Zoo Placards: They're better here.

After years without, I visited a zoo (“Zoo am Meer”) in Bremerhaven. This city is in the northernmost part of Deutschland, so this zoo specialized in marine animals (Holy penguin exhibits, Batman!)  It wasn’t a large zoo, or a very famous zoo, but it was fabulous anyway. Yet despite the adorable seals and cuddly otters, the best part by far was the placards describing the sad and occasionally (by American standards) gruesome realities for these animals. For example, next to the chimpanzees’ enclosure, there was a fairly lengthy post about the problem of bush meat in Africa, accompanied with a photo of a monkey head in a frying pan. If this were in an American zoo, all hell would break loose. After all, how dare this zoo (that I paid my hard-earned American dollars to go to) expose my children to actual, real-world problems? I came here to ignore the world, thank you very much. That's the only way you can have fun. (And my two-year-old toddler, who can't read or develop complex thoughts, is highly offended by the graphic nature of this placard.)

Next to the polar bears, there were not one but two placards describing the effects of climate change on their habitats. They said things like, “The average temperatures will rise by 4º C in the next 50 years” or something to that extent. It wasn’t up for debate; this was presented as fact and they expected people to view it as such; not politicize it beyond recognition. I can’t recall whether it specified “global warming” or “climate change,” but it’s the principle of the thing, y'know? It was so refreshing to see something that, by American standards, is politically incorrect, posted as truth (which, after all, it is.) I mean, as fun as it is to learn about a chimpanzee’s diet, isn’t it more important to learn about the people who have no choice but to use chimpanzees in their diet?

In other news, they had strategically-placed, publicly accessible collapsible ladders for emergency use around the polar bear exhibit “in case someone falls in.” Safety first, ladders second.