Elephant feeding and bathing floods my Instagram feed every time someone goes to Thailand. And I love elephants. But grad school has me poor and busy; a Thailand trip is just not going to happen. Which is why I was intrigued when my mom described to me elephant feeding at the Monterey Zoo.
It just so happened we were going to be in Salinas for a wedding this summer and my mom invited me to go. So I did.
If you’re a native of Salinas, Monterey, or the Salinas Valley, then you may be familiar with Vision Quest and the Monterey Zoo, originally known as “Wild Things.” But if you think of the stretch of California between Los Angeles and San Francisco is just that: the stretch of land between Los Angeles and San Francisco, then all of that probably means nothing to you. So, here’s some background.
Animal Trainer for the Silver Screen
Exotic animal trainer Charlie Sammut started Wild Things Animal Rentals to rent out wild animals he trained to Hollywood. The lion from George of the Jungle? Sammut’s. The same lion was used as a model for Disney illustrators when they were working on The Lion King.
So, for years, Wild Things allowed visitors come look at exotic animals on the Vision Quest Ranch. The animals weren’t being abused, but there wasn’t any oversight by a licensed zookeeper.
A Licensed Zoo
In 2008, Wild Things became a licensed zoo and started building better facilities for their animals. They were still doing gimmicky and exploitive things like having elephants deliver breakfast to guests that stayed the night in bungalows behind the zoo until about last year. Now, the elephants aren’t being exploited and the elephant feeding is monitored by an elephant specialist.
At present, the elephant paddock is the best enclosure. And by “best” I mean most humane. The animals have a large watering hole, plenty of room to roam around and shade from the heat. I wish I could say the same about the other enclosures. You can only visit the other animals on a quick tour (~30 minutes) at certain times during the day. My mother and I arrived in the late afternoon to see the elephants and stay the night; we didn’t see the other habitats during the following day.
The Bungalows
In the back of the zoo are eight bungalows you can stay in for a night. This allows you to see some of the monkeys up close as trainers bring them around. They also let night guests participate in the elephant feeding for dinner and breakfast — after each guests sanitizes their hands.
The bungalows are within hearing distance of the big cats in the finished portion of the zoo. That area, known as Oz because it is all lions, tigers and bears, is finished and looks just like any other established zoo, complete with large enclosures and glass viewing points.
The Elephants and Elephant Feeding
But I came for the elephants. I only heard about this place from my mom who assured me it was a real zoo. I did some research myself and found that the elephants were well-taken care of, but that the zoo itself was short on resources and funding. Which brings about this dilemma: I don’t want to support a zoo that doesn’t have the optimal habitats for its animals, but the only way conditions can improve is by donating money to the zoo.
After sanitizing our hands, an elephant trainer directed us to stand behind a line and allow the elephant to pluck a carrot or an apple from our hands. We were told not to tease the elephants with food or empty hands and to respectfully offer the food and wait. I was surprised by the good behavior of the numerous children present and the adults, for that matter.
The zoo also harvests the elephant poo and sells it to local farmers as fertilizer. Since the Salinas Valley is a large agricultural hub, I imagine an adequate amount of money is raised that way. The zoo is a nonprofit so all admission prices and gift shop purchases go back to the animals. They also touted paper made 100% out of elephant droppings so I bought three poo-paper journals.
30-Minutes of Makeshift Exhibits
As for the rest of the unfinished zoo, oh boy… Let’s just say, it’s reminiscent of backyard enclosures in the wilderness of rural Ohio. The animals are behind chain-linked fences that circle areas that didn’t look large enough to me.
But there was on-going construction, a reason that area of the zoo is only open during brief tour times. I guess all I can hope is that the construction progresses rapidly and the animals have preserves on par with other zoos in the near-future.
If you’re feeling charitable, donate to the Monterey Zoo.