Snake Bite Story at the Arc of Avilon in Tiendesitas

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 bloodied so I quickly ask where the
> clinic was located. I saw
> a sign that read Hospital/Quarantine , I quicky 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."
>
> Now it's my daughter's fault to be bitten by the
> snake? AoA never
> bothered to offer their help and now they blame my
> daughter for the
> incident. That was a very insensitive remark by
> Tina. I don't think the
> snake was hurt or frighten, they were tired and
> irritated because they
> were being used to entertain people.
>
> Exotic you say? Why allow them to be touched by
> people? Yes, I agree
> that animals bite when they felt hurt or frighten,
> but let me remind the
> management of AoA that most of your audience 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
> frigthen so that biting won't happen.
>
> And since accidents happen, how come Arc of Avilon
> don't even have a
> clinic to at least administer some first-aid
> soluton. What if the eagles
> decided to peck the visitors, or use their big claws
> to attack the
> visitors. 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.
>
> Arc of Avilon should not allow people to touch a
> snake that bites plus
> they should have expert handlers to assist its
> visitors. All the Arc of
> Avilon management can say is 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 overacting? I don't think so. What are the
> chances that you will
> get bitten by a snake in the metropolis? Worst in a
> theme park like Arc
> of Avilon. 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 improve their facilities.
> Never again will we
> go to the Arc of Avilon.
>
> Thank you and more power. God Bless us all!
>
> Jerry Liao