As if a rooster at dawn wasn’t enough, some residents of Cologne, Germany are complaining they’re being kept up at night by barking sea lions at the city’s zoo.
Astrid, Amelie, Oz, Lina and Mia are apparently night owls of a sort, playing and roaring through the night. Complaints say they’re waking people up or keeping them awake at all hours from 10 pm until dawn. The city is now checking sound-proofing in the sea lion enclosure, and watching surveillance video to see why they’re up so late and so noisy.
It’s apparently the first official noise complaint against the zoo since it opened in 1849, and zoo officials say “We are confident that we will find a solution that suits both the animals and the neighbor.”
My wife and I visited this very attractive zoo with pleasing fountains and gardens. I don’t recall hearing the roar of sea lions, but I did get a candid photo when a pelican snapped his bill at my wife Diane when she ventured to close to their property. While many attractions can be closed on Sundays, we always looked for a chance to visit a European zoo.