These are the questions you can use as a springboard in your session:
When and where have you visited zoos in your life?
How did you feel about the experience?
Do you think it is better for animals to become extinct than to be kept artficially alive in zoos?
Do you think, in general, that zoos are essential for educating humans about animals, or do you think they’re too cruel to the animals to be worth what they might bring to humans? Why?
Do you agree with Mr. Siebert that we’re attracted to zoos to feel our kinship and commonality with animals, but also to feel the “bittersweet blend of awe and loneliness we humans feel over being the only animal who can look back at all the others and capture them?”
Many zoos, including the Bronx Zoo, have evolved as scientists learned more about animal behavior, psychology and needs. Do you think this is enough, or do you think, as do some quoted in this piece, that zoos “enslave” animals regardless of how and where they’re kept?
