A Trip to the Zoo.

This set of photos isn't so much about Andong, but they were taken on my travels in Korea. I went to the city of Daejeon (Taejeon) to visit a friend. While there, we went to visit the local zoo.

It was not too bad as far as small city zoos go. The majority of the cages were a bit cramped, though. There was a fair selection of animals, but nothing too exciting.

This guy was kind of interesting. This camel was of the Bactrian variety, two humped. He (she?) had a nice face and seemed to like to be photographed.

These iguanas didn't look too comfortable in their particular enclosure. They were crawling all over each other in a rather small box with a plastic front. The thing that was probably the most annoying though may have been the children banging on the plastic.
Many times, Koreans, especially children, generally seem to have a lack of respect for animals, especially wild animals. At the zoo I saw children and adults banging on cages, throwing food, and even throwing things at the animals. I am not sure if it is mostly ignorance about how the animals should be treated, or just a general lack of respect, but it is not very nice to see.

There was a special exhibit there that day about insects. There were a couple of varieties, but mostly just a bunch of these guys.
Korean kids use to collect them as pets, but you don't find them around too often these days.
Here is another one for you. Personally, I think they are really cool.


There were birds in the zoo, too. Several different kinds, both colorful ...

... and not so colorful but still rather pretty. Sorry about the cage wires. There was no other way to get a shot.


There were also dogs in the zoo. This little fellow was sharing his home with rabbits.


And unless you thought I was joking about dogs being in a zoo, take a look at this.

The sign in front says Golden Retriever, but the dog in the cage is actually a Saint Bernard. You'll notice the dog seems to be a hit with the little ones, though I think that may just be the parents allowing them to actually get close to a zoo animal.

Yes, a common breed dog in a zoo may seem rather strange to folks in the west, but here I have also seen cats and chickens in zoo cages. And these are not petting zoos. Until fairly recently there were very few breeds of dogs in Korea. In fact, there were really almost only two or three breeds, depending on who you talk to. One main one was the Jindo, and the other was the eating kind (I won't get into that argument here.) Now though there are many more breeds.

And now we end our day with a sunset back in Andong. The zoo in Daejeon is actually a nice place. It is a good place to spend a lazy afternoon and animal/people watch. There are a lot more animals than what I have pictured here. I guess I was just not in much of a picture taking mood that day. I hope your day is a good one.