The Gist: Good afternoon VegNews Book Clubbers! We are in the second week of our discussion of Fear of the Animal Planet by Jason Hribal. Due to it being a shorter book, our reading was actually not too long for our conversation this week—one chapter, to be specific. I hope you guys found it interesting.
The chapter we read talks more about captive elephants, but instead of circus elephants, Hribal discusses elephants in zoos, and stories of different elephants who have turned against their trainers and tried to escape. The story most striking for me was the one about Babe who resided at the Toledo Zoo. My entire family is actually from Toledo, OH, and as a child, I visited the Toledo Zoo quite often until I moved to Virginia at the age of six. I feel terrible about the fact that my family supported the zoo so much, and I recall that I very much enjoyed myself, but I was also a very young child.
The story about Babe is quite upsetting, to say the least, just like the rest of the stories within this chapter, as well as the entire book. He was paraded around and abused quite frequently by his various trainers, one of which he killed. The zoo considered him a troublesome elephant, and was even going to be executed. Fortunately—if you could say that word for an animal who spends his life in captivity—the general public of Toledo did not like the idea of seeing him killed, which prevented it from happening. However, Babe still died while in captivity later on.
The chapter we read talks more about captive elephants, but instead of circus elephants, Hribal discusses elephants in zoos, and stories of different elephants who have turned against their trainers and tried to escape. The story most striking for me was the one about Babe who resided at the Toledo Zoo. My entire family is actually from Toledo, OH, and as a child, I visited the Toledo Zoo quite often until I moved to Virginia at the age of six. I feel terrible about the fact that my family supported the zoo so much, and I recall that I very much enjoyed myself, but I was also a very young child.
The story about Babe is quite upsetting, to say the least, just like the rest of the stories within this chapter, as well as the entire book. He was paraded around and abused quite frequently by his various trainers, one of which he killed. The zoo considered him a troublesome elephant, and was even going to be executed. Fortunately—if you could say that word for an animal who spends his life in captivity—the general public of Toledo did not like the idea of seeing him killed, which prevented it from happening. However, Babe still died while in captivity later on.
I also just recently found out that the Toledo Zoo is still celebrating the captivity of elephants. Just last Friday, an African elephant was born in the confines of the zoo. People are wildly ecstatic about this, and the story is all over the news, but I'm sure the newborn baby will not be happy with a life behind bars.
The Discussion: Here are two discussion points to help get the conversation started. I look forward to hearing from you!
1. I mentioned above about my regret in going to the zoo often as a child. Do you have any specific regrets that you have done in the past that may have had a negative impact on animals, other than eating meat?
2. Zoo keepers say that they are helping animals, and even claim to be rescuers of animals. What is your response to this?
The Discussion: Here are two discussion points to help get the conversation started. I look forward to hearing from you!
1. I mentioned above about my regret in going to the zoo often as a child. Do you have any specific regrets that you have done in the past that may have had a negative impact on animals, other than eating meat?
2. Zoo keepers say that they are helping animals, and even claim to be rescuers of animals. What is your response to this?
The Assignment: Please read chapter three of Fear of the Animal Planet for our discussion on Monday, June 13.
~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig
I regret a lot of things I did as a child when it comes to animals but one thing I specifically regret (and was actually really upset at the time) was catching tadpoles. We found what I now know was a nursery and decided to catch them and help then turn into frogs. Well we caught them in cups and then left them in the sun to go eat lunch. Not one living tadpole when we returned. I never caught anything else after that.
ReplyDeleteI really think zookeepers truly believe what they are saying. The problem is that they are only looking at the matter from their point of view.
Hi VegNews Book Clubbers,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing, Victoria. I also regret many things from my childhood, but I also know that I learned from my mistakes.
I look forward to reading more comments!
~VN Book Club Hostess Lyndsay Orwig
1. I mentioned above about my regret in going to the zoo often as a child. Do you have any specific regrets that you have done in the past that may have had a negative impact on animals, other than eating meat?
ReplyDeleteI also regret going to the zoo and aquariums as a child.
2. Zoo keepers say that they are helping animals, and even claim to be rescuers of animals. What is your response to this?
I agree with Victoria on this. It's really easy for people to convince themselves that they are helpers or rescuers of animals, when actually they're not helping them.