It's What We Believe About Animals That Is Wild

From the Project Gutenberg EBook of Round-about Rambles in Lands of Fact and Fancy, by Frank Richard Stockton- click on the image for the book-

With all due respect to the victims of the tiger attack and their families-

Not long ago I was reading the latest newsletter of our local zoo. The photo accompanying the article (unfortunately for me) illustrated how the zoo has changed over the years. Although not exactly spelled out, I know that the changes reflected the difference between how we perceived our role among wild animals in captivity when the zoo was first created and now. To be brief, the focus then was on creating a 'zoological park'; the emphasis was on making an appealing flow of foot traffic. The walkways were straight and led into clusters of cages/exhibits or gardens/fountains/ponds to break up the monotony. In other words, the park focused on creating a display that appealed to the consumer.

But as times changed, effort was made to ensure the relevance of the zoo as a viable form of entertainment. The old zoo system must have been perceived as quaint and even cruel, as it seemed to encourage a sense of subduing or conquering of the wild. Perhaps it conjured up images of the big game hunter demonstrating his prowess in the last great wild frontier, stuffed heads displayed over his mantel and bearskin carpeting his floor. The new system reflected a more progressive (read 'kinder, gentler') stance; it stood to swing diametrically in the other direction, raising the image of the captive beast to that of unwitting victim, nature's survivor, the endangered species now fated to live out its life in captivity as it had become impossile to live as it had in the wild.

A tragic story of loss in the name of being well-intentioned- click on the image to see the trailer for this movie-

For reasons that I don't understand, we seem as a society to be given to extreme and radical responses to the questions of our times. While it's true that an era now ended saw animals as something to be conqured, a creature to prove dominion over, those of our own time seems bent on forcing the wild into an equally abhorrent caricature, that of the hapless victim requiring our strategic planning to ensure its very survival. Neither of these views are entirely correct.

Click on this image to read an article on zoology-

Whether someone is culpable in the recent tiger attack remains to be seen. But whether habitat design or human misbehavior contributed to the animal's violent response, one thing is certain; either scenario underestimates the unpredictability of what we used to call 'nature'. I don't mean 'nature' as in 'mother nature', but the word we use to describe what someone or something is liable to do. Wild animals are beautiful and they do entertain us, but they never lose their nature. And here's another fact that is bound to frustrate our litigation-silly culture; you can't sue an animal! Isn't that amazing? There are no laws or rules to govern the behavior of animals. There are all kinds of laws to govern the behavior of humans, who, incidentally, have a nature, as well.

Another tragic miscalculation in the name of entertainment; click on the image to read an article on this attack-

Today, when I visit our zoo (I can call it ours, since my commitment goes above and beyond the price of admission) certain glaring differences from the way it was when I was a kid are apparent; less use of 'houses' (remember the monkey house, or the reptile house, or the bird house?). If houses are used at all anymore, they are used as souvenir shops or grudgingly for animals whose habitat is more easily adapted to it. I photographed empty cages in a house the last time I was there. The architecture, by the way, was gorgeous, if you like that sort of thing (and I do)- lots of deco light and shadow play. Another difference is an increase in the language of conservation and recycling- good habits in and of themselves. I have no complaint against them. The only thing is that I often feel chided when I walk around and have to be reminded that my decision to clothe my children in disposable diapers has an impact on the ecology. There is also a greater ephasis on fundraising and all of it in the name of protecting wildlife for future generations. What happened to the resources that weren't used to protect them for this generation? To put it another way, how did they ever make it without us?

Click to read an excerpt from the book Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West (Hardcover)by Eric Baratay (Author), Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier (Author)

I was a kid once, going through my dad's collection of National Geographics. Less a sense of entitlement or a need to dominate, their approach was to learn from and appreciate the wild, but never to lose sight of the fact that there is the nature to contend with. There was never anyone to blame but ourselves in case a mishap should occur. Even our domesticated pets had a nature that could not be denied, but now they are a member of the family and thereby entitled to as full a life of possibilities as our children, complete with health insurance and dental plan.

I guess that's what bothers me the most; it's not that I belong to one side of this issue and it seems we are losing debate in the court of public opinion, it's that as I grow older I continue to realize that from generation to generation as we advance in technology we regress in plain old fashioned horse-sense. We literally forget from generation to generation the things about ourselves and the world around us that are wonderful to know. Like amnesiacs we need to relearn things we should have had all along. But those voices in our culture- Madison Avenue, political affiliation and lobbiest influences, the media and even organized religion make us to be less than animals. They bring shame to our very existence when they tell us to not behave according to our nature and not to expect other species to act according to theirs.

Click on the book to follow the link to Amazon.Com for Zoo: A History of Zoological Gardens in the West (Hardcover)by Eric Baratay (Author), Elisabeth Hardouin-Fugier (Author)