There's nothing like seeing animals in their natural setting: stately giraffes and elephants undulating across the plain; herds of wildebeest on their migratory route; grouchy-looking ostriches and secretary birds; lions basking in the branches of trees; a chorus line of flamingos taking off into the sky; hyenas tearing apart the remains of a lion's prey; a curious Cape buffalo approaching too close for comfort. All these memories and many more are still with me. Back in the 70s, during a Peace Corps stint in East Africa, I visited Marsabit, Tsavo, Lakes Manyara and Nakuru, Serengeti, and Ngorongoro Crater, among other wildlife parks, on my summer break.
Before that period, the only places I'd observed exotic animals up close--in a most unnatural habitat, the zoo--were in New York, Colorado, and California. Although I've always been attracted to animals of all kinds and used to make a point of visiting the zoos of big cities as well as smaller towns, I always came away with a wistful feeling for them and all they were missing as exhibit animals, locked away for life in cages, or separated from the public by deep, wide moats. But in those days I believed the hype that zoos were enlightened places where education, research, and preservation of endangered and exotic species took place, and that sacrificing a few wild animals in the pursuit of more knowledge to help save the others was a necessary evil.
Unfortunately, the truth is that even the best run and most well-planned zoos are simply prisons for wild animals. And most zoos are far from well run, because of a chronic lack of funding for improvements. In the smaller zoos, which include roadside menageries and petting zoos, animals are forced to spend their lives in a cold, sterile environment, walking on concrete, behind steel bars. They are exposed to extreme heat and cold, and travel from town to town in cramped containers. If they're lucky, they may receive some level of veterinary care and regular feeding. But often they don't.
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