Trip To The Zoo (pic heavy)
I've been itching to get out and do some hikes, but I'm not quite ready for trails and uneven terrain (soon though). I have not been to a zoo in probably 20 years - and now I realize why. I am really conflicted about the zoo. It is pretty cool to see all the different animals that I would not otherwise be able to see. The number of school children on field trips that were learning about all of the different animals, and hopefully gaining a bit more respect for them was encouraging. Growing up, and going to the zoo was a family thing, and we always had a good time. The trips were very infrequent, but always enjoyable. The conflicted part comes from seeing so many of the animals that seem to have their spirit broken. Granted, it was a very hot day today. All of the animals seemed to be well cared for, but for some of them it just appeared that they had resigned themselves to living in captivity. I know that some were born to captivity and that is all that they know, but somehow that part of the zoo experience just bothered me. I took about 250 pictures, so I guess in a sense I'm a bit hypocritical about it. Just made me think more than I had thought it would before I went today. I'll post some of the pictures throughout this thread, and a couple of others.
