Zoos Make Me Sad

November 11, 2012

The Singapore Zoo is hailed as one of the best in the world and it seems like it. The animals look well taken care of and healthy. However, I never really liked zoos. Maybe because of that penguin going bonkers while inside the zoo in Happy Feet or maybe because I’m just a plain old hippie. But all zoo animals just seem a little sad to me.

I live a meaningless existence. Sigh.

We need to get out of here! The staff won’t notice the stone elephant in our place!

Me so lonely.

How you view zoos I guess depends on what you value in life. Would you rather be in the wild and live a life of freedom and uncertainty or would you prefer to be in the zoo and live a routine yet comfortable lifestyle?

Note: Free all zoo animals!

Thoughts on “Zoos Make Me Sad”

  1. The Sicilian Housewife says

    I’ve always found zoos depressing and upsetting, and I’ve never encountered other people who understood my viewpoint till reading your post.
    I do feel equally upset when seeing most domestic pets. A bird in a cage, a fish in a little tank or a rodent of some kind amid smelly sawdust in a wire cage is just as distressing to me, as is the sight of a dog trapped in the middle of a stuffy living room.
    I’m a nautral born wanderer, so for me, the attractions of safety cannot possibly compete with the need to roam free.

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    • mariaprecioso says

      Ugh. Yeah, pet abuse upsets me too. I mean, don’t get one as a fad or if you can’t take care of them right?

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  2. Dawn Whitehand says

    The problem with animal prisons (zoos) is that they perpetuate the objectification of our environment, which includes animals, which in terns reinforces the notion that the world is here at our disposal for human consumption… and this concept is the root of our environmental dilemmas at the moment..

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  3. belladonic haze says

    Right on! I love animals but do not like seeing them in unnatural environments…especially zoos. Circuses are another thing (even worse)…don’t get me started… ;)

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  4. janjoy52 says

    Cute. Good question. Freedom vs predictable and safe. I can identify with the longing for both. :-)

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  5. John says

    I like to see the different critters but you are so right. They seem sad, put yourself in their place for a few minutes. They are not devoid of intelligence and have some understanding of freedom I believe.

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  6. Lap Chan says

    I am fascinated by animals and love to learn about them. I don’t particularly like zoos either, and when I was younger I never questioned why that was for a long time.
    I do think that they serve a purpose now in the world in which we live today, as much as I frown upon it, but I still think zoos go a little too far. They should play a smaller role in the animals’ lives. And there being so many awful zoos around the world, there is no respect for non-human animals – very bad indeed.
    As much as I think they are necessary right now, I don’t think I’d visit one again unless there was a specific purpose.

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    • maria precioso says

      It does make you feel very conflicted doesn’t it? Well there are very good animal sanctuaries out there so don’t despair!

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  7. gracefullybrave says

    Have you read Life of Pi? It had an interesting take on zoos that made me think they actually aren’t that bad…

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    • maria precioso says

      Unfortunately I haven’t. My friend has been badgering me to read it for years. Luckily, the movie is out! To be fair, zoos aren’t completely bad. The post was basically just the personal effect it had on me. I do know that most zoos are very active in animal conservation and welfare. :)

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  9. Meg says

    Zoos make me sad too, the best one I ever went to was an African Safari, in the hills of southern Ohio. The fences only keep out the people, it was built on the former ruin of a coal mine, rolling hills, of grass and copses of trees. The rhinos, the zebras and the giraffes wandered free. WE were enclosed in an armored bus. I couldn’t help but think of the movie Jurassic park, as the Momma rhino ran towards us.

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  10. snailfish888 says

    Great post and thought provoking. Agreed lots ‘n lots of people confine themselves to “their cave” even if IT IS the pits,
    as jumping forwards towards to unknown is too scary to contemplate. Great pics too!

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  11. Eddie Two Hawks says

    Wonderful presentation and photos Maria. Zoos do provide safe haven for those animals unable to survive in their natural environment. However, it is my opinion, taking perfectly healthy specimens for capture and display should be a crime.

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    • maria precioso says

      Well true. But hopefully there are no zoos like that. :(

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  12. Claudia Gherman says

    Indeed, going to a zoo it’s always sad. However, this is how I discovered animals, wild ones and not only. Going there made me being more curious about them, their natural habitat etc.

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  14. BEKABULUH says

    I never liked zoos either. One time my parents made me do it because it was my little brother’s birthday. Arriving at the monkeys’ cage, I cried. You don’t want to know what zoos in Indonesia are like.

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    • maria precioso says

      I know it’s supposed to be sad but little kids crying in a zoo? Adorable. Haha!

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  15. kevin meyers says

    Zoos – ugh. They make me shudder. Bad on so many levels.
    But your captions made me laugh!

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  18. Renard Moreau says

    [ Smiles ] Great blog, Maria.

    The zoo is not the animal’s natural habitat; it is an artificial creation that was designed for those who resonate at a low vibration.

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  19. compostingwords says

    I so agree with you. The animals are interesting to see but at the same time it breaks my heart to see them confined.

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  20. cgjohnston says

    I agree with you, zoos are sad places. I also agree with “denisediscovers”, in spite of the so-called benefits of zoos, I believe that more should be done to protect their habitats and protect endangered species by banning hunting. To me, there is nothing so sad as seeing an animal that is meant to be roaming the wilds, enclosed in a “cage”, no matter how well-designed, just so I can easily gawk at it.

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  21. Animalcouriers says

    They can be very sad places but the flip side is that some are involved in precious breeding programs. It’s a really hard one.

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  22. Elle says

    Funny you should mention penguins; there’s a (baby) penguin making news in Japan quite regularly at the moment, because he keeps escaping his pen to a local lake where he can catch live feed. He won’t eat the dead fish they supply even though he was born in captivity and in theory should know no better. It just shows that they are kept against their will and they are deprived the right of their natural instincts. But I’m a hypocrite because I quite like going to the zoo; but like you it makes me sad too.

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  23. makagutu says

    in as much as i would agree that we free all animals in zoos, there are zoos that take of abandoned/ orphaned animals or breed them for reintroduction to the wild. would you want these zoos closed as well?

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    • maria precioso says

      Obviously the last note was merely meant for laughs. :)

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  24. bondiwaves says

    It is always sad to see unhappy animals whether they are in a zoo or someone’s house.

    Zoos belonging to the AZA tend to have established breeding programmes that have been instigated to help preserve threatened species with the aim in most cases to reintroduce these species back into the wild. This had been done successfully over the years for a number of species. See http://www.aza.org/reintroduction-programs/

    If these zoos didn’t exist many amazing and wonderful animal species would become extinct. What I think is sad is the reason why these breeding programmes exist – because of us humans and our excessive need for things, we are slowly destroying the habitats and ecosystems that are home to these animals.

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  25. fournier0917 says

    Ah Maria..we can cry on each other’s shoulder because zoos make me sad too. But your wonderful pictures compensate to some degree, at least for me, though I am sure for others as well. But what to do about the zoo… set them free, or maybe like long term jail prisoners they don’t want to be, worried of being lost on the outside. But then again what do I know, as having traveled the world has not changed me from living happily on the inside of who I be, and that’s a zoo!

    À bientôt, Jean-Jacques Fournier

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  26. denisediscovers says

    I really don’t enjoy visiting zoos, and they’re something I really have trouble with recommending to others. I know some zoos do a good job with breeding rare and endangered species but I think it would be so much better if these animals could be bred to be released back into the wild.

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  27. wbwise says

    I can totally relate to your feelings about zoos. Sure, the animals get their three meals, a nice place to live, and all the comforts of life but, at the end of the day, they have no freedom. Wait, this sounds like our lives in the US and Europe!

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    • Claudia Gherman says

      I agree, this sounds like our lives everywhere, all around the world.

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  28. angelayeh says

    Thanks for the new follow :) You have a beautiful blog.

    Reply ↓

  29. Pingback: Zoos Make Me Sad | Home Far Away From Home

  30. greenlightlady says

    It’s amazing how a zoo looks so different to us as we age. I felt sad the last time I was at one, too. Although I would love to bring my neighborhood raccoons to one and leave them there, since they mess up parts of my garden…but I won’t. I’ll share our place, instead.
    Blessings ~ Wendy

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