{ Shanghai Wildlife Animal Park}

People that know me well know that I'm a sucker for animals. People that know me even better know that I have a giant potential to be a crazy cat lady someday. However, while Jeff's still around with his allergies, that asperation will have to be put on hold. In the mean time, I can keep my animal addiction at bay with frequent visits to zoos, pet stores, petting zoos, etc.
Jeff was quick to pick up on this minor obsession early on and has already taken me to a couple zoos including the Cincinatti Zoo , a weekend getaway in West Virginia where I got to pet a baby giraffe in a small petting zoo, and Lowry Park while we were in Florida. The man keeps topping himself each time and when I heard that there was a local zoo here in China that let you hold tiger cubs, he made sure that it happened!
We woke up at 5 am, left the apartment by 6 am, got to the train station by 7, got to Shanghai by 9, and after a LOOOOOOOONG bus ride, were in the park by 11. Now, I've been told by MANY people that Chinese zoos are NOTHING like American zoos, and that they are in deplorable conditions, so I've been leary to visit any although there are several around. Now, first a person has to understand that the cultural attitude towards animals is very different from our own, and is only slowly turning around to assimilate towards what we would expect as foreigners. Although there are marked exceptions, there is a general and distinct difference on how they view and treat their pets, live stock, and zoo animals. That being said, I was suprised at how... few depressing sites there were in this zoo, and while there were noticable differences, I didn't leave weeping like I expected to.
The park was HUGE, and there were different busrides around the park that one could choose from. It was hot, we were lazy, and we took advantage. The safari bus was by far the best... if you aren't squeamish. It's a cage enclosed bus that takes you through the enclosures of the lions, tigers, bears ( oh my), and cheetahs and occassionally provides a show by feeding them live chickens ( carrots for the bears... maybe on a diet? ).  It was actually less gore than I expected, but facinating nonetheless. If you're an animal planet junky like myself, you'd probably be all over it.
After that we bounced off to find a personal guide and his golf cart who took us around to the exhibits we wanted which also meant MY getting to hold precious baby animals! Like any Chinese establishment they nickled and dimed us for every little thing beyond the gate, and I'm fairly certain we were over charged as foreginers but as far as I'm concerned I got my moneys worth and enjoyed getting close to some amazing animals. The ONLY animal I couldn't get a picture of that I wanted to was the two ligers who were avoiding attention and the heat in some tall grass behind glass panes that created nasty glare.

Animals smell.

Jeff: That's a chicken shoot!

They got on like peas and carrots... and the workers enjoyed illustrating their similarities.

So. Much. CUTE.

I. Can't. Control. Myself.

"Dawwwwww"

10 seconds after this baby tiger looks up and realized Jeff's a giant and promptly flips out.

This sweet lion cub was born on July 9th. Too little to hold but plenty to cooo over.

Mom, Where do tigers come from?

Truth in irony

This cynical giraffe was not finding the humor

Ever stared an elephant down the trunk?

A fuzzy picture, but these white tiger cubs are only a week or two old.

The best way to wrap up an awesome date day in Shanghai? Bubbas Texas BBQ, of course!

Have a terrific day!
-Ashley