Real Captivity is Inside Your Mind

I went to Las Vegas recently, and inside one of the hotels, there were lions on display in a glass enclosure. The enclosure was pretty big, held toys, water, food, and all sorts of artificial habitat items.

From the information that was available about the "attraction," I gathered that the lions in the enclosure were actually not there every single day. They did a short stint, and then were subbed out. I guess they do this so that the lions don't suffer any adverse effects from being gawked at for 24hrs at a time in a city that never sleeps.

Watching them brought back a few memories from a few years back.

While I was doing my teacher-training program there came a day when we had the opportunity to take ourselves on a field trip. We were specifically asked to partner-up and visit a local attraction with the purpose of evaluating what features made it an attractive field trip.

I went to the zoo.

I picked the zoo because although I know that I had been there before (perhaps as a child), I couldn't remember what it was like there, what my impressions had been, or even what animals were on display.

Immediately upon arrival we were greeted by some elephants that were chained up outside the front of the zoo - which happened to be located directly off a busy highway road. Going inside, there wasn't too much more that put me at ease. I saw tethered birds, big cats pacing back and forth at their cage fences for hours, and other animals who seemed rather big for their enclosures.

It was upsetting. I started thinking about how kids are brought here to view these animals outside of their natural habitat. How they probably think it's "cool" that they get to see a zebra, an elephant, a hippo. How they are probably not thinking about some of the larger issues like the effects of captivity on the mental & physical well-being of a wild animal. At the time I swore that I would never bring kids on a field trip like that.

I do think that there is value in talking with kids about the effects of captivity on animals. I don't know that it would be as valuable to younger students, but I believe that older kids would be able to identify some of the stressors on an animal in captivity. And it's relevant; there are animals (wild and otherwise) in captivity all over the place. What about animals born into their situations? What about aquariums, circuses, or other shows? What about animal rescue shelters? Our own homes?

Sometimes it's absolutely better for the animal that they have been taken in. Clearly, sometimes it's worse. What I'd like students to do is to think more about the factors under which we decide that one situation is "good" and another is not. That's all I want - a conversation, a debate, a critical look -- rather than a passive acceptance or spectator sport.

With all of the live web-cam feeds into various animal habitats, I feel that zoos are becoming less of an attraction. People don't need to pay admission to see live animals if they can just turn on a computer. The same kids of conversations can still be had. The kids can still ooh and ahh. Furthermore, they can talk about it at home - and maybe parents can even join in the conversation.

So, is the zoo a good field trip? Maybe. Honestly, I don't think it's likely I would take students there. But I have changed my tune a bit about how useful it could be in terms of education. It's certainly an opportunity for a great conversation. Animals in cages; let's think outside the box!