Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Captivity

I've ruminated before on my mixed feelings about zoos. Though that was over four years ago, I still have the same mix of interest and moral confusion when I go to one. Today, I took our niece and nephew to the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, and we really had a lovely time, despite being caught in a cloudburst at one point.

They have visiting tortoises on loan for the summer.

My telephoto lens got a big sploosh of a raindrop right on the filter just after this picture, and I wasn't equipped to dry it properly, so this was the last good shot of the day. This Sandhill Crane was in a small enclosure in between the River Otters and some alligators. He doesn't seem unhappy, and as I've mentioned before, I think zoos probably do a lot more good than harm because of their role in conservation and education, but it's still sad to see a majestic bird behind chain-link.

It's also not too hard to see the dinosaur ancestors when you take a really close look at a large avian. In fact, for whatever reason, I see a lot more dinosaur in the crane than I do in the tortoise.

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