RIP Pumba

Pumba was a zebra that escaped a circus in Germany in October 2019. It was then shot. The circumstances why it had to be killed and could not be sedated are unclear, but a fireman said he had no option as it “was a danger to the public”. Okay, it went on the highway and caused an accident but in my opinion, there must have been other ways. Still, I have no right to judge the situation but what I can and will question is the fact that there are still wild animals used as attractions for us humans.

You can turn it as you want, but this is not right!

Even with the best care from their “owners” (and I am sure that some of them really care), these animals are not made for a zoo or circus life, especially not the ones that come from the wild. All they do is unnatural to what they are supposed to do. And what for? To entertain us. How selfish we are that we expect the animals to live such a life for our own pleasure.

Zebra; Kruger;

When I see the free-roaming zebras here in Africa, it delights my heart. They are such cool animals. They walk over plains, through woodland, on mountains. They run around, chase each other, take a bath in a waterhole or in dust. They are a bit overlooked but still fascinating.

Just a couple of days ago, I had the option to get quite close to a Mountain zebra. They are not as abundant as the Plain´s zebra and I had not seen them a lot so far. They are extremely pretty!

Mountain zebras have white bellies, while the stripes of the Plains zebra stretch all the way to the belly. They appear darker as their dark stripes are closer together and not disrupted by brown ones as in Plain´s. Mountain zebras also have a flap of skin on the throat known as a “dewlap”, which plains zebras lack. But they like dustbathing as much as the Plain´s 😊

The zebra´s stripes are like fingerprints and not two zebras look identical. Their function is not fully researched but it is assumed to have several functions. Mainly it will distract attacking predators when the zebras run away in all directions, but it may also dazzle flies in some way (so it is some kind of an insect repellent) help control body temperature.

They are made for the life in Africa! Not for a zoo or a circus.