We've reached as a species a time when, if we value the survival of a great
many species, well-managed zoos are something of a necessity. The
traditional educational and amusement role of zoos take on real urgency in
developing public support for the maintenance of some remnants of viable
habitat; equally important, given the pressures on habitat in much of the
world probably the best hope is the maintenance of breeding populations
until  reintroduction becomes possible. Starving people in the Congo eat
gorillas and chop down their forests not because they're less wise than the
rest of us but because they have little choice in the face of the extreme
hardships they face (we as a society have conbsiderably more choices and
still behave very stupidly). At some time in the future, when their lives
become more stable, they may wish to restore some of their lost landscape
and its inhabitants. Stranger things have happened. The American bison is a
case in point.

There are zoos that, with all the problems, have great reproduction
reecords, the Bronz Zoo for one, and of course the San Diego, and a lot of
smaller zoos that have shifted from being the most horrible of menageries
to focusing on reproduction programs for a few species. They are never a
substitute for the experience of wild animals in the wilds, but often
that's not a choice.

Mark


At 05:38 PM 7/24/2003 -0400, you wrote:
>Hi Leslie,.
>
>I felt the same way before the renovations were done at the Buffalo Zoo. I
>am a proud cat dad and I love animals better than humans :-) I was relieved
>by what I saw when I went to the Buffalo Zoo so this is why I began this
>project. I am fully understanding of your feeling and I addressed that bind
>in my introductions to the poem group. www.blazevox.org/zoo I'll understand
>if you choose to not take a look.
>
>If any poets wish to send a comment along for this Zoo poem project [titled
>HouseCat Kung Fu] I would really appreciate it. I am making a proposal to
>the Buffalo Arts Council next week and any encouragement is welcome !
>
>Best, Geoffrey
>
>Geoffrey Gatza
>editor       BlazeVOX2k3
>
>                __o
>             _`\<,_
>            (*) /  (*)
>
>www.blazevox.org
>
>
>
>
>
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Leslie Shinn" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: <[log in to unmask]>
>Sent: Thursday, July 24, 2003 10:57 AM
>Subject: Re: very sad today regarding the giraffe
>
>
> > My children and I abhor and boycott zoos, and talk against them at
> > every opportunity.  A zoo is an outmoded idea.  I call it the "it
> > makes the baby laugh" mentality, people standing before cages,
> > pointing and looking in.  It serves to nullify life, and I ask how on
> > any level can this heartless and so often brutal incarceration be
> > entertaining!?
> >
> > I have always said that what this country NEEDS is PERHAPS three
> > elephants, tigers, lions, etc.:  one each on the east coast, west
> > coast and maybe one in the middle, and by God, if you want to see an
> > elephant, go to it.
> >
> > On the east coast where I live, there are dozens of scurrilous "zoos"
> > or "animal shows" or *whatever*, where conditions, when they are even
> > reported, will often as not make you scream and cry.  Every single
> > one of these goddam mom-and-pop animal prisons has its very OWN
> > tiger, lion, etc., etc.  It's appalling.  As you see, I take a VERY
> > hard line on this issue, and no apologies.  I live in Philadelphia,
> > where the Philadelphia Zoo, the oldest in the nation, has a long
> > brutal history of stupid accidents and neglect that has claimed many
> > innocent animal lives.  Millions of tax dollars have been spent to
> > clean up and "improve" this terrible place -- and for what?  So
> > children can see these animals?  Photographs in habitat are better
> > than the real thing in a ZOO, I say.
> >
> > Forgive this personal rant.  The tone of the article you forwarded
> > ("It was a quick death"!!! and "Well, it's happened before") just
> > wrecked me too, Gabriel.
> >
> > >I was already very sad today but this has wrecked me. I saw it on
> > >www.drudgereport.com, where it was placed I think as something intended
>to
> > >be funny or entertaining, not sure, in the same way the Iraq war is
> > >militainment. I am blubbering about this. I frequent zoos and try to take
> > >my daughter Clio to them as often as I can afford to. I try to go to zoos
> > >wherever I can. The lives of zoo animals is a hell of tedium and
>psychosis.
> > >One wants to hug them, which is ridiculous I know, the Disneyfication of
> > >animals. But prisons and zoos perplex me and confuse me. And this poor
> > >giraffe, why the heck was it left outside during a lightning storm?
> > >
> > >If anyone is inclined to post a poem regarding the giraffe, a respectful
> > >poem regarding it, please do so. I am away from my office where Moore's
>"To
> > >a Giraffe" is cooped up. Nash makes light of them, that's not appropriate
> > >here.
> > >
> > >There is something terribly bathetic about emotion toward animals and I
> > >think this bathos is symptomatic of how very sick this society is. Why
> > >should we not mourn an animal? Why did it have to die under the aegis of
> > >Disney? What has that despicable corporation done to how we think of
> > >animals? A giraffe is a pitiful meat-rod for lightning, is that it? Very
> > >sad today.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > ><<Lightning kills giraffe at Disney's Animal Kingdom
> > >an Associated Press report 7/23/03
> > >LAKE BUENA VISTA - Lightning struck and killed a giraffe at Disney's
>Animal
> > >Kingdom theme park, company officials said Wednesday.
> > >The accident occurred Monday afternoon as a severe lightning storm moved
> > >over the Kilimanjaro Safari attraction, where Betsy the giraffe roamed as
> > >visitors passed through, Disney spokeswoman Diane Ledder said.
> > >A necropsy confirmed that the 6-year-old female giraffe was killed by
> > >lightning, Ledder said.
> > >"To the best of my knowledge, it was a quick death," she said. It was
> > >unclear if any tourists saw the lighting strike.
> > >Betsy was the first animal to die from a lightning strike at the central
> > >Florida theme park, she said.
> > >"It's very unfortunate and unusual ... but it has happened in the past"
>at
> > >other U.S. parks, Ledder said.
> > >The park has lightning rods placed throughout the safari area to protect
> > >animals, she said. Animals can also be brought inside during severe
> > >weather, but the lightning storm came through with too little warning,
>she
> > >said.
> > >
> > >
> > >__________________________________________________
> > >
> > >www.antiwar.com (probably the most useful, thorough, and frequently
>updated
> > >of the urls pertaining to US foreign policy -- also one of the most
> > >credible of the avowedly anti-war right-wing websites)
> > >http://www.truthout.org (stories exclusively from mainstream media -- for
> > >this reason, a very interesting website)
> > >http://www.commondreams.org/ (this compilation website is subtitled
> > >"breaking news and views for the progressive community")
> > >http://www.buzzflash.com/ (very earnest and sometimes annoying abstracts
> > >but generally the most sedulously updated website I frequent)
> > >http://www.legitgov.org/ (*very* annoying abstracts and profoundly
> > >left-bias to this website, but useful stories)
> > >http://www1.iraqwar.ru/?userlang=en (a Russian website rumored to be
> > >maintained by Russian intelligence. During the major combat in Iraq, this
> > >webste provided reports based on US-UK military radio communications.
> > >Sometimes carries and duplicates journalist pieces from western sources.
> > >Also interesting in that it provides reader-feedback sections. This
> > >feedback is often very caustic in its criticisms of the US invasion of
>Iraq
> > >and of US policy toward Israel and its occupation of Palestine.)
> > >www.indymedia.org (Independent media source, cooperative. Broke the
>story,
> > >eg, with photographs, of how staged the toppling of the Saddam statue
>after
> > >the "liberation")
> > >http://www.newamericancentury.org/ (this policy website is run by the
> > >Project for the New American Century, a "neo-con" organization with
>strong
> > >political and business and policy ties to the Bush administration. If you
> > >want to know what the administration is thinking or where it's going,
>this
> > >is a good place to start.)
> > >www.onpower.org (a compendium of articles and bibliographic material
>about
> > >how US foreign market and military interests have been advanced by the
> > >advent and creation of national "crises" -- more of a thinktank website
> > >than a news source, but topical and germane)
> > >http://www.aljazeerah.info/ (an online English version of Al Jazeera, the
> > >news source out of Qatar, which has won several prestigious international
> > >awards for its journalism [eg, a recent "anti-censorship award" called
>the
> > >"Freedom of Expression Award" given by the London-based Index on
> > >Censorship]. Of itself it says, "Your Gateway to Understanding the world
> > >system, American Foreign Policy, and the Arab and Muslim Worlds ..."
>Very
> > >interesting source.)
> > >http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/index.htm (Associated Press breaking news.
> > >Some of these stories are later picked up by newspapers and are then
> > >altered by those newspapers. Sometimes it's interesting to note how
> > >newspapers alter the stories. For instance, just a few days ago the New
> > >York Times removed some statistics from an online story about how many US
> > >soldiers have been wounded in Iraq since the US invaded the country)
> > >
> > >--"That there are men in all countries who get their living by war, and
>by
> > >keeping up the quarrels of nations, is as shocking as it is true; but
>when
> > >those who are concerned in the government of a country, make it their
>study
> > >to sow discord, and cultivate prejudices between nations, it becomes the
> > >more unpardonable."
> > >         -- Thomas Paine, "The Rights of Man", circa 1792
> >
> >
> > --
> >
> >