Donkey Business

Yesterday I came across an article called Donkey Business. The story discusses the condition of zoo's in Gaza. Obviously, being a war zone, many zoo's are in terrible shape. While I find that very sad, I found myself intrigued and humored by one resourceful zoo. They could not acquire a real zebra so they PAINTED a donkey.

Can you imagine what must have been involved to paint a donkey? What sort of materials does one use to paint zebra stripes on another animal? House paint? Dye? Then there's the application process. How does one convince a donkey to cooperate? Lots of carrots and sweet words or a heavy dose of some sort of donkey Valium? Then there the issue of roots. Every women who is friends with Ms. Clariol understands that in order to maintain 'the look', regular root touch ups are necessary. More carrots perhaps? I wonder how long it took to create such artwork? This donkey's pride must have really taken a hit. =) Are all the other donkey's laughing at this poor animal? Quick, someone call PETA. Oh wait, were talking about Gaza. They have bigger fish to fry.

The article touched on the smuggling process, a necessary evil to gain said animals for these zoo's. Apparently the smuggling tunnels can only accommodate items as large as cow. The article ends with Donkey zoo (don't remember its true name) stating how they would love to have an elephant but of course it would have to be a small one because the smuggler could never get it through. Are they serious?

This story is a gold mine for commentary.