Manila Zoo

We had a shoot at the Manila Zoo last week, our angle was that of advocacy. Joining the Community Service program of the zoo and to promote awareness about the animals.

So the first thing we had the TV host do was prepare food for the animals. Meat for the tigers, fruits and vegetables for the other animals.

Mind you, Manila Zoo is not as complete or grand as other zoos, but almost every animal has a story of their own. How they came to be part of the zoo.

There's Mayna, the mayna bird, the last of 12 birds that were confiscated by the Customs Authority. Coz the birds can only be found in Palawan, and get this, for every 1 mayna bird in a pet store, 5 were killed in the capturing process. Why are mayna's favored as pets? Coz they're our local version of parrots. Whatever they hear they'll repeat.

Anyway, Mayna's the last coz the other 11 were put on display in the zoo. And since mayna birds are territorial they ended killing each other. While Mayna was placed in a cage in the zoo's kitchen.

And there's Bearcat the bearcat. (No I don't know why the zoo names some of the animals this way.) Bearcat used to be a pet, again this is suppose to be a wild animal! And though the animal looks kinda scary coz you'd think it'd bite you, you could actually hold ang hug it! But I didn't try coz it was smelly - ick. Here's Bearcat

What the real highlight of the shoot was when we asked the TV host to hold a baby crocodile and a red cobra. Thing is, she's afraid of reptiles and was totally shaking. But I knew that we needed footage of her holding these reptiles.




So with the croc I first asked here to poke it, then pet it and then I finally just told her to hold and carry it. Here's a look at how scared she was


Of course, it wasn't as simple as that! The whole time she was freaking out and refusing to do what I asked. But I just kept telling her to do it...

Kind of the same thing with the red cobra, but she was more scared. Take 2 on the scared look But she quickly got over that and here's the two of us

We then moved on to the eagles that could be petted and fed. Take a look at this:

that eagle was heavy! When it landed on my right arm I had to support it with my other hand!

Cathy then fed the only elephant at the zoo, Molly. It was funny coz whenever Molly would reach for the fruits, spit would come out of her trunk. And she even aimed at our cameraman! I wonder what the footage looks like...

The zoo used to have giraffes but they died coz they couldn't tell the difference between plastic and vegetables. So the plastic blocked their stomachs and within 2 or 3 hours the trainers found them dead. That's why people should be careful with their trash in zoos, or anywhere in the wild for that matter.

Our last challenge for Cathy was to feed the tigers. The zoo got the tigers when a foreigner left the country evading arrest. And since he didn't know how to take care of them, the tigers were inbreeding. The result was that the diseases that were in the animals became prominent. Some of the tigers were euthanized while the others were put under the care of the Manila Zoo. A friend took a great shot

The last animal that we had a photo op with was a pot belly pig! haha and guess what it's name is? BERNADETTE!!! Here's my twin take note of the metallic pink nail polish. Mas kikay pa siya kaysa sa akin!!!

That was a great shoot day! It's always fun working with Cathy, coz even if she's scared she'll still do whatever is asked of her.

My last pic has nothing to do with animals, but I love the title Rica gave it
"tan since bora, white since birth" ;-)