Unfortunately, this isn't a blog about mongoose(s? geese?). Instead, there's a bunch of stuff about what I'm watch/read/playing at the moment. Call me Liz and/or check out my art blog over at linovadraws!
Anonymous asked: i don't really understand why you would be pro-zoo. like i understand nature reserves and sanctuaries where people can observe from afar, but it doesn't seem right to me when they're locked up in generally small confined areas for people to watch them do nothing all day. idk maybe i'm getting this wrong, and i still really respect you, i just don't understand this. like i interned at a zoo and felt uncomfortable with how small their living areas were and how they had no stimulation
Good zoos do not keep their animals in “tiny spaces” with no enrichment. I’m not pro-roadside zoo. I’m pro-accredited zoo. Zoos are incredibly important for conservation and education.
There should be way more pictures of modern zoos so i just add some more
Seriously zoos do so much important conservation work as well I hate when people shit all over zoos as if the animals are locked up and not looked after
The SF Zoo has two sea lions. Now, if you know SF, you know that sea lions are a Thing. They’re all over Pier 39 and various other beaches in N California. In fact, the zoo is near the ocean, so there are sea lions not 200 yards from the zoo entrance. So having sea lions in the zoo seems sort of superfluous.
Except the sea lions are blind. One was found as an adult after suffering a gun shot wound to the face that destroyed his eyes. The other was found as an adolescent, weak and starving because it had been blinded and unable to hunt. So they were rescued and introduced and the zoo built them a nice pool where they can swim and sunbathe and people toss them fish. It’s not the biggest exhibit, or the fanciest. But it’s a home for them, where they’re safe and well fed. Sea lions aren’t the most romantic of animals, but they’re a part of SF culture and a lot of us have a soft spot for the loud, bulbous things. And because of zoos, these two get to live long, happy lives.
Whenever anyone complains about zoos, I think about Silent Knight and Henry.
I think it’s St. Louis zoo that is saving big cats in Africa. Scientists couldn’t figure out what was killing off the local lion population. They were dying off from Canine Distemper. The local unvaccinated dogs of the towns would spread the disease to other animals or have it themselves. When the lions ate the infected animals they would catch it as well. You know what that Zoo is doing to stop this disease? They are going over to those towns and vaccinating the dogs for free. The community loves it and people from other villages comes for miles to get their dogs vaccinated as well.
They also do work with camel populations because the local human population use the camels for food sources the zoos help monitor the camels health.
Another zoo, I want to say it’s the Oregon zoo but don’t quote me on that, is helping female inmates. The zoo works with the female prisons by encouraging the inmates to assist in the breeding and raising of endangered species of butterflies. They plant the specific plants that the butterflies and catapillars need, raise them, and release them. These inmates get noted in any scientific journals that get published. They are giving these inmates a sense of accomplishment and validation.
Zoos not only save species but bring together and assist communities in an effort to save the environment. Zoos, good zoos, are essential to the future and I will fight anyone who tries to say otherwise.
PS you don’t see PETA doing any of this.
One of the local zoos in my area at one point rescued a bald eagle that had been shot and kept it in the zoo to let it recuperate until they freed it again. Some of the zoos in my state will keep injured animals there until they heal again.
Helsinki Zoo is the world leader in snow leopard and Amur leopard conservation, in their care these endangered species have managed to breed more than anywhere else in captivity and this in turn has enabled the re-introduction of these animals back to their native habitats. https://www.korkeasaari.fi/helsinki-zoo/
I work at a zoo that is instrumental in the California Condor recovery program (among dozens of other conservation projects). We went from 42 surviving individuals left to over 400, over 200 of whom are in the wild. We’re part of the amur leopard species survival plan with two young animals who are eagerly attempting to make babies. We host one of North America’s only bachelor troops of western lowland gorillas, preserving the social structure of wild gorillas. All of our bald eagles are rescues who would not survive in the wild. All our keepers participate in field research and conservation work in addition to a full time team of conservationists. We host the most genetically valuable male Masai giraffe in North America, who has sired 5 offspring with 1 on the way, increasing the genetic diversity of his entire species. If you’re against zoos, you don’t know what zoos do.
Super, SUPER important thread.
Also zoos tend to do a lot of breeding and conservation work with smaller, less charismatic species like invertebrates and amphibians. Those species are extremely important in the ecosystem but don’t get the same notoriety as the charismatic megafauna.
This CANNOT BE STRESSED ENOUGH.
Fully accredited zoos are a major source of conservation funding worldwide. They take in and provide safety for injured animals. Other animals are removed from roadside zoos or even where they were kept as pets and therefore are far too people-oriented for any other life.
Fully accredited zoos are absolutely essential in breeding and husbandry of endangered species. They sometimes provide individuals of varied genetics either for release into the wild or to breed to release their offspring into the wild. They keep METICULOUS records which are incredibly important in tracking genetic diversity of small populations, which are particularly prone to inbreeding depression and other negative consequences of genetic drift.
Fully accredited zoos care about the health of the whole animal and will bend over backwards to provide the best enrichment they can with their resources. Great example: Philadelphia Zoo is city-locked and cannot expand its footprint. So they have made what are essentially giant hamster tunnels that go over the visitor footpaths. They will put novel scents or toys in there and (please someone correct me on this if I am wrong) rotate which group of big cats has access to it at any time so that when one group gets access it smells like other cats and that provides new things to explore and interact with. They have also done these tunnels for small primates.
If you want a great look at the power of zoos and what it is really like behind the scenes, all the ups and downs, check out “The Zoo” which is a reality TV show about the Bronx Zoo in NYC (similar land issues as Philly Zoo) or “Secrets of the Zoo” which is a similar show filmed at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium and their wild animal park The Wilds. I know people who work at these zoos and who are on these shows and they aren’t making up how much care and dedication they put into their work.
Just like the relationship between some hunters’ organizations and conservation (that’s a whole other post…), the relationship between zoos and conservation is incredibly misunderstood. We need to do better.
The Oregon Zoo was my local, so I looked it up. They are indeed the zoo partnering with a local women’s prison to save endangered butterflies! I found an article from 2019 that says they worked to reintroduce the Taylor’s checkerspot. Another article from 2022 says they’re currently breeding Oregon silverspots, so I guess they’re working down a list.
“Bringing butterfly conservation work into a medium-security housing unit continues to be a rewarding process,” Oregon Zoo butterfly conservationist Ronda Naseth, who advises the program at Coffee Creek, says in a statement. “The butterfly team is thrilled to have partners who are working so diligently at providing the lab with beautiful harvests, and we are exceptionally proud of the quality of larvae being released this year.”
What a deeply cool thing to have zoo and tax dollars going towards.
Jack Alston, Lord Hawthorn, would love a nice, safe, comfortable life. After the death of his twin sister, he thought he was done with magic for good. But with the threat of a dangerous ritual hanging over every magician in Britain, he’s drawn reluctantly back into that world.
Now Jack is living in a bizarre puzzle-box of a magical London townhouse, helping an unlikely group of friends track down the final piece of the Last Contract before their enemies can do the same. And to make matters worse, they need the help of writer and thief Alan Ross.
Cagey and argumentative, Alan is only in this for the money. The aristocratic Lord Hawthorn, with all his unearned power, is everything that Alan hates. And unfortunately, Alan happens to be everything that Jack wants in one gorgeous, infuriating package.
When a plot to seize unimaginable power comes to a head at Cheetham Hall—Jack’s ancestral family estate, a land so old and bound in oaths that it’s grown a personality as prickly as its owner—Jack, Alan and their allies will become entangled in a night of champagne, secrets, and bloody sacrifice… and the foundations of magic in Britain will be torn up by the roots before the end.
