Pace, pace, pace.
Why are they standing out there staring out me? All I do, day in and day out, is pace back and forth. There’s nothing else for me to do. I am all alone here in this relatively small, fence-enclosed area. And yet still they come and stare.
Pace, pace, pace.
Some of them look through their camera viewfinders or smartphone screens and then get excited looking at the images on those small devices. Why? What draws them to come here and watch me do virtually nothing.
Pace, pace, pace.
They come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and ages. Some are loud and obnoxious. Some just stand there and stare. Some cling to the fence. Others stand back. I think they’re expecting me to do something. But what, exactly?
Pace, pace, pace.
Maybe I’ll charge the fence and scare the shit out of some of them, watch them drop their cameras and smartphones, and make the little rug rats scream and cry.
But if I do that, the trainers will come out with their electric prods and zap me again. So maybe I won’t do that.
Pace, pace, pace.
(191 words)
Written for today’s Sunday Photo Fiction prompt.
Unfortunately, you are probably more right than not. I feel very sorry for wild creatures in those tiny enclosures.
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Me too. It’s downright cruel.
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Poor, poor creature. So majestic and magnificent, yet so helpless in front of the idiotic species known as humans.
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Such is the life of creatures in zoos.
Click to read my SunPhoFic
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It’s heartbreaking to think that’s all they have to do in captivity isn’t it.
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It’s got to be a very boring existence.
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It must be so frustrating for wild creatures to be confined in such small areas. I’m glad that so many zoos are moving toward larger spaces, to give them more chance to run and yes, even to hide. But of course they can never give them as much space as they’d have in the wild. On the other hand, we also can’t seem to protect them from poachers in the wild, so there’s no one good answer.
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If only the leopard could change his spots, then maybe all the people would leave him in peace or not.
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I never went to zoo. The idea of seeing wild animals being caged was not particularly interesting for my parent. When I grew up I adapted the same philosophy.
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I used to love going to the zoo. Not so much these days.
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The repetition of the pacing throughout is very effective. They must look at us and wonder what exactly are we doing.
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