Today I'm taking you to Williams, Arizona (near Flagstaff.) The famous Route 66 runs through the town and Bearizona is just outside of it.
Bearizona has two parts. One is a drive-through zoo where one has to keep the windows closed and drive slowly so as not to run into bears, buffalo, wild goats, rams, deer or wolves.
The other part is a walk-through zoo surrounded by a substantial fence with a carved bear guarding the entrance. In that area we saw porcupines, raccoons, more bears, some small wild cats (maybe lynx), foxes and enjoyed a demonstration of birds of prey. There were a few peacocks running about loose. And they had a cage of money-grubbing Ravens. If you slipped the end of a dollar into the cage, one of them would take it and place it into a donation box.
I have mixed feelings about zoos. I am an animal lover who enjoys seeing live animals that I would never see in the wild, yet I hate to see them locked up. I know that keeping some endangered species in captivity is the only way to preserve them, but I don't think we're short of bears or rams, yet. These animals seemed to be well cared for and they live in settings as natural as they can be without being in the wild.
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| Bearizona, near Williams, AZ |
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| Close-up of bear sculpture. |
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| Raven, trained to grab money and place it in a plexiglas donation box. |
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| Young bears are kept in a special section inside the large fenced area. I think this fellow is climbing a fake tree. |
11 comments:
an interesting place. i hope this place started out as a rehabilitation center so its residents could still live out their lives in a safer environment. :)
Cool! I think I need one of those ravens to find money for me. I'd gladly provide the collection box. :)
Yep! I would also like this Raven! great fence post
I like the raven. The bear sculpture looks so sad.
Oh my, these places I just motor on by in our travels. I love my cat too. Thank you for visiting my Not So Good Fence.
I've seen the signs for this place. Looks like an awesome place to visit!
i have the same thoughts as you on the zoo. we recently had a fair and one of the shows was this man with his grizzlies. when i commented on the fair's facebook page that i didn't think they should promote these types of shows, the bear should be out in the wild, not performing...i recieved a rude comment by the fair saying that the grizzly bears live a good life on 8 acres in southern florida....that's a good life for a grizzly?
I'm never sure about those places either.
I like the log fence and the bear sculptures, but hate to see the live animals caged.
I hope the bears are happy in the zoo! I love the cute statue and fence.. Great shots!
A pretty fence!! I always have such mixed emotions about visiting anywhere with caged critters!!
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