We decided to head out of the city to check out the Healesville Sanctuary today since it had been over 10 years since we were there. Our initial SPOTD award went to the good folks at www.whereis.com.au who kindly provided driving directions that included a 4WD-only road. Great. Just because it’s the shortest route doesn’t mean it’s the best…

However, when we got to the Sanctuary we found our SPOTD late in the day. The kangaroo enclosure allows animals to mingle with visitors if they wish or retreat to safety behind a rope fence if they so choose. One of the kangaroos had entered the visitor area and was happily standing around being patted by small children and adults alike since it obviously holds a great deal of appeal. People were propping their kids beside the kangaroo (it was only a very small animal) and taking photographs. We stood watching people for a bit before Di snuck in to pat it herself and then retreated back to watch others doing the same thing.

An Indian family arrived and the mother led the children forward to pat the kangaroo while the father took a photo. By then the kangaroo was tiring a little of standing around being patted so began to nibble grass, rapidly losing interest in the photo shoot. Without a shred of discretion the Indian father then reached into the bag of Doritos corn chips tucked under his arm and offered them to the kangaroo as a bribe to pay more attention for the photo. Others in the crowd noticed before I did and called out at him that he shouldn’t do it but he either didn’t hear them or didn’t care. As I was standing quite close to him I reached out and grabbed his arm to lift the inappropriate food well clear of the animal, to which he simply said “oh” and put the corn chip back in the bag.

I know there are SPOTDs who feed wild animals inappropriate foods all the time so he was not the first person to do it. He was, however, the first SPOTD I’ve ever seen offer such food to an animal in an Australian zoo, surrounded by more than 20 people, and he should have expected the response he got.

Categories: SPOTD