This is actually a shot I took over 30 years ago. I didn't have any memory of this slide, it was a complete surprise inside a box processed by Fotomat. I can't be positive, but I believe this was probably taken at the Los Angeles Zoo. Hopefully it doesn't look like this anymore, but when I was growing up this was a pretty standard enclosure for animals. As a child I never even noticed the cruel surroundings. But somewhere along the line zoos began to bother me and I stopped going.
Click on image to see it larger.
My heart breaks when I look at this animal and I have to wonder did it ever know freedom beyond its cement walls.
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He does look sad, or bored, or both. The first zoo I ever visited when I was a child, maybe 7 or 8 years old, was in Cleveland and the animals were all in cages with bars. I never liked zoos after that. I know they've improved with more natural and open surroundings but I still have a hard time wanting to go to a zoo.
ReplyDeleteI remember zoos like that. The one in D.C. was like that, as was the one in San Francisco. I still remember the gorilla in the cage in SF that used to draw a huge crowd because he'd bang around from side to side in the cage and then spit on people.
DeleteZoos have improved, the San Diego zoo seems to have been ahead of most zoos with making the quarters "livable." But I have to say that the ones where the animals roam freely over hundreds or thousands of acres are the zoo of the future. I have one near me that is involved with conservation. It's an amazing place to visit.
Ohio has a place called The Wilds where animals roam freely. I think most are African animals and I'm sure they have to keep the predators away from the prey.... You can read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wilds. It's better than a zoo.
DeleteThat sounds similar to what I have been to. Instead of staring at the animals in cages they get to stare at you in cars. With the swish of a tail they can choose to ignore you. Much better than standard urban zoos.
DeleteA zoo would never be "big" enough for a pride of lions.
ReplyDelete"Prides of lions establish territories of eight to 155 square miles"
http://www.lazoo.org/animals/mammals/african-lion/
Current pictures of the LA Zoo lion enclosure do not look much nicer than the one you captured years ago.
I wonder how these lions ever get any exercise. The boredom of their lives has to be unbearable.
DeleteI remember an old circus animal that was at a small zoo who used to like to perform with a big tire. I'd go to the zoo to draw before it was open to the public and the elephant would get so excited that it had an audience. He'd run into his house and roll out his huge tire. He was always said when I left. Broke my heart.
Who wouldn't be sad if they had to live in a mauve colored cave?
ReplyDeleteHere in western NC until just recently, there was a "tourist attraction" on the Cherokee reservation where bears were kept in concrete pits. Such cruelty to animals should not be allowed to continue.
That's really sickening. There used to be so many sick tourist attractions as you traveled across country. I imagine some still exist, but on the whole I think the general population has grown wiser.
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