[jwagenet]

We choose to allow 4.5 million visitors to Yosemite NP each year and countless others to other national, state, and local parks and preserves per year. There is a lot of damage done to these areas by visitors that we've designated to protect and conserve. The rational explained to me is this: if all we did was fence up these areas to protect them and maybe severely limit the number of visitors, sure we could protect these lands very well, however there is no emotional way to generate public support for conserving these lands. By allowing visitors to parks, the public is able to experience the wonder of these areas and bring the desire to conserve them home, so to speak.

I imagine the same applies to zoos: they exist as a way to expose people to a slice of the wildlife in the world that makes the animals tangible, not just pixels on a screen. I would agree the model for many zoos needs work, but any zoo that focuses on rehabilitating animals rather than captivity for the sake of it is a step in the right direction.