The same week I went to Singapore I went to Taman Safari with my housemate and two of our students. The animals there seemed much happier than at Taman Mini. They mostly had free roam of the park. As we drove up to the safari we went past about one million ragged villagers who stepped out into the road to wave carrots at the car. We stopped and bought a bag from the one who clawed his way to the window first.
As we drove to the different enclosures I stopped eating my carrot mid-chew when a zebra stuck its head through the window. Elephants and what looked like Ankole-Watusi wandered down the road and grabbed them from every car down the lines of traffic that formed whenever people stopped to look at an animal. I was having great fun stroking all the stragglers and it looked like everyone else was doing the same. I couldn't decide whether it would be miserable walking down lines of cars all day eating carrots and having people poke at you or whether it would be awesome.

When we arrived at the event area there was a sea lion show. We arrived five minutes late so we were amazed to see that the entire front row was free. We were amazed right up to the point that the sea-lions completely soaked us with a spray so powerful it blasted my wallet out of my pocket. Other people had clearly been before.
The only miserable part of the safari park was the petting zoo where you could pay to take photos with a lion tiger or leopard that had been doped up. Whenever they made a weak attempt to bite a customer who teased or stoked them too aggressively an attendant jabbed a stick in their mouth. All the guys tried to persuade me to take a photo with one but I refused because I didn't want to promote the practice in any way. My flat mate tried to argue the lion he took a photo with wasn't drugged but his argument was made redundant when he lifted the lions head and it half-opened its eyes instead of ripping his face off.  I did take a photo with a baby orangutan that looked happy enough.
Other than the petting zoo the contact with the animals was delightful. I had to stifle tears of joy after watching a small child crawl under a fence into the kangaroo enclosure. It stepped on a baby kangaroo's tail and received a savage kick to the face. This was particularly wonderful to see after a week of teaching the little treasures.