A Little More Land

It has been many years since I have been to the National Zoo. Much has changed, not just in the exhibits, but also how I think and feel about things such as zoos. There are several aspects I find undividedly positive. One is that the placement of such amazing creatures within the reach of so many people gives them a chance they would otherwise almost definitely never have to appreciate more of the wonders of the natural world. Such visibility also provides a way to raise funds and gain support for important projects such as studying, breeding, and re-introducing endangered species.

This aside, it was still quite painful to see creatures, especially the more intelligent ones, confined in such a small, unnatural area. They will live out their lives behind fences and walls, unable to fully live according to their abilities. And this saddens me deeply. It was difficult to think through and explain what about it bothered me at the time, but it was an undeniable sensation. Before long, I simply wasn’t able to stand it any longer, and we had to leave.

While I am still thinking through the experience, I think that most of my anxiety and anger came from a combination of causes, centering around mankind’s thoughtless wasting of resources each day. We destroy complex ecosystems and organisms that took millions of years to develop, and that will never develop in the same way again. It is difficult for me to imagine a greater pain than knowing that a beauty, an order, a supremely economical and ingenious creature or relationship is gone. And gone forever, not simply until we fully comprehend the import of our actions. And gone not for a great purpose, to complete some noble action. Simply in the production of everyday items and products can this destruction enact itself. And thus the pain also contains an element of self-loathing, for I know I too am part of and act to further the same system of waste and stupidity that seems so untenable at times like this.

Such thoughts will have to be continued at another time, after I can put more consideration into them. Let me finish with a few of the beauties we encountered in our trip (view them all in this Flickr set). I also put up two videos, one of some Golden Lion Tamarins grooming, and one of an Asian Elephant taking a swim in a pool in the same set.