Jan 9

I really wish I could have taken a better pic of this fellow, but you just have to go with me on this one. Two blocks away for work, I see a fat fuzzy something coming down a tree trunk. Too big to be a squirrel, too fat to be a cat. I stop, it stops. It looks at me. It's a raccoon. He's freaking adorable, and as he realizes I saw him, he starts back up the tree. I try to take a picture of him as he's waddling up the trunk, but he's really camera shy, and keeps spiraling around the tree to get away from me. So all I get is his eyes. I have to say, he's not a very agile animal, and his progress up a tree can only be compared with an overweight Firefox, but still, hella cute. Welcome to the Fenway, where we've got raccoons in our trees.

Stuffed Animals

Imprisoned in Siberia

So there is a zoo here.  I've been to it, once, about 20 years ago.  I have only horrible memories of that visit, animals in filth behind bars, smelly, lonely, cold.  For some reason I thought that things might have changed in 20 years.  Not so much.  They only got worse...

These two statues are really the best part about the zoo, and even the lions seem to be apprehensive about what lies ahead.

It's rather impossible to photograph through bars and steel cages.

I think the bears had it the worst - tiny cages in the sun, no respite from the heat save for a stream of water, shot at the poor animals by some zoo workers

He is only 4.  He doesn't have a name, like the tigers in the Bronx.  He is alone in a cage.  He is simply beautiful.  Last year, the zoo called for a drive of 800,000 roubles to buy him a bride.  Obviously, the drive was in vain.  Mind you, the zoo is a municipal institution.

The lynx did not want to be bothered.