Newsweek's commentator Rabbi Marc Gellman has weighed in on the problem of zoos with his piece "Tiger, Tiger: Why it’s time to reconsider the whole notion of putting wild animals in zoos" (Aug. 1, 2007).
Here are a few excerpts:
Do zoos increase environmental consciousness and thus help to protect the habitats of other wild animals? I don't think so. As far as I can tell, the people deforesting the Amazon or killing elephants in Africa for their ivory have not been deterred by outraged kids and their families who just visited the zoo.
I just finished watching the Discovery Channel’s “Planet Earth” in all its high-definition spectacularness. It does more to show animals in their natural environment, behaving as they really behave in the wild than any zoo ever could. True, you cannot smell them, and true, there is an unforgettable size and savor to elephant dung, but in these new breathtaking images, we humans can see animals without imprisoning them.
Gellman's essay is in the Newsweek issue focusing on trapping of gorillas.
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