Zoos

Zoos have been in the news recently, and by now you've surely heard about the death of that gorilla. If you haven't well here is the quick story: A child fell into the gorilla pit at a zoo in Cincinnati. The outrage over both the zoos actions and the "negligence" of the mother has been huge. Like the popular meme says, everyone has become an expert in zoos, parenting, and tranquilizer shots. 

I've always been uncomfortable with the concepts of zoos. I admit it's a catch-22. You have all your needs apparently taken care of-food, shelter, security-but the animals do really lose their freedom. The natural world is apparently thought of to be "peaceful" by some people (idiots only). In reality, the natural world is incredibly violent. Most animals die before their first birthday and many are killed by their own species. In other words life in in the wild is truly solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and most importantly-short. We look at a cute little puppy or kitten and think "cuddly pet" while a bald eagle or an alligator looks at our cuddly pet and thinks "lunch". 

In life, you often are presented with two unpleasant outcomes to your choices. Accidents happen and sometimes you really do need to accept that the "least worst" option is the best. Once that baby fell in the gorilla enclosure, there was no other option. The gorilla had to be shot. A quick note on guns-aiming for the "leg" or "arm" only happens in the movies and it would have made the gorilla furious, thus putting the baby at an even greater risk. Animal life is important, in fact some of us are vegetarians and support animal rights charities as much as we can-but human life must be viewed as more important.