Jun 22 2010
Bird park in the shopping mall
Two Sundays ago, on our usual shopping trip in Ikano Power Center (the shopping mall in Mutiara Damansara), Phillip and I stumbled into a the bird park. There was no entrance fee required. As we walked into the enclosed netted area we were amazed at the setup. Some trees and bamboo plants were carefully arranged to make the birds feel very at home. It made us feel that we were in the avairy back home in Labuan though in a very much smaller scale. A lot of money and time must have been spent to do this set up, I thought.
In this very small enclosure, there were displayed some very selected types of exotic birds like the hornbill of Sarawak, the pelican, the owl and more.
We found out that this bird exhibition was organised by the KL Bird Park. I took a brochure and was surprised to find that it is located only 10 minutes away from the Kuala Lumpur city center. That being the case, I could not understand why the organisers went through all the trouble to bring the birds into the shopping mall. Isn’t it better and more rewarding to go to the Bird Park to see the birds in their natural habitat? Are we Malaysians being spoilt by having nature delivered to us in packaged form for our enjoyment? Frankly I think that’s the case.
It might seem a jolly good idea to liven up the shopping mall with myriad sounds of bird chirps and crows but I think the human visitors who thronged the small enclosure made more noise that the serenity that birds have been accustomed to in a natural jungle setting appeared to have been greatly disturbed. To me it isn’t cool to subject the poor birds to such intrusions.
What do bird lovers think about this?