Keeping on with the livestock theme, today was random zoology day. We started off (again, with our useful taxi driver) heading to "Tiger Kingdom." It's not exactly a zoo nor an animal sanctuary. Instead, tourists fork over money to cuddle/pet/play with large cats. We chose the baby lion/adult tiger package, 15 minutes apiece.
Pretty cute. The baby lions were only a month old, and just slightly larger than a large housecat. After we washed up and disinfected our hands, we got down on the floor to pet 'em. One tended to get a bit snarly if we picked him up, and when he growled, the zookeeper/assistant guy who was in there with us gestured to us to leave him alone. The other, though, was pretty cuddly if sleepy, and snuggled up nicely on Scott's lap. He didn't seem to like ME as well. Sigh.
The grown-up tigers were another story. A little bit scary (and thoughts of insurance issues were running through my head the whole time, naturally). The three tigers were in a large outdoor area, fenced in but grassy with a pond, trees, etc. They also had three handlers in there with us, armed with something approximately as dangerous looking as my mom's old spanking paddle. Hrm, yes, that makes me feel safe.
No worries, though. Our tigers were so lethargic they were practically comatose. (I wondered if they were drugged, but as soon as we left the enclosure, they all got up and started playing and sparring with each other, so maybe they were just playing possum, like, "if we're boring enough, maybe these tourists will go away and leave us alone.") We were told to only approach them from behind (so they wouldn't think we wanted to play), and were not allowed to touch their heads or front paws. Still, we got some good hugs in. One was wet from the pond, so I smelled a bit tiger-ish the rest of the day. Their paws are a bit smaller than my hand, with impressive claws (we played with them - Look, mom! Claws out! Claws in! woohoo!) And yes, their skin is striped just like their fur.
Next we headed to the snake farm - kind of podunk, and not too impressive compared to a snake house at a US zoo - but then, we got to HOLD these snakes. The non-poisonous ones, that is. Then "Mr. Snake Man" did a little snake show for us, kissing cobras (we got to pet them, and then he showed us how to milk the venom), picking up these speedy jumping rat snakes (I think that's what they were called) with his teeth, and diving in a pool to "wrestle" with a large python type thing. The show was narrated by a younger Thai guy, in the manner of a dubbed movie - hilariously corny, with a background track and everything. Mr. Snake Man was missing a finger from a previous cobra bite (very reassuring), but he explained that they were only five minutes from a hospital that had all the antivenoms. Sounded like he knew THAT routine pretty well.
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