Turning Tables, Zoo Rescues Animals, Cages Visitors Agence France-Presse
go to original February 14, 2015

Parque Safari in Chile, a sanctuary for mistreated circus animals, turns the traditional zoo-going experience on its head. (Susan Easley)

As the enormous lion prowls atop the roof of the safari vehicle, his pale pink tongue licking out from his massive jaws, delighted passengers snap pictures and reach out to touch him.

This apparent violation of the number-one rule at most zoos - don't pet the animals - is encouraged at Parque Safari in Chile, a sanctuary for mistreated circus animals that turns the traditional zoo-going experience on its head.

The zoo puts visitors in caged vehicles and drives them around the two-hectare (five-acre) park where the lions roam free, as the hulking carnivores get to look at the humans from up close.

"It's so scary. It's a very strange feeling, to be so close to them, only a few centimeters away," said visitor Carolina Gonzales Baeza.

"I think it makes you understand what it's like to be caged for animals, they must feel like us, frightened to be locked in without being able to get out."

The director of Parque Safari, Ivan Sanchez Lobos, said that is exactly the experience he wanted to create.

Parque Safari takes in lions, bears, monkeys and elephants from circuses where they have been abused and works to rehabilitate them.

Read the rest at Thanhniennews.com

Photo: Agence France-Presse

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