Wild 'n' Caged

I was at a Wild Life Park recently. I don’t know if there is any major difference between a zoo and a wild life park. Do you?

From the bold African Lion (Simba in Swahili) who retreats from none, the unfriendly leopard to the babbling monkeys running after all sorts from guests…perching on tree tops to eat banana or figure out how to sip unfinished drinks in tightly closed bottles thrown at them to the watching delight of tourists. Some animals looked distant as they walked round their cages, some seem to have accepted their boundaries and caged habitat for God-knows-how long, some slept away oblivious of the camera clicks and teeming tourists who paid to walk round their abode.

I have always considered myself a courageous person but standing near the secure perimeter fence of the lions’ cage gave me jitters as my thoughts ran wild on all possibilities. A camera click caught my younger daughter freaking out with hands tucked in-between her legs and her jugular veins visibly showing as she squeezed her face in fright! 

Quite some skill and technicality involved in feeding the lions in their different enclosures. It’s a job one may not do even if you were to be paid handsomely. Once each lion grabbed a large chunk of beef tossed at his direction, he gallantly strolled to a corner to feast alone. It’s amazing that this king of the jungle who would hunt for choice meat in the wilds would settle for what the caregiver gives. Talk about losing one’s freedom against one’s will. 

The timid but swift Cheetah strikes a close resemblance with the Leopard and both are so different from lions even though they are all in the same cat family. Then the Pygmy Hippos and their cousins the Nile hippos. They are so different and I couldn’t help wondering how their roots met somewhere along their family trees.  While the Pygmy hippos weigh about 230kg, their cousins the Nile hippos weigh massive 1800kg! Fancy that pygmy hippos weighing about 230kg are excellent swimmers and dainty underwater dancers, twirling on their toes like ballerinas. What excuse do you have not to spin on your toes and hit the ballet floor?

The crocodiles seemed more at ease. With water bodies for them to swim and still crawl to the land to receive good sunshine. The Giraffes with their long necks and legs have the advantage of grazing and munching from tall trees. There were quite a number of animals at the park and the common factor is that they have all lost their freedom except the monkeys that scurried about freely obviously having fun collecting food leftovers from tourists even though it was not allowed. I did not go near the snakes’ glass house. I have always wished that they didn’t enter Noah’s ark. The floods would have carried them away into extinction. Wishful thinking.

When wild animals are caged, do they miss the wilds? Do they even remember their original habitat after a while? Do they enjoy tourists parading their private spaces all year round? Do they get bored seeing same environment every day?  No more hunting expeditions, moving in parks or herds, fleeing for safety in the face of danger  from poachers and other wild animals, etc. they feed from what they are fed and remain content even though they may long for more. In the wild, God teaches them to hunt for their choice meat but when caged they are at the mercy of their care givers. Same as when a human being loses his freedom to a habit. He becomes ‘caged’ by that habit. Have you been there? Some people are in various prisons of life owing to their associations, wanton desires, uncurbed habits, thought patterns, etc. It happened to the prodigal son in the bible. But he traced his way home. That is the difference between human beings and animals. We have God’s spirit in us and so can chose freedom.

Choose and embrace freedom. Freedom to soar and be all that you are meant to be.