Observation 2 WEEK-3

While at the zoo today what caught my attention was how small and limited the space was for many of the animals within the zoo. Especially the Tigers and Lion Exhibit. The Tigers and Lions seemed tired, and wild Tigers and Lions live in a more dangerous and larger environment were they can travel, chase down their preys and consume after hunting them down. They are more viscous and are full of energy. The Tigers that were shown at the Lincoln Park Zoo seemed almost unreal, even though the Zoo had incorporated some natural native environmental elements such as trees, grass, rocks, it did not seem to fool the Tiger. All the tiger was doing when I was there was just lying on the ground staring at the visitor that past by or took pictures of the Tiger. The Tiger reminded me of domesticated animals, when I researched the topic online on the keywords domesticated tigers, the results that I found were circus animals. Tigers which were wild animals, which relied on their hunting skills to survive and their natural instincts to stay alive within their natural habitat were removed. They were kept in a cage for several years fed by humans and there were no need for the Tigers to hunt or use their natural instinct of survival. I strongly believe that the Lincoln Park Zoo, because of their lack of funding, they are unable to provide the Tigers with an adequate amount of space to roam, also I believe that the Lincoln Park Zoo are literally placing these innocent Tigers to their own death bed by “training” the tigers to rely on humans. If these Tigers at the Lincoln Park Zoo were to release these Tigers out into the wild today, back to their own natural environment they will die. All that these Tigers do, at least when I was observing them at the Lincoln Park Zoo were just lying down doing nothing. They were just staring at the visitors or just sleeping. If the Lincoln Park Zoo were to capture a “real wild Tiger” and place them into the Tiger’s cage today, I truly believe that the “Wild Tiger” will truly be the “realistic” depiction of the true “natural” behavior. They would not be domesticated, so once the Zoo throws in a prey that the Tiger consumes within the cage, I truly believe that the Tiger that was just imported from the wild today would consume and devour the animal in a different way versus feeding the Tiger that I observed at the Lincoln Park Zoo today. Isn’t the point of a Zoo for the visitors to actually truly experience the animal as if the animal was within its wild environment? “Like a simulation of the wild Tiger within its own environment”. I’ve been to the Bronx Zoo several years ago and the Tigers there actually have a larger space to roam within their artificial environment, and the Tigers in the Bronx Zoo are not lying on the ground but actually walking around and “actually moving” where as the Lincoln Park Zoo has failed to achieve this ultimately, but I believe that it isn’t the Lincoln Park Zoo’s fault, for the Lincoln Park Zoo has to work off a “budget” which they are offered. Also considering that the Lincoln Park Zoo is “free” to the public, it is hard to expect the Lincoln Park Zoo to accommodate all the public’s demands and expectations. If the Lincoln Park Zoo was charged each visitor, and was well funded by the city, state, and federal government I believe that the Tigers would have not been in these devastating conditions, where they are kept in a “prison”, and forced to become domesticated which would inevitably lead them to their ultimate demise once they are released back into their natural environment by the zoos once they don’t need Tigers within the Lincoln Park Zoo anymore.