Snake Bite at the Zoo? Ark of Avilon Zoo at Fontera Verde (near Tiendesitas)

Friends,

KINDLY PASS THIS STORY TO YOUR FRIENDS...

My Family and I visited the new Arc of Avilon (AoA)
Zoo located at Frontera Verde near Tiendesitas in
Pasig last January 5, 2008. The highlight of the said
zoo is they allow people especially kids to touch
their animals like orangutan, parrots, eagles,
rabbits, tortoise and snakes.

And when you allow your kids to touch these animals,
you trust that the animals are harmless and are
trained not to hurt its visitors.

Unfortunately, my 2nd daughter was bitten by an Albino
King Snake. Her finger was bleeding so I quickly ask
where the clinic was located. I saw a sign that read
Hospital/Quarantine , I quickly open the door but found
nothing inside but some cages and two people talking.
I ask if there's a doctor there and they said none.
Then the king snake handler came over and directed us
to follow him. I thought we would be brought to a
clinic. To my dismay, we were brought to a dirty
pantry full of flies. And the handler administered
Betadine to my daughter's finger, which was stored in
a soy sauce gallon container. A park with no clinic,
no doctor and no medicine.

I took my daughter to the hospital, and upon reaching
the hospital the first question was what kind of snake
bit my daughter. I told them its an Albino King
Snake. They were not sure whether the king snake is a
venomous or a non-venomous snake. They said they had
to consult an expert about this. After awhile, Thank
God that the king snake was a non-venomous one. But
the doctors wanted to be sure so they gave my daughter
an anti-tetanus drug and ask her to take anti-biotics
for seven days.

After reaching home, I texted both Jake and Tina Gaw
(owners of AoA) that the doctor asked us to observe my
daughters condition. I also told them that I am going
to write about this horrible experience. Tina texted
back and said: "Jerry, if thats how bad you felt, I
respect your personal feelings concerning the
incident. I wish she (my daughter) could have been
more careful in handling the snake or other pets as
well especially this one is exotic. Even tame ones,
rabbit, tortoise, mouse, pig bite when they felt hurt
or frighten when not properly handled. And its really
sad when you felt it became a horrible issue."

First of all, that was a very insensitive remark from
AoA, blaming my daughter for the incident. Being
bitten by a snake is not only horrible but a traumatic
one as well. What are the chances that you will get
bitten by a snake in the metropolis? Worst in a theme
park like Arc of Avilon.

If AoA is saying that there is always a possibility
that visitors will be bitten everytime animals are
mishandled, then do not allow the animals to be
touched at all. Its bad enough that the animals were
taken out of their natural habitat. I don't think
the snake was hurt or frighten, they were tired and
irritated because the animals were being used to
entertain people.

Visitors are not trained to handle animals properly
especially kids. Let me remind AoA that most of your
visitors are children, I even saw some as young as two
years old. They will just touch and play with the
animals without knowing whether they're hurting them
or not. It is AoA's responsibility to make sure that
none of their animals be hurt or frighten so that
biting won't happen.

And since accidents happen, how come AoA doesn't even
have a clinic to at least administer first-aid. What
if the eagles decided to peck the visitors, or use
their big claws to attack the children. Donkey or
horse suddenly kicking. And snakes biting. There
shoud be a doctor, a clinic and first-aid kit to
address this kind of unfortunate incidents. AoA
should not allow people to touch a snake that bites
plus they should have expert handlers to assist its
visitors. What if the snake turns out to be venomous
and something happen to my daughter? How would AoA
deal with that?

Arc of Avilon management should take full
responsiblity and not just say that the snake is a
non-venomous one. No other help was offered, and then
they will blame the visitors for mishandling the
animals.

Am I over reacting? I don't think so. As a parent,
will you take it sitting down? Will you just take
their word for it that it's non-venomous? Remember,
its a snake-bite. Let this be a warning to all my
readers who are planning to visit Arc of Avilon at
Tiendesitas or any other zoo for that matter.

Let my story be a lesson to all. You can ask your
kids to look but as much as possible DO NOT TOUCH.
Better yet, DO NOT VISIT the Arc of Avilon totally,
until They've improve their facilities.

To the management of Arc of Avilon, put your visitors
safety first before anything else. We visit your zoo
trusting that you care for us and you know what you're
doing. What happen was a nightmare. Not only did my
daughter got bitten by a snake, she was even blamed by
inconsiderate owners. I am just curious, if the
management of Arc of Avilon treat their visitors like
the way they treated us, I wonder how they treat
their animals inside their zoo.

Never will we go to the Arc of Avilon again. NEVER
AGAIN.

Thank you and more power. God Bless us all!

Jerry Liao