tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post7848091383747115353..comments2023-10-26T03:19:41.569-07:00Comments on Stephen Bodio's Querencia: New York Carriage horses and their enemiesSteve Bodiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14434597061701369867noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-18560456444706444382014-09-21T10:43:46.288-07:002014-09-21T10:43:46.288-07:00As a zookeeper, I encounter this crazed anti-inter...As a zookeeper, I encounter this crazed anti-interaction-in-any-way-with-animals attitude from radical humaniacs that accost me while at work to let me know they HATE all zoos and want them eradicated(always makes me wonder WHY they are patronizing one with their admission fee if they feel so strongly that way!...). I always SHOCK this sort by immediately agreeing with them, and adding that, "in the best of all possible worlds" there WOULD be no need for zoos! But then remind them it IS NOT the best-of-all-possible-worlds, and plunge into a harangue about WHY we DO need zoos now(and probably always will), and most feel very lucky to get away from me several hours lecture later, and likely think twice before bringing THAT up to a zookeeper again! What I have discovered is that this attitude stems from two things, mostly. One is EXTREME ignorance--and alas, it is getting so "politically correct" mainstream to have this non-interaction with other animals to the point where otherwise sensible and intelligent people blurt this knee-jerk stuff too. Sensible and intelligent about some things--just not animals! The other is that so many people nowadays, in urban environments especially, are just so unhappy and unsatisfied with their lives(perhaps from living so unnaturally in an artificial urban environment!), that they are trying to live vicariously through animals that are "wild and free" the way THEY subconsciously wish THEY could live. Since they can't, they try to at least create this "perfect life" for other animals--never realistically realizing there is NO SUCH THING as a "perfect life" for ANYTHING, in captivity, as domesticated, or as "wild and free"!....L.B.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com