Final Leg

Today we rounded off the 2009 Tour de Zoos at the Ecotarium in Worcester (pronounced wuss' tah if you want to sound like a local). I think this was the 5th or 6th zoo we've visited since March. As I've mentioned before, I'm not a big fan of zoos, but I'm even less a fan of sitting around playing My Little Pony, which would make my daughter equally happy.

This is Kenda, a 25-year-old female polar bear who was born and has lived in this same enclosure her whole life. Even my 4-year-old daughter sensed the apparent unfairness of it and asked, "Why don't they let her live where...in the...where..." She couldn't quite articulate it, but I knew what she was getting at.* She even asked, "Isn't Massachusetts too warm for her?" I assured my daughter that it would get cold enough before long for Kenda. The toughest question was, "Why do animals live in the zoo, mom?"

This shot was a close second and had Mr. DH's vote. My daughter voted for this one "because my head is there in the corner!", so this one wins.





*Actually, most of the animals in this zoo were either injured in the wild or raised in captivity thus rendering them unable to survive on their own.