Animal zoos are a constant reminder for us to beat down nature and to congratulate ourselves on stuffing an animal that needs square miles of space into a cubicle nook more befitting to tickle our fancies.

As you stroll around gawking and exclaiming at your favorite zoo, at the greatness of the bison droppings and the minuteness of the feed pellets that jaguars munch on, wouldn’t it be better if the animals were there for a nobler cause: if they were injured and to be released upon recovery, or there as part of a species recovery and habitat restoration program?

Could the part of the zoo devoted to permanent animal retention and display be razed and converted into a wooded garden designed to attract wildlife naturally? Yes, it could, but the typical American pet owner would never allow it, being adamant and transfixed as they are by the wide array of astonishing mutations that can be derived from nature and confined to a series of small rooms.

“All [zoos] actually offer to the public in return for the taxes spent upon them is a form of idle and witless amusement, compared to which a visit to a penitentiary, or even to a State legislature in session, is informing, stimulating and ennobling.” —Henry Louis Mencken