Northern Louisiana Safari

Keith, Lucas, and I had an adventure yesterday. We went to the High Delta Safari Park just north of Delhi, Louisiana. We traveled in a big wagon-type vehicle and stopped along the way to feed fallow deer, watusis, pot-bellied pigs, emus, zebras, and donkeys, and camels.

I always have mixed feelings at places like this and at zoos. On the one hand, I really want Lucas to get a first-hand experience of real, live, animals, since we read so many stories about them and look at so many photos and pictures of them. Most people's lives these days allow us only cursory relationships with animals, other than our pets, and ours is no different. I think Lucas longs for relationships with living creatures, and however I can make that happen, I will!

On the other hand, I always feel a little sad at places like this. I am wistful for a world that has never existed in my lifetime, where such animals could exist peacefully and on their own terms. I guess I have some romantic notion of the "primeval forest" or a "primeval ecology" where animals of all kinds coexisted with human beings--if not peacefully, at least with enough room for all of them to have what they needed to survive, procreate, develop. (I guess that would be the Garden of Eden).

But the reality is that there are few "safe havens" left on earth for many kinds of animals. We human creatures continue to cut down and carve away at the forests, oceans, mountains, and deserts for our own population needs and desires.

I am saddened by this, and I carried that sadness with me on the trip yesterday, even as I rejoiced to see Lucas laugh at the potbellied piglets in the petting zoo. At the same time, most of the Safari Park animals are "natives" of Africa, and they probably arrived here by some form of the exotic animal trade. I've never been to Africa, and without zoos or safari parks, I would never have the experience of seeing a zebra in person. Zebras are really beautiful, aren't they?

One of my favorite animal sanctuaries is Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Indiana, where they have been studying captive packs of wolves for years. During my freshman and sophomore years of high school, I did my science fair projects there, studying wolf behavior as part of the yearly winter "wolf watch," and studying Ericha, the infamous Wolf Park goat (at the prompting of Erich Klinghammer, the founder, her namesake). I think the folks there have done a good job of creating a space where wolves can be wolves with a large measure of integrity, but humans can also interact with them and learn about them and from them.

I've been reading another fantasy novel called Dragonhaven by Robin McKinley, in which she tells the story of Jake, a teenager whose dad runs "Smokehill National Park," a haven for dragons. It is set in an almost modern-day world, the major fantasy element being the dragons, but it reminded me of the world I saw during my Wolf Park days, the world of people who passionately love animals, always seeking to learn more about them, learn their languages and realities, and protect them from those who would destroy them. These are people who long for wild creatures to be free, but also recognize that without havens or parks where humans can interact with them in some way, dangerous misconceptions about them lead humans to destroy them and their habitat.

Of course, there is one animal with whom we have a long-term relationship (and for whom we are supposed to be creating sanctuary for in our own home) our dog, Billy! I'm not sure this photo proves that we are succeeding at it with any integrity, though! Oh well. He is a good dog--and a good sport--and I promise he wasn't harmed in the taking of this photo.