...
But I am reminded of when the San Francisco Zoo upgraded to habitats in place of cages, or to augment cages. It was a big relief for a lot of the animals, and for a lot of the visitors.
They didn't have to be out there on display if they didn't want to be and they had a much roomier and more comfortable place to go out and be themselves when they felt like it. It was still captivity, but immediately less depressing.
I don't even know what they did with the black jaguar they'd had in a stupidly small cage under a tree for who knows how long, but that guy always broke my heart when I was a very little girl. He was the incarnation of hate in there. He did respond not very perceptibly to my grief for him. The hate left his eyes, even though the 'tude didn't budge.
Must've been seven or so and asked to go back and see him alone. So Gramma and Mom and my little sister stayed off almost out of sight on a bench with treats while I went and hung on the fence as near to him as I could get. I spoke to him inside my head. I told him I loved him. I told him I was sorry for his pain.
It did give him a few moments' relief.
I guess it might be better for our gene pool if visitors would now actually have to risk, say, a lioness plucking them out of their cars for lunch. That would be more equitable anyway.
always and any time....
