Zoo Guilt Versus Death In The Wild

Nina, Feebee and Terence are at the entrance to Parque Loro.

Now they just have to get in.

Children must be accompanied by an adult, and Nina is not yet an adult.

But she is inventive

I'll ask that family, says Nina.

She goes up to a family with two children and asks them to take Terence in.

He's under six, says Nina. And he's made of cement. You won't have to pay for him.

Under six what, says Terence.

Shut up, says Nina. You're going in aren't you? We'll meet you at the penguins.

She walks off with Feebee, to look for a hole in the fence.

Terence is stuck with the family.

Pick him up, Gonzalo, says the mum to the dad.

I can walk, says Terence.

He walks in stiffly beside Rosa and Rosalita, the children.

Nina was right. Under six get in free.

Terence is in now.

What would you like to see first? says the mother, Sofia.

The DOLPHINS! cry the children, (not Terence).

Right, the dolphins it is then, says Sofia

I need the penguins, says Terence.

Need? says Sofia. I don't think so. We'll do dolphins, then tigers, then cranes. The dolphin I want to see is that Dutch one, remember, Gonzalo?

Gonzalo doesn't remember a Dutch one.

Yes, you remember! says Sofia. The activists were angry that Parque Loro accepted that dolphin. But it would have died otherwise. Or so they tell us.

Well, dear, says Gonzalo, the activists may have a point. Better to die in your own Dutch ocean than come here to Tenerife and be a zoo exhibit.

Gonzalo! says Sofia.

The children are already going off seeing the dolphins.

You can tell by their faces.

Let's run away to the penguins, says Terence.

While Gonzalo and Sofia debate the merits of zoo-guilt versus death-in-the-wild, Terence and the children run off to look for the penguins.

Meanwhile Nina and Feebee have found a hole in the fence and wriggled through it. It comes out right near the penguins.

The penguins live in a replica of the Antarctic, accessed (by humans) through a tunnel of ice.

So the penguins won't die of the heat or inappropriate lighting, but only in the natural manner.

There are Gentoo, King, Rockhopper and Chinstrap penguins.

Terence will be disappointed, when he gets there. He only likes bin penguins.

Nina and Feebee are waiting at the entrance to the ice tunnel.

Why couldn't Terence come through the hole with us? asks Feebee.

I didn't think he'd be able to wriggle, says Nina.

And she's right.

Terence wouldn't.