Emotionally Conflicted Zoo Experience

Reasonable admission (approx €30-40) which was included as part of a package with a local tour group. Overall. Great experience seeing many animals I have not seen before. Highlights on the day were the pair of red pandas, five sloths and the capybaras who had recently been blessed with children. We had 6.5 hours but 5 hours without the shows was plenty. Having unintentionally ended up in the dolphin show this is where the emotional conflict arises. While the educational content (I.e. how to rescue a beached whale/dolphin) is a very good PSA the remainder of the show (I.e. the parlour tricks) evoked a tearful emotion. My partner and I were very uncomfortable with the in show blind echolocation demonstration. This coloured the remainder for the day. Food inside the park is reasonably priced and there are a selection of small kiosks selling drinks, coffee and pastry throughout the pathways. Gift shops are mostly plushies of the various animals in the park. Good for adults and children with each enclosure having a board with details about each animal or species. Was plenty of space to move and get around however, I imagine in high season it can be quite the sea of people. Plenty of shade to hide from sun or showers. The zoo smells clean (I.e. does not smell of animal waste) and the animals appears to live in clean enclosures with environmental enrichment, have plenty of appropriate food and are well cared for receiving the necessary veterinary care as required. Very saddened not to be able to see the whales, dolphins or sea lions outside of a show in their actual habitation tanks acting as natural as they can in captivity.