I must start off with a caveat (or two). I have two compelling emotional biases when it comes to the ethical question of depriving animals of their liberty and putting them on display for gawkers. On the other hand, I have been an avid gawker visiting zoos for the sheer joy of seeing those magnificent beings in living flesh, blood, and mind. This, despite some of those minds being turned to mush by captivity, leaving a soulless shell to neurotically pace the same worn path over and over, ad infinitum. The two ends of the unbalanced equation amount to my joy at being in the animals' presence...
