was themed as ancient Mayan ruins peeking out of the jungle. They had big stellae and pyramids. It was crazy and beautiful.
Oh! And along with wild white ibis and chickens running around, they also had free-range peacocks and peahens nesting in the trees and strutting around. Pretty magical at times.
After the zoo, I dropped Daniel and Graeme off at home and stole about three hours by myself to thrift shop for clothes at the two biggest Goodwill stores in my area. (I rarely have the time to try on clothes with an unpatient toddler underfoot, so it had been a long time since I got that scavenger joy of flipping through the racks.) For about $60, I about doubled my wearable, "it fits!" wardrobe: two pairs of pants, a jacket, six or seven shirts, a black embroidered skirt, a cocktail dress. I am over-the-moon with my finds. The jacket, for instance, is a brand-new J.Jill in this cheerily spunky watermelon pink/peach color. It was $15 originally but was 50% that day *and* there was a dollar bill in the pocket when I got home. So, what's that? $6.50 for a quirkily brilliant coat. :D Hanging all these tropical-bright purchases in the closet next to a sea of blue-green, gray, and black, I could literally see the depression-fighting powers the Florida sunshine has offered. :) I'm like, a super-powered rainbow now. ;)
The last time I'd been there, twenty years ago, it was the Dreher Park Zoo and distressingly bleak. I recall cages decked out to resemble brightly draped circus wagons with pacing large predators. I remember camels shifting in a bare dirt enclosure, sauntering up to the fenceline to spit at us passers-by. Whatever that day held for me as a ten year old, I'd steered clear in the future.
I'm naturally reticent about zoos. It seems like showcasing once-wild animals has too long been a booming business. I don't want to pay admission and continue that exploitation and yet I cannot ignore that recent years have brought significant changes to the accredited zoo world. Keepers are investing time and effort into providing enrichment activities and the public is beginning to demand larger, more natural enclosures. Conditions that were standard twenty years ago now look, by comparison, backwards and barbaric. There is a trend towards better standards of care. So I don't know. I don't want to go to Sea World, but I can appreciate the knowledge and care they are able to provide to animals brought to them for rehabilitation. During the recent cold shock events here in Florida, they used their resources to provide care and quick release for hundreds, if not thousands, of wild sea turtles. I can't help the twinge I feel when the topic of zoos comes up and yet, I appreciate the educational opportunities it affords my animal-loving son. I don't know where the balance is for me, yet.
I do know, however, that the Palm Beach Zoo has made a herculean effort over the past twenty years since my last visit.
The place was unrecognizable. Small but delightful. Fewer animals occupied larger habitats, lushly planted with local trees and plants and laced with running water features. Daniel was telling me that they have become something of the great non-profit success story, having raised tens of millions of dollars for all the renovations they've made. As a zoo, it wasn't ideal, but obviously there were a lot of minds at work on behalf of the captive animals. It was shady and tropical, so pleasant to stroller around and take photos. Graeme was especially thrilled by their brochure map and used it to successfully navigate us to the parrots (priority #1), the kangaroos (priority #2), and the white alligator named Mardi.
Animals were separated into geographic areas. The South American section was themed as ancient Mayan ruins peeking out of the jungle. They had big stellae and pyramids. It was crazy and beautiful.
Oh! And along with wild white ibis and chickens running around, they also had free-range peacocks and peahens nesting in the trees and strutting around. Pretty magical at times.
After the zoo, I dropped Daniel and Graeme off at home and stole about three hours by myself to thrift shop for clothes at the two biggest Goodwill stores in my area. (I rarely have the time to try on clothes with an unpatient toddler underfoot, so it had been a long time since I got that scavenger joy of flipping through the racks.) For about $60, I about doubled my wearable, "it fits!" wardrobe: two pairs of pants, a jacket, six or seven shirts, a black embroidered skirt, a cocktail dress. I am over-the-moon with my finds. The jacket, for instance, is a brand-new J.Jill in this cheerily spunky watermelon pink/peach color. It was $15 originally but was 50% that day *and* there was a dollar bill in the pocket when I got home. So, what's that? $6.50 for a quirkily brilliant coat. :D Hanging all these tropical-bright purchases in the closet next to a sea of blue-green, gray, and black, I could literally see the depression-fighting powers the Florida sunshine has offered. :) I'm like, a super-powered rainbow now. ;)
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no subject
Date: 2010-02-23 09:55 pm (UTC)Wow, Graeme looks SO BIG in that picture. :D
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Date: 2010-02-24 01:22 pm (UTC)I'm lucky that Graeme was asleep when we passed the fountains. I'm not sure if he would have wanted to play in it, but I didn't have a change of clothes for him. For some kids, it would be worth the season pass just for that fountain area! :D
(Eventually we'll be both home and healthy, like stars aligning, and then I hope we can hang out. :) )
no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 01:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 01:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 01:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-24 01:39 pm (UTC)And sounds like you picked up some awesome thrift store finds. That's always bound to make a day brighter.
*hugs*
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Date: 2010-02-25 04:04 pm (UTC)