By Popular Demand, I Bring You the Zebra Story!
My tale of woe took place at the Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch outside of San Antonio, Texas on February 7, 2002. It's billed as an African safari done Texas style -- in other words, a drive-thru wildlife park. It actually had numerous animals from countries other than Africa: Texas Longhorn cattle, Japanese Sika deer, North American elk, Barasingha deer from India, Barbado sheep from Europe, Australian emus, Sicilian donkeys, South American llamas, etc. At the time we visited, there were over fifty different species on the ranch, inhabiting terrain similar to their natural habitat.
We bought our admission, a guide book and a bag of food pellets to lure the animals closer to the car for purely photographic purposes. I took charge of feeding the critters. The park prominently posted their safety regulations regarding that: Feeding animals through the window of your vehicle is permitted, AT YOUR OWN RISK, remembering to drop the feed on the ground; do NOT feed from your hands. Remember, animals are unpredictable and may bite! Be careful. Even the guide book mentions this warning multiple times along with other safety regulations (stay in your vehicle at all times, drive slowly, do not litter, etc.). And remember, it's all AT YOUR OWN RISK.
So, this is the first thing we encounter on our adventure:
This aggressive ostrich showed us who's boss. He refused to yield the right of way to the large motorized vehicle, shimmying back and forth, protecting his territory. That should have set my spidey senses a-tingling, but, nooooo, I chose to ignore that bad omen. I mean, look at the cute animals we saw...
The South American rhea is another large flightless bird. They grow to a height of three to four feet. Rhea Perlman is tiny like that, too!
Mama and baby Sicilian donkeys. Cute!
The adorable llamas (Lama glama) weren't afraid to approach the car. They behaved like perfect furry gentlemen and ladies, waiting for the pellets to drop before swarming us.
The addax, or screwhorn antelope, knows how to accessorize. They're curious little beasties, too.
The Scimitar-horned oryx and the Blesbok antelope were rather standoffish, choosing not to partake in the movable feast.
What's gnu, wildebeest? Hahaha. These guys couldn't be bothered to look interested.
Would you look at the adorable... I can't remember what these are, for the life of me. Barbary sheep perhaps?
And finally...
This is not the zebra that bit me but a distant relative.
So, as you might have surmised, some animals had no issues approaching the cars and looking for food while others had no interest whatsoever in even standing up. The zebras fell into the first category.
As we drove into their habitat at the end of the safari, I dropped the last fistful of pellets outside my open passenger-side window, and the zebras came sauntering up to the car. A few of them honed in on the ground and contented themselves by eating the tiny brown food pellets, but one curious fellow stuck his long snout through the window and into the car. He proceeded to sniff me like I was an exotic flower... or a blue plate special. I was more than a bit anxious now -- what was this zebra looking for? And all the while, Mr. C was like a deer in the headlights, shocked and immobile, staring at the nosy zebra. Before I could move away, the zebra chomped down on my right upper arm -- luckily, I was wearing a denim jacket at the time -- and that sucker hurt me something awful. My prolonged yelp had no affect on Mr. C. I had to prompt him to raise the window, thus forcing the zebra to release my arm and exit the car. Well, even if we weren't at the end, we were definitely finished at that point.
Being the ever curious swot that I was -- and am still -- I consulted the guide book after the assault, only to learn that zebras are considered VERY aggressive. Ah, you live and you learn, right? So, back at the gift shop, I went to the restroom to inspect my arm. It sported a moderately reddened, arch-shaped mark -- it would be dark purple by the evening. As I was putting my jacket on again, I noticed the left breast pocket felt rather bulky. I opened it and pulled out the forgotten remains of Lil' C's day-old Kellogg's Nutri-Grain bar -- strawberry flavored. *sigh* I thought I was being a responsible mommy, saving that half-eaten cereal bar in case of... oh, never mind. I swear I'm my own worst enemy because my good intentions bit me on the arm rather than the ass that day. ;)
We bought our admission, a guide book and a bag of food pellets to lure the animals closer to the car for purely photographic purposes. I took charge of feeding the critters. The park prominently posted their safety regulations regarding that: Feeding animals through the window of your vehicle is permitted, AT YOUR OWN RISK, remembering to drop the feed on the ground; do NOT feed from your hands. Remember, animals are unpredictable and may bite! Be careful. Even the guide book mentions this warning multiple times along with other safety regulations (stay in your vehicle at all times, drive slowly, do not litter, etc.). And remember, it's all AT YOUR OWN RISK.
So, this is the first thing we encounter on our adventure:
This aggressive ostrich showed us who's boss. He refused to yield the right of way to the large motorized vehicle, shimmying back and forth, protecting his territory. That should have set my spidey senses a-tingling, but, nooooo, I chose to ignore that bad omen. I mean, look at the cute animals we saw...
The South American rhea is another large flightless bird. They grow to a height of three to four feet. Rhea Perlman is tiny like that, too!
Mama and baby Sicilian donkeys. Cute!
The adorable llamas (Lama glama) weren't afraid to approach the car. They behaved like perfect furry gentlemen and ladies, waiting for the pellets to drop before swarming us.
The addax, or screwhorn antelope, knows how to accessorize. They're curious little beasties, too.
The Scimitar-horned oryx and the Blesbok antelope were rather standoffish, choosing not to partake in the movable feast.
What's gnu, wildebeest? Hahaha. These guys couldn't be bothered to look interested.
Would you look at the adorable... I can't remember what these are, for the life of me. Barbary sheep perhaps?
And finally...
This is not the zebra that bit me but a distant relative.
So, as you might have surmised, some animals had no issues approaching the cars and looking for food while others had no interest whatsoever in even standing up. The zebras fell into the first category.
As we drove into their habitat at the end of the safari, I dropped the last fistful of pellets outside my open passenger-side window, and the zebras came sauntering up to the car. A few of them honed in on the ground and contented themselves by eating the tiny brown food pellets, but one curious fellow stuck his long snout through the window and into the car. He proceeded to sniff me like I was an exotic flower... or a blue plate special. I was more than a bit anxious now -- what was this zebra looking for? And all the while, Mr. C was like a deer in the headlights, shocked and immobile, staring at the nosy zebra. Before I could move away, the zebra chomped down on my right upper arm -- luckily, I was wearing a denim jacket at the time -- and that sucker hurt me something awful. My prolonged yelp had no affect on Mr. C. I had to prompt him to raise the window, thus forcing the zebra to release my arm and exit the car. Well, even if we weren't at the end, we were definitely finished at that point.
Being the ever curious swot that I was -- and am still -- I consulted the guide book after the assault, only to learn that zebras are considered VERY aggressive. Ah, you live and you learn, right? So, back at the gift shop, I went to the restroom to inspect my arm. It sported a moderately reddened, arch-shaped mark -- it would be dark purple by the evening. As I was putting my jacket on again, I noticed the left breast pocket felt rather bulky. I opened it and pulled out the forgotten remains of Lil' C's day-old Kellogg's Nutri-Grain bar -- strawberry flavored. *sigh* I thought I was being a responsible mommy, saving that half-eaten cereal bar in case of... oh, never mind. I swear I'm my own worst enemy because my good intentions bit me on the arm rather than the ass that day. ;)