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#LPStreetart best viewed as a set here: www.flickr.com/photos/thefuturetense/albums/7215768279339...
In the Parish of Horley (it says), curiously marking the distance to Brighton and Westminster Bridge, rather than the more usual 'London'.
Rather pointlessly (?) it also marks the distance 'from' your start place. No surprise that this habit was soon dropped.
In good condition, albeit slightly buried, I think it's made of concrete.
Some rare cats, clouded leopards, etc., had it even worse, many with hospitalism (pacing back and forth incessantly before the bars or windows of their cages).
- I really enjoyed China (although Beijing was tense, depressing in fact, as I was there only 3 - 4 weeks after the massacre in Tian'anmen square; my spirits really lifted after I left for Xi'an), the locals were generally friendly, I loved renting a bike and exploring around various cities like Xi'an, Chengdu and Kunming, and the food in Western China (Gansu and Sichuan) was consistently the best I've had on any trip to date, simple and delicious. Every meal was a pleasure. But you'll see dark things en route anywhere that make an impression, and one I remember on this trip was this zoo, which I presume was pre-eminent in the country. Rare Asian leopards were in small, low cages, pacing back and forth compulsively before the bars or the mesh; most animals were isolated from one another, and I best remember a large tiger sitting on a small, raised, green mound down below in a large, wide, open, walled pit outside, exposed, and howling or yelping every few seconds continuously, clearly nuts, and heart-breaking. The thing to do for some local visitors was to pick up small stones and throw them down at it. When one young laughing woman a few metres to my left did this I objected, and then she turned and laughed at me!
- Pet ownership was still rare in China in 1989, and caring for pets and interaction with animals will teach people that animals, or at least mammals, have feelings and are more like us than we'd ever guess before getting to know them. I'm sure the animals in this zoo receive much better care today than they did when I toured it decades ago.
- But that said, we often project onto animals when we shouldn't (including mammals). The owners of boas or pythons should know and keep in mind that their snakes don't love them back. Too many owners have fallen asleep in bed or on the couch eating cheezies and watching TV while cuddled up with their constrictor wrapped around them and didn't wake back up if it was feeling the least bit peckish. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWXAtHJ0yc8 Oscar Brown Jr.'s 'The Snake': www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxVymZxekEw
- www.thestar.com/news/canada/2016/11/03/new-brunswick-brot...
- Here's a list of the top 10 most dangerous legal exotic pets.: pethelpful.com/exotic-pets/dangerous-exotic-animals-pets The author writes that "[t]he danger presented by snakes is often way, way, way overhyped", but "[s]hould a large snake find its way out of [its] enclosure ..., sleeping children, pets, and sometimes adult humans are at severe risk from the unseen menace." A warning, some of the accounts in the article of attacks by chimps are nightmarish.
- Joanna Lumley calls on the West to sanction China over the ivory trade.: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU6Y4bJwuyw That video was made in 2016. It's taken way too long, but finally some progress. www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-42532017
- Update May 2025: I didn't see a single pet in China that trip. My, how things have changed. Al Jazeera reports on 'China's booming pet industry' and that "pets are set to outnumber toddlers [there] 2 to 1 by 2030.": youtu.be/kOxGIJMWfXs?si=ciBEw4fs-P1S0mJc
Best viewed as a set:
www.flickr.com/photos/thefuturetense/sets/72157628096623568/
Exhibition info:
www.art-agenda.com/shows/the-future-tense-presents-spectr...