Part Two; Put me in a CAGE!?

This relates back to the opening of part one where I stated the idea of making you imagine that you were a 600lb gorilla. This was the story of why I would have asked you to do that.

A couple years ago Tracy and I had visited the Toronto Zoo. I thought that it would be a good time as I had not been there since I was a kid and always loved it when I was little. It was a great time to be with family and see animals that I had never seen in real life before.

We took our time walking around and enjoyed seeing animals we never see up close like polar bears, giraffes, crocs, scorpions…think you get the point. We had moments when we felt guilty and others when we were angry for example; a young man in his early 20’s was taunting the pack of Northern Canadian wolves saying they couldn’t catch him as he rain along the fence. I couldn’t help but wonder if I had the strength to toss him over the eighteen foot fence and near the pack, only to ask "do you think you can out run them now?"

We continued on to the lowland gorilla and thought now this would be an interesting animal to see. I mean how many times do you have the chance to stand only a few feet from a real live gorilla? But this is was not to be the case. No, No! We were at the zoo where animals are caged and attended to by men and women in cacky cargo shorts who do feeding shows at 11:30, 2:30 and 5:30 so don’t miss it. This is a safe environment so we could gawk and ‘learn’.

But when I looked into the cage, that is honestly not bigger then a garage, the massive male gorilla sat with his gargantuan frame slumped against the fence. He was playing with a piece of grass that was on the outer edge of the fence between his forefinger and thumb like a child might. His eyes were tired, weak and filed with depression.

At that moment I felt sickened by the fact that I was a human being and wanted to apologize to this animal until my throat was raw and my lungs collapsed. But it would all be done in vain as this animal was in this unfit conditions for ‘observational reasons’ or that ‘he couldn’t possibly live in the wild because of…’, I never felt more ashamed to be there.

Zoos originated as a means for people to see animals and learn about them as at the time people didn’t have the means to travel, there was no TV and internet was 100 years in the making. This idea crossed the Atlantic as small zoos started popping up in North America. Before you knew it there metropolitan zoos, petting zoos, animal shows, and if you are really lazy there are drive through zoos like park safari.

Why did they all pop up so quickly? Money! It is all lucrative business and the excuse that an animal can not live in the wild so we take care of it here is complete bullshit to me. If an animal can not live in the wild it would make sense that they would have the honor and respect of dieing in their habitat instead of inside a cage while children and adults look on. To me that gorilla was already dead.

I know they help endangered and sickly animals back to health and that is great, but they are not released so they can be placed on display while people pay enormous amounts for tickets to enter these parks. We have access to internet, TV and most people can travel to almost anywhere in the world to have a real adventure and learn about these animals in their natural environment.

My wife and I hike a lot locally and our travels are always based on varying treks and hikes. We have seen many deer, foxes, bears, moose and the like. It is always awe inspiring to see them in nature where they should be. But as humans we believe we should control everything just b/c we are supposedly the most ‘advanced’ species, HA!

Bottom line do I think zoos should exist? No, I suppose not. And if my children ask me to go to one I will not no what to say, I can only hope that I can educate them and that our trips and hikes with them will give them enough wildlife to never want to go. Maybe instead of imagining yourself as a 600lb gorilla in the wild, imagine yourself being held against your will in a small cage while you are placed on display for the world to come and stare and make odd faces at you.