Don't Feed the Animals

Today

A few days ago, we took Carmen to Longleat. She seemed to enjoy her day, especially when we stopped to look at the giraffes and zebras. Until you are close up to a giraffe you forget just how huge they are.

In My Day

I think it was in about 1987 and I was caring for a friend's child who was of a similar age to Becky. One day I decided that it would be a treat to take the girls to Longleat. I packed up a nice picnic and off we set.

I was using my car to drive round and we stopped in the area where the zebras, giraffes and camels were. These days you  don't walk amongst these animals; you walk on a raised walkway and view from above.

I was carrying the picnic bag and decided in my wisdom that we didn't need to go into the designated picnic area; what was wrong with sitting on the grass?

We sat down and I unpacked the picnic: hard-boiled eggs, new potatoes, cans of pop, crisps etc. We began to tuck in. Suddenly I noticed a giraffe striding toward us. He was about twenty foot tall and his intentions were plain. He wanted our picnic. I began to pack up as he loomed ever closer. I had two urgent anxieties. One was to get the children and myself away from those enormous hooves. The other was to grab a ring-pull that was lying on a plate, as I feared that this might kill the giraffe if he accidentally swallowed it.

Just as he reached us I grabbed all the hardware, leaving Becky's unfinished picnic to meet its fate and we scrambled into the picnic area.

The giraffe really enjoyed Becky's picnic, although using his mouth, which is adapted to eating leaves, to attempt to spear the egg and potato was fascinating to watch, He rolled them around, eventually getting them into his mouth and down the hatch.

We were very lucky that there weren't worse consequences. It's easy to think that a herbivorous animal with a reputation for gentleness can't possibly hurt you, but of course they are all equipped to defend themselves very ably, and I learnt a lesson in respect that day.