Concetti Chiave
- The Rome Zoo is located in the south of the city, near major attractions like universities and an amusement park.
- The zoo is smaller compared to those in London or Berlin, but it offers diverse animal areas including birds, savanna animals, and various habitats.
- Visitors have mixed emotions due to the captivity conditions, with some animals kept in small enclosures and appearing sedated.
- There are noticeable management issues, such as unclean habitats and lack of staff overseeing animal care during the visit.
- Visitor behavior sometimes includes prohibited actions like throwing stones or feeding animals, highlighting the need for better supervision.
What can you expect from a visit to the Rome Zoo?
During the Easter holiday I visited the zoo of Rome with my girlfriend and some friends. It is situated in the south of the city, near points of major interests such as universities, the football stadium, the pool and a big amusement park for families; I was born in Rome and I lived there for many years, but when I was a child I never went to the zoo, so this was my first time and I was fascinated. It isn’t big, but for a child it might be(6) enormous, but it’s small compared to the zoo of London or Berlin, in fact I have read that in these zoos there are many species of animals, for example: sloth bears and the Rodrigues fruit bat.
Division of the zoo areas
The zoo of Rome is divided in different areas : one where you can find birds like owls, ducks, swans and flamingos another area with animals from the savana like lions, camels, ghepards, tigers and lamas and finally animals from different habitats like kangaroos, yaks, ostrichs, bears and deers, and there are going to be new animals arriving in the future too . During the visit at the zoo my emotions changed; at the beginning of the tour I was surprised and happy as a child , because I remembered when I was young and I used to watch TV programs about wild life or after seeing an Indiana Jones film. Animals living in captivity are not always treated properly for example, the tigers, bears and yaks were kept in small places or cages for their size and certainly for these animals it is impossible to show their fascinating characteristics. Some of these animals were sleeping maybe because they were doped to stay calm. Even though the animals were born in captivity, I think however, in a small part of their being there is always a strong call for freedom. I noticed some cages being not very clean, I’m not speaking of rubbish but little paper of biscuits or chips in particular into the habitats of the ducks and other birds.
Management issues and visitor behavior
During the visit I didn’t seen any employees of the zoo taking care of the animals. I can never forget of the many people that threw little stones or even food which is not allowed in the cages, or even people who used long branches to attract the animal’s attention. All of this obviously is forbidden. If I had the chance I would create a group of volunteers to defend the animals. Certainly the economic crisis doesn’t help to improve the structure, but the human intelligence, which should make the difference between men and animals should be higher than any crisis, but it is not always true. Anyway, I liked the zoo experience and probably I will visit the London zoo, certainly the animals will still be unhappy but the visitors will be more polite.
Domande da interrogazione
- How does the author describe their emotional experience during the zoo visit?
The author felt a mix of surprise and happiness initially, reminiscent of childhood memories, but later felt concern over the animals' living conditions, noting that some animals seemed sedated and their enclosures were not always clean.