Woodland Park Zoo

A zoo is neither a carnival nor a circus.

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It has been another year since I last visited the Woodland Zoo and I am sorry to report that instead of improvements, much has declined due to the fact that the much beloved zoo has become more and more of an amusement park.

To wit, the Zoo has added an enormous carousel, a Pacific Blue Chowder House--with a larger seating area than the previous, understated snack area--, and, much worse, many kiosks EVERYWHERE hawking souvenirs--cute stuffed animals, souvenirs--, and overpriced refreshments and junk food. You can smell the popcorn anywhere near the South Entrance now.

I don't think the intention of the Zoo is to try to outdo the Seattle Waterfront, Westlake Plaza, or even Barnum & Bailey, in tourist razzle-dazzle, but the overall unintended effect is, unfortunately, similar.

(Obviously, the Zoo, a non-profit organization, must be experiencing budgetary restraints in these difficult times).

Also, this time I noticed the huge amount of space consecrated to parking: I saw on the map five lots for a total of 900 numbered visitor motor vehicles! And I don't quite understand the need for the construction of an enlarged western entrance.

Too much of the zoo has become concrete, asphalt, brick, glass, and steel instead of remaining "green."

The new penguin (from Peru apparently) exhibition area actually makes it more difficult to see the former Humboldt penguins in their entirety. One can only see small glassed-in areas of the pool with a few penguins swimming underwater.

The Family Farm has undergone some improvements, with more goats and cows from other parts of the planet. Also, I would like to commend the almost 700 volunteers so generously devote their time to working here. I saw them at work at the Family Farm, doing work that would otherwise have had to have done by (paid) staff.

It IS actually "inspiring" to see human beings actually taking care of our fellow planetary animal companions, no matter how much of our natural environment in the Puget Sound area and the lowlands of the Cascades is going under and being destroyed to make way for condominum developments, shopping malls, and widened highways.

One of the species of exotic birds in the Aviary Conservation is actually one of the only 14 extant!

One wonders, too, what the animal denizens of the zoo must think of all the crowds of gawking homo sapiens wandering through their habitat. Maybe they're subliminally thinking to themselves: Who are these loud imbeciles?

These animals are not toys and they do not exist solely for our consumption and amusement. Many, many are in danger of extinction as a direct result of human beings.

I was a member of the Zoo for a number of years. However, I don't think I will renew my membership any time soon.

If you really want to support wildlife, conservation, and animal causes, support the Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), or the Sierra Club.

(And when in the nation's capitol, visit the National Zoo, part of the Smithsonian--it's great, and it's free).

The Woodland Park Zoo experience has become strictly entertainment, with the informative and educational dimensions secondary.

The joy of quiet contemplation of these living natural wonders is largely missed in the carnival-like atmosphere, as well, if my observations are accurate.
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10/23/2008
A year has passed since I was here last.

One of the good things about a zoo membership is that it allows one to see animals that were hiding/sleeping/out- of-view the last time one visited.

This time, for example, (1)I saw the Red Panda, who came down to be fed a fruit salad scattered on the ground, up, close, and personal. I had passed by his area half a dozen times before finally seeing him pressed up against the fence. The richly dark magenta hue of his fur was an unforgettable sight, as was his beautiful facial physiognomy.

(2) A white fox, in the Northern Trail area, looking like a cuddly, benign White Husky, sat mysterious and unperturbed, only a couple of foot away from anyone who had happened to pass his way.

(3) Three giraffes, their towering necks crossing, were grazing with the zebras on the immense "African safari." Every other time I've seen them, they've been in the small enclosed area with the aluminum shed.

(4) In the Tropical Forest area, a one-year-old+ baby gorilla was lounging and then crawling on the back of its resting mother, whose body was pressed up against the window.

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Main new changes in the Woodland Park Zoo itself:

(1) A flamingo area near the West Gate. A dozen or so flaming-ly (think "shrimp") pink flamingos.

(2) A "Zoomazium"--an indoor "nature-themed play space," strictly for the kiddies. Walked in the front door and walked straight out. Came to see real animals, not facsimiles, i.e., interactive "virtual" exhibits.

(3) The former penguin pool and beyond has been transformed into a large construction area. Due to re-open--with penguins (the same ones?)--in summer of 2009.

(4) A "Jaguar Cove," but closed the day (Oct. 22, 2008) I visited and presumably for the next few months.

My critique remains basically the same.

The zoo offers an often intimate, sometimes panoramic glimpse into the natural world from the African Savanna to the Tropical Rain Forest to the Northern Arctic Tundra.

But I leave dismayed that these denizens of the natural world have been corralled into "mammal/fish/reptile /bird" reservations, much as the native Indians of North America were forced to relinquish their lands.

Entertainment value aside, the natural wildlife of this country deserves much more than to be on display in--albeit, no longer cages--"natural habitats" specially designed by homo sapiens and then gawked and cooed over by the same.

It would be nice if the zoo map or ticket had some mention of the Endangered Species Act and how that has been whittled away at by the Bush Administration.

(Very few people, I noticed, read the accompanying "wall information").

The omnipresence of cellphones (with their accompanying camera) apparently doesn't bother the animals. Just me, I guess.

Just the same, going to the Woodland Park Zoo still is a little like going to the tropical rain forests of Borneo or the Northern Territories of Canada without having to pack and get on an airplane.

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10/4/2007
After a hiatus of about five or six years, as a member of the Woodland Zoo, I made a trip back on the second day of October 2007 to see what had changed.

A new jaguar exhibit and one for the gorillas at the beginning of the Tropical Rain Forest were two of the most important additions. Also a "night" exhibition hall for those critters that tolerate very little light (I saw nothing myself, as I have poor night vision. It takes 10 minutes to acclimatize to the darkness).

Other than not, not that much had changed in terms of animals. Maybe it's my appreciation of the sheer beauty and fascination of the animals that has changed.

October 1 through April 30 constitutes the "winter" season for the Zoo, so I was able to wander about in serenity without having tons of screaming kids and their parent-chaperons. But the zoo closes early (4 p.m.), at which time all the indoor exhibitions are locked down. Visitors can apparently stay until about 5:30, depending on the mood of staff.

Actually, it was better than when I used to remember it, mostly because it was the off-season. It felt like I had it to myself and a few other interested adult "naturalist"-types. Plus a few families ("o-o-h, see the jaguar. He is lonely. He doesn't have a mate"), a few tourists.

The grizzly bears in the Northern Trail section were to use the too-often used adjective, "magnificent" in a way that makes Steven Spielberg seem all too Disneyland-ish. The Monorail, Columbia Tower, etc. seem strictly utilitarian, clunky, and boring by comparison with any of the denizens of this species. Nature wins hands-down.

The giraffes, with their impossibly long, thin legs were still there, passing back and forth between their aluminum sheds and the very smallish, narrow quarters outside behind the wire fence.

And in the African Savanna--probably the best of the "natural environments"--no rhinoceros, but, instead, I was able to catch a fleeting close-up glance of a male lion, truly regal, before he trotted back into the savanna. He also, at one point, began to lick his paws and groom himself just as my own cat does.

I suddenly had an insight as to how obscene hunting actually is, especially as it is considered a "sport" (?!) and has nothing to do with meeting real human needs, other than that of sheer (mistaken) ego.

And a couple of Malayan sun bears were frolicking without a bit of self-consciousness in their own miniature neck-of-the-woods.

With the improvement of the "natural habitats" of the past ten years (less of the "animals-trapped-in- cages" of earlier times), a trip to the zoo every year or two brings a kind of natural bliss. Just go in the off-season so that the families having a lark don't become the principal show.

My main criticism of the Woodland Zoo remains the same, and could be directed probably at most zoos: the animals, though housed in relatively "natural" environs, are still, largely, part of a "show," without enough attention being directed towards providing a learning experience.

The destruction of 1/3 of the Amazon River Valley in the past few years, the sharp declines in indigenous animal populations, as well as their natural habitats, along with their imminent or probable extinction is not stressed enough. Ditto with the Canadian North, in the race to tap the vast reserves of oil.

In the U.S., the Florida Everglades are, due to GWB, Jeb Bush, and their cronies--in defiance of the Endangered Species Act and their own National Fish and Wildlife Service--disappearin g due to rampant real estate speculation, pollution due to agri-business--princ ipally, sugar, intense population pressures (I learned of watching a program a few days ago produced by the French cable television station TV-5.

Going to the zoo has become a family outing no different from any other mainstream entertainment: going to the movies, to the circus, shopping at Pacific Place, skiing, etc.

Animals live and belong OUTSIDE of zoos, in their own natural habitats! One does not find them, "naturally," in circuses and zoos as "entertainers" or at F.A.O. Schwartz as cute stuffed toys!

Zoos were not supposed to be "reservations" for wild species (Teddy Roosevelt understood this) for we as homo sapiens to enjoy.

I worry that kids (and maybe the adults, too) will become lulled into a sense of false security believing that as long as they can be entertained by the bears, elephants, penguins, etc. in their local zoo, "all is well."

On the other hand, admission, or a membership, to the zoo is at least a way of showing a little appreciation for all the other members of the natural world that we take for granted. They have as much right, if not more, of living on this increasingly crowded (by homo sapiens!), polluted (by us!) planet.

Not just halfway around the world, but at home, our own natural heritage is endangered:
http://seattletim...

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