02/17/08

The Bronx Zoo 

The Bronx Zoo (http://bronxzoo.org/) is one of the world's great zoos.  It was one of the first to provide natural environments for animals (back in 1941, if you can believe it) and it now has some truly amazing exhibits.

It's a lot of fun to visit - but wear your walking shoes, it's huge! Be prepared to take your time, and to spend more than the $6-$8 per person (depending on the time of year and whether you use the parking lot or come by public transport).  Most of the more elaborate exhibits charge an extra fee of $1-$3, but they're worth it.

In our most recent visit, we spent a lot of time in the Congo Gorilla Forest.  The gorillas seem to enjoy spending part of their time sitting by the Plexiglas viewing windows, watching the people watching them. The experience of sitting face to face with a huge silverback gorilla, with only a sheet of Plexiglas separating you, is something else!   During our visit, one female with a young baby was obviously showing off her offspring to the visitors.  (Baby gorillas are excessively cute!)

On a previous visit, we took the monorail through Wild Asia. Sitting in a little carriage a few feet above pacing tigers (waiting for their dinner) is quite an experience.  A new exhibit, Tiger Mountain, I haven't seen yet, but I can't wait.  Siberian Tigers are magnificent creatures.

The Wildlife Conservation Society (http://www.wcs.org/) runs other zoos in the New York area as well, including the small Central Park Zoo - worth seeing for the polar bears alone - and the New York Aquarium in Coney Island. 

Professional dogwalkers.

You see them everywhere, especially during the week - people who walk dog "families" for a living.  They manage as many as 10 dogs, usually all around the same size - exercise them, pick up after them, because "poop-scooping" is the law in New York City, and keep them from getting into hassles with each other.  My building has one - she lives nearby, and walks most of the big dogs in the building.  And we have some really big dogs in my building.

I love to see it.  Dogs shouldn't be cooped up in apartments all day.  To see half a dozen big dogs trotting along, tails waving, on their way to the park and doggie heaven - the dog run - it's great fun.

Every morning I see the people who walk the ASPCA's dogs.  (The ASPCA is a block from where I live.) Rain or shine they're out there, walking dogs of all shapes and sizes.  Dogs that you just can't believe were abandoned.  Cute little guys and big, bouncy ones. One day I saw a young Malamute, in beautiful condition, energetic, loving, and so glad to see everyone. Friendly, happy dogs.  (And some not so happy, that have been abused and are being "socialized.") 

For a while, almost all the ASPCA's dogs were pit bulls, because the people who owned pit bulls for "protection" abandoned them when a law was passed requiring that they have liability insurance. The dogs wound up at the ASPCA (which is not, by the way, a kill shelter).  Several of them still live there, as pets. As time has passed, though, I've noticed other breeds appearing more and more - often big dogs, like the happy Malamute, presumably because apartment residents found them difficult to manage.

And until they find a home, the volunteers walk them every morning, rain or shine.

Central Park horses

I work in Times Square, and take the bus every evening from 57th Street and 7th Avenue, across the street from Carnegie Hall.  And every evening at five p.m., the Central Park hacks must change shifts.  One after another, they drive down 7th Avenue, into the middle of Times Square, and as they cross 57th Street, these horses who plod around Central Park every day realize that they are on their way home.  Their ears come forward, their heads come up, and they break into a brisk trot.  Sometimes it's all the driver can do to stop them breaking into a gallop and charging through the Times Square crowds.

A misunderstanding I saw it happen one rainy evening - a young, obstreperous horse was arguing with his driver, who was fighting to control him. The horse was rapidly getting beyond the "brisk trot" stage, and the driver was hauling on the reins and yelling.  A couple of days later, by chance, I read someone else's account of the same scene, who thought the driver was "whipping" the horse down to Times Square, screaming at him to go faster. So much for eyewitness accounts!  (And in case you're thinking I'm mistaken - nobody tries to push a horse to go faster through a city crowd.  Think about it!)

Recently, there was a tragedy with one of the horses.  In a similar scene to the New York moment above, a horse on her way home bolted with her carriage in midtown traffic, ultimately crashing into a car with, fortunately, no-one in it.  The horse, named Spotty, had to be put down - she broke her leg and shoulder - and the driver was critically injured.  It's a sad little story that called attention again to the carriage horses and their treatment and short lives. (A few years ago, a horse dropped dead on an unbearably hot day, and since then they are not allowed to be taken out when the temperature is above - 90 degrees, I think.)

Bar animals

In New York, as in many other places, it’s illegal for pets to be in places where food is served.  That’s pets, of course – service animals like guide dogs are not only allowed, but no-one has the right to turn them away, a distinction that some store owners don’t always understand.

The law leads to some interesting twists.  Outdoor cafes are OK, so all summer, you see dogs sprawled at the feet of their owners as they chat over a leisurely brunch.  And bars are fine, too, if they don’t sell food.  There are some bars in the city that are known for their animals. 

Chumley's, a former speakeasy in the Village (on Bedford Street, near Barrow) for years has had three big Labrador retrievers who hung out in the bar area.  On sunny days, they would go out into the alley and snooze. Last time I saw them, they were elderly and, to put it politely, somewhat overweight.

At the Blind Tiger, one of the few straight bars in its neighborhood (Greenwich Village), the fur people are cats.  Two beautiful tortoiseshell sisters, who hang out in the doorway and at one end of the bar.  One occasionally poses in the window, mostly for effect – she’s polite but a little stand-offish to the people who inevitably pet her.  (The Blind Tiger recently moved, and I haven't been there since, so I can't be sure the cats are still there.)