Where And When Was The Last Time You Went To The Zoo?

When I have lived within reasonable driving distance of a zoo, I have gone often. I have been to the Milwaukee Zoo several times, but not in the past fifty years. I have been to the San Diego Zoo a few times while I was living in California, and I have been to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, Texas several times when I lived in the Rio Grande Valley. My hometown of Wallace, Michigan even has a zoo, but that wasn't there when I lived there. To answer your question, it has been about thirty years since I've been to a zoo.

When I was in high school, there was what they called an animal park at Hennes Park in Menominee Michigan. The animals were all ones that were native to that part of Michigan, except for a few buffalo, but they barely had room to turn around. They had a black bear that could take about five steps in either direction before it had to turn around in order to pace. They had raccoons in cages not a whole lot larger than live traps.

We let all the animals out one day, so it's a good thing that the statute of limitations has gone by on that one. The park was on the edge of town, adjacent to woods, so if they went in the right direction, they were home-free. As far as I know, they all made it out except for two of the deer who made a wrong turn and found themselves downtown. And then there was the buffalo. The deer and the buffalo were all in the same pasture. They were the only animals that had a little bit of room, perhaps an acre. After we cut the fence, the deer were out of there in a flash. The buffalo looked at them as if to say, "Guys, I don't think that's a good idea." The buffalo ignored the opening in the fence and stayed put.

If not for zoos, some species of animals would have been extinct long ago, but that wasn't the case with the animal park in Menominee. I felt good about letting them go, and was relieved when the bear headed for the woods rather than toward me.

@Lon Tanner, I bet you'll enjoy your day at the zoo. Have fun.

 

I always sleep soundest when I'm avoiding something.
That's not a jab, that's a confession.

YMMV¹, but I bet it doesn't.

¹Your Mileage May Vary (meaning this may not apply to you as it does to me)