Empty Cages and Playful Elephants
In which I am left impressed by a zoo that isn’t afraid of its past.
I’m not a big fan of zoos, but when your animal-loving youngest granddaughter decides she wants to spend her third birthday at the zoo, who can resist?
I didn’t expect to find myself at a modern zoo that was brave enough to greet its visitors with a reminder of just how bad such institutions used to be.
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, formerly Baltimore City Zoo was, depending on the source you read, either the second or third oldest zoological garden in the United States, having opened in 1876.
It was laid out as a typical zoo of that period with a promenade flanked by a succession of small iron-barred cages and inappropriate cramped stone wall enclosures that were inadequate to house the animals comfortably (as in the photo above). Unfortunately, it stayed that way for well over a century with the original Main Valley walkway of outdated cages only closing in 2004.
Thankfully the zoo was redesigned and reopened in 2021 as a modern well-designed center for research and conservation with the animals being housed in large enclosures that simulate their natural habitats as much as possible.
But what caught my attention is that the old world of iron bars and stone walls is still there. Preserved as a walkway from the entrance to the modern zoo behind it.
Along the walkway a mix of informative signage and volunteers are there to tell the stories of the zoo, its former occupants, and the lack of understanding and empathy we showed to generations of animals.
A great example is the stone Elephant House with its small concrete yard that stands as a mute witness and in stark contrast to the expansive elephant enclosure in today’s zoo; where a few hours later we watched a pair of elephants enjoying playing in a large pool on a hot summer’s day.
Those iron cages that now stand empty serve as a reminder of the way things were and how wrongly the animals were treated. They serve both as a history lesson and as a reminder of man’s arrogance.
Plans are underway to continue developing the walkway and the area around the cages into a meeting place and education center, as well as continued expansion of the modern zoo with new habitats.
I’m still not a fan of the concept of zoos in general, but I’m sure we’ll be returning to this one, and I’ll be fascinated to see how it continues to showcase its past and future together.
Alan
Other Stuff
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Brabazon Bits
Work continued on revisions and note follow-up this week and we are getting close to getting this round of updates done with just one chapter, the epilogue, and one appendix left to do. The first eleven chapters are off for a round of proofreading.
It feels good as the book is really starting to come together.
Pages and Screens
Books Read in 2024 - “Artificial Condition ” by Martha Wells.
The second entry in the Murderbot Diaries series continues the story of a sarcastic, slightly confused rogue Security Unit on the run trying to figure out what happened to it, while also working out how to exist in a human environment.
This felt like a bit like a bridging story to wrap up some details from the introductory story while positioning the protagonist for more adventures to come. But it’s still a fun inventive read that also introduced some fascinating new characters (one in particular) that I hope we will encounter again as the series progresses.
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Bond Briefings
In the latest edition of our James Bond Lexicon newsletter, we discuss recent encounters with the numbers, 0, 0 and 7.
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Before They Were Beatles Updates
The latest issue of the Before They Were Beatles newsletter in which we take a sidebar and look at the history of the Liverpool suburbs that John, Paul, & George called home.
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Weekly Web Round-Up
Batman On The Cover - The journey through Batman’s comics publishing history continues this week with the foreign editions from March 1969 published in Italy, Lebanon, Mexico, Norway, and Sweden. - Again all are straight reprints of earlier US covers.
But once again the Italian reprints add their own graphic design touch. Batgirl’s dialog on the cover, mi si sta strappando il costume, translates as my costume is tearing, and the pattern of the tear from her costume is repeated through the word strappando - a small touch but very effective.
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See you next time
Alan J. Porter
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