Archive | August 2014

Our relationship with zoos

I’ve just read the Huffington Post’s article about zoos which reminded me of writer Derrick Jensen and photographer Karen Tweedy-Holmes’s book called Thought to exist in the wild: awakening from the nightmare of zoos.

thought to exist in the wild

In this book, Derrick Jensen compares porn with animals in cages. ‘All the animals in the zoo are eagerly awaiting you.’ He goes to a porn website and reads “All my ladies love to undress in front of the camera and have a great time doing all the photo sessions that you get to view totally uncensored.” He says, ‘It’s not enough to put these others on display. We must convince ourselves that they are desperately willing participants in their own degradation, that we are not exploiting them but doing them a favour. We are rescuing bears from the wild, saving orphans from sentences of death. The animals in the zoo are so happy that we need cages to keep the others out. The animals are rich estate owners leading lives of idle luxury.’ ‘All the animals in the zoo are eagerly awaiting you.’