The World's Saddest Zoo

I'm not sure if I can say that. I haven't been to every zoo in the world, or even read reviews on them, but last week I went to the saddest and only zoo in Lhasa at least. It all started with a trip to the Norbulinka -a park that doubled as the DL's summer palace. A student of mine, who is a monk, lives within part of the old palace housing. Also within the park's grounds is Lhasa's zoo. Now I knew from my pre-visit research that the zoo was thoroughly depressing and should be avoided (as Lonely Planet stated: "avoid the thoroughly depressing zoo."). But my student was excited that he could get us (myself and two other students) in for free. One step inside and I could see that they desperately needed the entrance fee.

Not a complete loss - the mandarin ducks were easily the prettiest exhibit in the whole zoo.

Being winter, everything was dead and brown, which didn't help the unkept dirt paths that wound around the tiny animal park. The first pen held some antelopes and rabbits. This is either due to an unusual symbitoic relationship between the antelope and large white rabbits, or a lack of places to put different animals. I'm going with the latter. Next were some bears, all of which were kept in small concrete cages connected to an "outdoor" area overgrown with weeds and scrap metal. Their play area was also apparently the place to dump empty Lhasa Beer boxes. Ostriches losing their feathers plucking some lettuce out of the dirt, dellusional rams that couldn't stop butting the fence, a lion whose pen had so many empty bottles at the bottom of it a recycling man would have made a killing. Sights not easy to see. In every pen there was a foul "water bucket" filled with some frozen filth that an animal might get to drink if the sun ever melted it. Some cages housed strange exhibits such as a parakeet, a colllie, a bloodhound and some chickens. One of my students pointed to a black swan and asked if Americans ate them and were they delicious.

 Our tour continued to some very tiny cages where a tiger, some wolves and other large animals looked as though the small quarters had gotten the best of them mentally. It was here that I saw man throwing plastic wrappers at the collie. I asked my friend to tell him that plastic was not good for the dog and he replied with, "I only gave him food. Mind your own business." The cultural comfort with easy lying irked me here more than ever as I stood there looking at the plastic wrappers he had just tossed. I honestly wished I knew the Tibetan for, "I'm not blind you dumbass, I just saw you," but I don't think my mom would want me using that word in any language.

At one point a frightened rabbit ran across our path with a look in his eye that said it all, "I'm almost free! Where to go? How do I finally get out of here? Oh no, people! Please don't catch me! Don't put me back with the antelopes!" It had the making of a creepy Disney movie.

Like a post-apocalyptic remnant, the old bird show pavilion has seen its glory days come and go.

Near the end, one of my students explained to me that the zoo was run by a Chinese owner and this was why the condition was so poor. And yet, I hardly saw any Chinese people there that day. As I walked around it was Tibetans who were littering, taunting the animals and beating on the cages with their empty pop bottles. I've been given great lectures by students and friends on Buddhist compassion, love for all beings and animal reincarnation. I have even seen my students pluck a bug off of their apple with the greatest of care so as to not kill it while trying to set it free. I have been chastised for killing an ant that was about to bite my toe while I was wearing flip-flops. How do I make heads and tails of it? Where is the compassion for these animals whose conditions certainly could be classified as abusive? I am a visitor, a guest and was in a position where I could say nothing and do nothing. Perhaps that is why I want to "get it out" here. At the end of our visit all I could say to my student was simply, "thank you, I didn't know there were so many interesting animals in Lhasa."