Maria many thanks for reading and commenting.
I have no doubt that in San Deigo zoo that the animals are quite well looked after and fed
But in this day an age with television and films there should be no need for a zoo unless a species is going extinct.
Then there is a need to to look after and breed.
Are the animals in a zoo really living or are they just existing, they are not free to live as they should.
Yes I too feel sorry for the animals..Tony (potleek) 

You caught my sentiments entirely with this tongue in cheek piece, Tony, for preservation of a species, then I can accept a nature reserve more readily, but I also have visited San Diego Zoo and we took the little raised train ride around it because of the fact it is huge and 'very humanely' open with the animals running free, but it was a blistering hot day and apart from the gazelles litterally jumping over the very realistic mountainside, all other animals were taking refuge from the heat under the raised train track.

I also agree that with todays facilities of tv and pc, seeing the real thing is not really necessary, but one cannot appreciate the magestic splendour of some as we did on a second visit. Creatures belong in their own habitat, but if they have to be exhibited, let it be in a kinder manner than in water pits or/and cages. A great comment, Tony, presented well, Zy

Zy I thank you.
Sure I've visited zoos and at the time found them fascinating when I was younger.
But I look at life very much differently now, or at least I try to.
Animals habitats are getting smaller, there might come a time when it is all gone...Tony (potleek)

http://www.youtube.com/embed/lOutkyPPdqM

Like you, Tony, I visited zoos as a child and absorbed all in wonder and amazement, but again, like you, as I grew I questioned the humanity of zoos in general, but I remember when in the mid 70s, we visited the Paris zoo and found a large gorilla who just sat there for ages, in a cage/cell of about 12 ft by 12 with eyes so desolate and sad and he looked into mine and I apologised, for it was cruelly unkind and I have never visited an enclosed zoo since. I felt utterly helpless and he so needed it.

Thank you for the link, what a sad song of despair of the future and no other singer could have sung it with more feeling, 

thanks, Tony, Zy 

Zy I've never been in favour of zoo's, but so much is being done to save many species that otherwise would be lost. A quote from "neither wolf nor dog" "If you can count the animals then it's too late." Perhaps for many we've left it too late and yet the killing still goes on. What good does adopting a polar bear do when the climate change melts the ice. This is a sore point with me and shall continue to be...Tony (potleek)