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Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives
"This story, told by a master teller of such things, does more than take you inside the cages, fences, and walls of a zoo. It takes you inside the human heart, and an elephant's, and a primate's, and on and on. Tom French did in this book what he always does. He took real life and wrote it down for us, with eloquence and feeling and aching detail."
-Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author
"An insightful and detailed look at the complex life of a zoo and its denizens, both animal and human."
-Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi and Beatrice and Virgil
Welcome to the savage and surprising world of Zoo Story , an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants. Based on six years of research, the book follows a handful of unforgettable characters at Tampa's Lowry Park an alpha chimp with a weakness for blondes, a ferocious tiger who revels in Obsession perfume, and a brilliant but tyrannical CEO known as El Diablo Blanco.
The sweeping narrative takes the reader from the African savannah to the forests of Panama and deep into the inner workings of a place some describe as a sanctuary and others condemn as a prison. Zoo Story shows us how these remarkable individuals live, how some die, and what their experiences reveal about the human desire to both exalt and control nature.
-Rick Bragg, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author
"An insightful and detailed look at the complex life of a zoo and its denizens, both animal and human."
-Yann Martel, author of Life of Pi and Beatrice and Virgil
Welcome to the savage and surprising world of Zoo Story , an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants. Based on six years of research, the book follows a handful of unforgettable characters at Tampa's Lowry Park an alpha chimp with a weakness for blondes, a ferocious tiger who revels in Obsession perfume, and a brilliant but tyrannical CEO known as El Diablo Blanco.
The sweeping narrative takes the reader from the African savannah to the forests of Panama and deep into the inner workings of a place some describe as a sanctuary and others condemn as a prison. Zoo Story shows us how these remarkable individuals live, how some die, and what their experiences reveal about the human desire to both exalt and control nature.
304 pages, Paperback
First published July 6, 2010
125 people are currently reading
2724 people want to read
About the author
Thomas French
6 books33 followersLibrarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Thomas French, a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, has spent the past quarter century redefining the possibilities of journalistic storytelling, both in his writing and in his teaching around the world.
French grew up in Indiana and attended journalism school at Indiana University’s Bloomington campus, where he was a Poynter scholar and editor-in-chief at the Indiana Daily Student, and where he won a Hearst award for a profile of a giant hog at the Indiana State Fair. An editor at the St. Petersburg Times read the hog story and hired French, just as he was graduating from IU, as a night cops reporter.
French spent the next 27 years at the Times, covering hurricanes and criminal trials and the secret lives of high school students. He experimented with narrative techniques both on deadline and nondeadline work and specialized in serial narratives, book-length stories published one chapter at a time.
In 1998, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing and a Sigma Delta Chi award for Angels & Demons, a series that chronicled the murder of an Ohio woman and her two teenage daughters as they vacationed in Tampa. Two of his other serials, A Cry in the Night and South of Heaven, were later published as books. His most recent project, Zoo Story, explored the inner world of Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo and is scheduled to be published in book form by Hyperion in July 2010.
French is a Writing Fellow at the Poynter Institute and has taught there for more than 20 years. He also teaches in a nonfiction masters program at Goucher College, outside Baltimore, and has led narrative workshops across the U.S. and around the world, from the Nieman conference at Harvard to newsrooms in Dubai, Singapore and Johannesburg. He is married to Kelley Benham, a national award-winning reporter and editor at the St. Petersburg Times, and has two sons.
He is proud to have returned to his alma mater and is currently teaching narrative journalism and story mechanics.
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Thomas French, a Pulitzer prize-winning reporter, has spent the past quarter century redefining the possibilities of journalistic storytelling, both in his writing and in his teaching around the world.
French grew up in Indiana and attended journalism school at Indiana University’s Bloomington campus, where he was a Poynter scholar and editor-in-chief at the Indiana Daily Student, and where he won a Hearst award for a profile of a giant hog at the Indiana State Fair. An editor at the St. Petersburg Times read the hog story and hired French, just as he was graduating from IU, as a night cops reporter.
French spent the next 27 years at the Times, covering hurricanes and criminal trials and the secret lives of high school students. He experimented with narrative techniques both on deadline and nondeadline work and specialized in serial narratives, book-length stories published one chapter at a time.
In 1998, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing and a Sigma Delta Chi award for Angels & Demons, a series that chronicled the murder of an Ohio woman and her two teenage daughters as they vacationed in Tampa. Two of his other serials, A Cry in the Night and South of Heaven, were later published as books. His most recent project, Zoo Story, explored the inner world of Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo and is scheduled to be published in book form by Hyperion in July 2010.
French is a Writing Fellow at the Poynter Institute and has taught there for more than 20 years. He also teaches in a nonfiction masters program at Goucher College, outside Baltimore, and has led narrative workshops across the U.S. and around the world, from the Nieman conference at Harvard to newsrooms in Dubai, Singapore and Johannesburg. He is married to Kelley Benham, a national award-winning reporter and editor at the St. Petersburg Times, and has two sons.
He is proud to have returned to his alma mater and is currently teaching narrative journalism and story mechanics.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 454 reviews
January 12, 2011
I’ve always felt conflicted about zoos. On the one hand, I enjoy seeing the animals up close and personal. On the other hand, I always feel guilty. No matter how big or “friendly” their habitat, I still feel a bit melancholy when I see magnificent wild animals living their lives in such an unnatural way. Then I try to make myself feel better by telling myself that they might be better off in a zoo—safe from poachers and other dangers found in the wild. In short, like many others, I have a love/hate relationship with zoos. So when I saw journalist Thomas French’s book, Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives, that purported to give an inside look at Tampas’ Lowry Park Zoo, I snapped it up immediately.
In addition to my curiosity about the inner workings of a zoo, I was also drawn to this book because we visited Lowry Park Zoo several times, and I always enjoy reading about places I’ve been to in real life. I was able to picture many of the places he described—and remember watching the baby elephant whose conception and birth is described in the book.
This book tells many stories—including the rise and fall of the zoo’s controversial CEO Lex Salisbury to the reign and tragic ends of the zoo’s “king” and “queen” (Herman the Orangutan and Enshalla the Tiger). The book opens with the transport of a group of elephants from Swaziland, Africa to Florida. Using the acquisition and journey of the elephants to highlight some of the issues and controversies surrounding zoos, French highlights the reasons why so many of us are conflicted about zoos. He tells how the elephants are losing their native habitat through their own voracious appetites and why this perilous journey might be their best hope of survival, yet he contrasts this with the way the zoo markets the elephants and may not really have their best interests at heart. In addition, French’s account of the death of a young Lowry Park zookeeper at the hands of a captive elephant gives the reader pause about whether keeping wild animals in a zoo is really the best decision for all involved.
The story that French is trying to tell is complex, and I think that both helps and hurts the book. On one hand, the reader gets to view the zoo from many different perspectives. We meet various keepers, the animals, and the zoo’s management. We get a glimpse of how a modern zoo must balance financial health, conservation efforts, and the well-being of the animals. In the case of Lowry Park Zoo, we also get an insider’s look at the controversy surrounding Lex Salisbury, who was both loved and reviled within the zoo. On the other hand, juggling so many different stories means that none of them get enough attention. I often found myself getting caught up in a particular story line and then being disappointed when I didn’t get more depth or follow-up. French has a wealth of material, and I wished he had written a longer book. Too often, I felt like the individual stories were given short shrift.
Despite that, I found the book to be interesting and eye-opening. Although it did little to help me settle my own misgivings about zoos in general, the book provided me with lots of food for thought. If you’re interested in learning more about zoos, I think this book does a good job highlighting their pros and cons. (And it would be a great Z book if you are doing the A to Z Title Challenge.) A word of caution though: If you are reading this book mostly because you are interested in animals, you might be disappointed. Although French takes the time to discuss various animals, he spends considerably more time on the various political machinations that affected the zoo during Salisbury’s stewardship.
In addition to my curiosity about the inner workings of a zoo, I was also drawn to this book because we visited Lowry Park Zoo several times, and I always enjoy reading about places I’ve been to in real life. I was able to picture many of the places he described—and remember watching the baby elephant whose conception and birth is described in the book.
This book tells many stories—including the rise and fall of the zoo’s controversial CEO Lex Salisbury to the reign and tragic ends of the zoo’s “king” and “queen” (Herman the Orangutan and Enshalla the Tiger). The book opens with the transport of a group of elephants from Swaziland, Africa to Florida. Using the acquisition and journey of the elephants to highlight some of the issues and controversies surrounding zoos, French highlights the reasons why so many of us are conflicted about zoos. He tells how the elephants are losing their native habitat through their own voracious appetites and why this perilous journey might be their best hope of survival, yet he contrasts this with the way the zoo markets the elephants and may not really have their best interests at heart. In addition, French’s account of the death of a young Lowry Park zookeeper at the hands of a captive elephant gives the reader pause about whether keeping wild animals in a zoo is really the best decision for all involved.
The story that French is trying to tell is complex, and I think that both helps and hurts the book. On one hand, the reader gets to view the zoo from many different perspectives. We meet various keepers, the animals, and the zoo’s management. We get a glimpse of how a modern zoo must balance financial health, conservation efforts, and the well-being of the animals. In the case of Lowry Park Zoo, we also get an insider’s look at the controversy surrounding Lex Salisbury, who was both loved and reviled within the zoo. On the other hand, juggling so many different stories means that none of them get enough attention. I often found myself getting caught up in a particular story line and then being disappointed when I didn’t get more depth or follow-up. French has a wealth of material, and I wished he had written a longer book. Too often, I felt like the individual stories were given short shrift.
Despite that, I found the book to be interesting and eye-opening. Although it did little to help me settle my own misgivings about zoos in general, the book provided me with lots of food for thought. If you’re interested in learning more about zoos, I think this book does a good job highlighting their pros and cons. (And it would be a great Z book if you are doing the A to Z Title Challenge.) A word of caution though: If you are reading this book mostly because you are interested in animals, you might be disappointed. Although French takes the time to discuss various animals, he spends considerably more time on the various political machinations that affected the zoo during Salisbury’s stewardship.
September 18, 2011
I found stacks and stacks of this book in a neglected corner during a Borders going-out-of-business sale. It was odd for me, because I hadn't heard of it at all. So I picked it up and took it home. (How could I not? It had elephants on the cover and promised to be a behind-the-scenes look at a zoo.)
It was over and above anything I was expecting. It is, in fact, the first in-depth look at the personal life of zoos that I've been able to find. French, a journalist with no zoo ties, does an admirable job profiling, both the animals and humans who populate a zoo. He also aptly captures the contradictions inherent in a zoo, and the people who work there. There are no (good) zoo employees who do not feel at least a little skeptical about whether they're doing the "right" thing for the animals at times. French is able to capture the personalities and motivations that make zoos tick (or not).
He tells fascinating stories about the individual animal personalities of the Tampa Lowry Park Zoo, and the controversies it endured around the turn of the 21st century, but he also touches on two of the most controversial and conspicuous issues zoos face today: Animal escapes (called Code Ones at Tampa) and free vs. protected contact for elephants. He chronicles Tatiana's Christmas day escape in 2006, and San Deigo Zoo's move from free to protected contact. He does an admirable job telling Tatiana's story, but he over-simplified the free vs. protected contact argument, and made the transition sound a lot simpler that it has been, though perhaps not simpler than it should have been.
The telling of Tatiana's story sets up the climax of the book, which was compelling and difficult to read. (I don't know one zoo employee who has not had this nightmare. I have it repeatedly). French deftly used the incident as a microscope to look at the power dynamics of the Tampa Zoo.
The rest of the book deals with the political fall of Lex Salisbury, the (now former) Tampa Lowry Park Zoo director.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It should be required reading for anyone who works in a zoo, and it'd be good for anyone who plans to visit (or have an opinion about) zoos. French's perceptive eye and acute mind were a perfect narrator for such a story.
It was over and above anything I was expecting. It is, in fact, the first in-depth look at the personal life of zoos that I've been able to find. French, a journalist with no zoo ties, does an admirable job profiling, both the animals and humans who populate a zoo. He also aptly captures the contradictions inherent in a zoo, and the people who work there. There are no (good) zoo employees who do not feel at least a little skeptical about whether they're doing the "right" thing for the animals at times. French is able to capture the personalities and motivations that make zoos tick (or not).
He tells fascinating stories about the individual animal personalities of the Tampa Lowry Park Zoo, and the controversies it endured around the turn of the 21st century, but he also touches on two of the most controversial and conspicuous issues zoos face today: Animal escapes (called Code Ones at Tampa) and free vs. protected contact for elephants. He chronicles Tatiana's Christmas day escape in 2006, and San Deigo Zoo's move from free to protected contact. He does an admirable job telling Tatiana's story, but he over-simplified the free vs. protected contact argument, and made the transition sound a lot simpler that it has been, though perhaps not simpler than it should have been.
The telling of Tatiana's story sets up the climax of the book, which was compelling and difficult to read. (I don't know one zoo employee who has not had this nightmare. I have it repeatedly). French deftly used the incident as a microscope to look at the power dynamics of the Tampa Zoo.
The rest of the book deals with the political fall of Lex Salisbury, the (now former) Tampa Lowry Park Zoo director.
I can't recommend this book highly enough. It should be required reading for anyone who works in a zoo, and it'd be good for anyone who plans to visit (or have an opinion about) zoos. French's perceptive eye and acute mind were a perfect narrator for such a story.
March 7, 2023
4 stars
You feel like a fly on the wall - one that has flown into a cage or pen or a sanctuary. In this book you see the animals in the zoo as characters. At times you feel their bewilderment, their anger and their joy. You also feel those same emotions with the staff.
This story takes place mostly at the Lowry Zoo in Tampa. It tells of the good times and of the bad, of both animal and trainer deaths and of the placement of new animals and the birth of others. You get to meet some staff members and know their dedication at very humble pay for their work. Certain animals are highlighted, for both good and bad reasons. It appears that even the best of zoos still have their own problems and insecurities that they need to overcome, not only for the pleasure and safety of their visitors, but more so for the animals in their keep.
After reading this book you ask yourself if caging and putting animals at the disposal of curious people is worth the sacrifice to the animal or if the animals best bet is to remain in the wilderness in it's own habitat and natural evolution.
You feel like a fly on the wall - one that has flown into a cage or pen or a sanctuary. In this book you see the animals in the zoo as characters. At times you feel their bewilderment, their anger and their joy. You also feel those same emotions with the staff.
This story takes place mostly at the Lowry Zoo in Tampa. It tells of the good times and of the bad, of both animal and trainer deaths and of the placement of new animals and the birth of others. You get to meet some staff members and know their dedication at very humble pay for their work. Certain animals are highlighted, for both good and bad reasons. It appears that even the best of zoos still have their own problems and insecurities that they need to overcome, not only for the pleasure and safety of their visitors, but more so for the animals in their keep.
After reading this book you ask yourself if caging and putting animals at the disposal of curious people is worth the sacrifice to the animal or if the animals best bet is to remain in the wilderness in it's own habitat and natural evolution.
February 20, 2017
I caught myself constantly wanting to shout "Yes! You sooo get it!" throughout this book. It manages to capture all of the ethical quandaries and essentially "doublethink" games keepers face every day when taking care of exotic animals in a zoo. It's a highly conflicted field and French does a wonderful job of summarizing it. I can even forgive his occasional digressions into utterly ludicrous flowery prose.
On a personal note, Enshalla the tiger's story is one out of my nightmares. Literally. It was extremely hard to read.
The overall story is one of how a zoo can be rebuilt from a disastrous state into a marvelous success. And how bad management can totally take a zoo back down from that marvelous success. The second half of the book is essentially "how to totally f-- up as a zoo CEO". I remember hearing about the scandals at Lowry Park a few years back, and I was excited to finally get a full account. I am truly impressed by French's handling of the whole book.
I do love the stories of Herman and Enshalla and the African elephants. I wish he could have given more details when it came to the falling out with Brian French (and on the protected vs. free contact issue as a whole), but I assume he had good reason. My only objection to his calling out these stories specifically is that he falls into the exact same trap that is so often criticized in zoos -- he focused in on the big name species. You really can't get more charismatic than a chimp, a tiger, and an elephant. And while he made nods to the herps and other departments, they were, for the most part, a token gesture -- I suppose even a critical writer can't escape the lure of charismatic megafauna to sell a book.
On a personal note, Enshalla the tiger's story is one out of my nightmares. Literally. It was extremely hard to read.
The overall story is one of how a zoo can be rebuilt from a disastrous state into a marvelous success. And how bad management can totally take a zoo back down from that marvelous success. The second half of the book is essentially "how to totally f-- up as a zoo CEO". I remember hearing about the scandals at Lowry Park a few years back, and I was excited to finally get a full account. I am truly impressed by French's handling of the whole book.
I do love the stories of Herman and Enshalla and the African elephants. I wish he could have given more details when it came to the falling out with Brian French (and on the protected vs. free contact issue as a whole), but I assume he had good reason. My only objection to his calling out these stories specifically is that he falls into the exact same trap that is so often criticized in zoos -- he focused in on the big name species. You really can't get more charismatic than a chimp, a tiger, and an elephant. And while he made nods to the herps and other departments, they were, for the most part, a token gesture -- I suppose even a critical writer can't escape the lure of charismatic megafauna to sell a book.
April 4, 2015
There are so many superlatives I can use to review this book. It's riveting, fascinating, heartbreaking, funny and a real page turner. It's the story of the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa Florida. It tells the story of the rise, fall and rise again of America's Number One Family Zoo and all the characters in it both human and animal. Everyone from the obsessive dictatorial CEO Lex Salisbury to Herman the King of the Chimpanzees to Enshala the Sumatran tiger whose keeper sprays Obsession around her grotto. Enshala is beautiful and dangerous and rejects every suitor that the zoo brings in to hopefully mate with her. Herman is the alpha male chimpanzee who starts out with a family until he and his sister get too big and strong to live with this family and they are given to Lowry. Herman is one of the most long lived of the zoos animals. He has survived through some awful times when the zoo was a very horrible place to the present time where the animals are cared for with kindness and intelligence. Herman loves blondes and likes to see a bit of skin if he can. Makes for some interesting interactions with his female keepers.
The beginning is about 4 elephants that are brought from Swaziland to Lowry. The elephants are destroying the trees and vegetation which is impacting other animals who need those plants to survive. There are too many elephants and they are facing a cull. Rather than kill them, the rangers decide to send 11 to the US. Four go to Lowry and 7 got to the San Diego Zoo. This sets off a huge battle with PETA and other animal rights groups, but Lex won't take no for an answer so eventually these 4 arrive which sets off a huge multimillion dollar expansion which eventually leads to a battle involving the city of Tampa and the state of Florida.
The beginning is about 4 elephants that are brought from Swaziland to Lowry. The elephants are destroying the trees and vegetation which is impacting other animals who need those plants to survive. There are too many elephants and they are facing a cull. Rather than kill them, the rangers decide to send 11 to the US. Four go to Lowry and 7 got to the San Diego Zoo. This sets off a huge battle with PETA and other animal rights groups, but Lex won't take no for an answer so eventually these 4 arrive which sets off a huge multimillion dollar expansion which eventually leads to a battle involving the city of Tampa and the state of Florida.
August 14, 2010
Welcome to the savage and surprising world of Zoo Story, an unprecedented account of the secret life of a zoo and its inhabitants, both animal and human. Based on six years of research, the book follows a handful of unforgettable characters at Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo: an alpha chimp with a weakness for blondes, a ferocious tiger who revels in Obsession perfume, and a brilliant but tyrannical CEO known as El Diablo Blanco.
Zoo Story crackles with issues of global urgency: the shadow of extinction, humanity's role in the destruction or survival of other species. More than anything else, though, it's a dramatic and moving true story of seduction and betrayal, exile and loss, and the limits of freedom on an overcrowded planet--all framed inside one zoo reinventing itself for the twenty-first century.
Thomas French, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, chronicles the action with vivid power: Wild elephants soaring above the Atlantic on their way to captivity. Predators circling each other in a lethal mating dance. Primates plotting the overthrow of their king. The sweeping narrative takes the reader from the African savannah to the forests of Panama and deep into the inner workings of a place some describe as a sanctuary and others condemn as a prison. All of it comes to life in the book's four-legged characters. Even animal lovers will be startled by the emotional charge of these creatures' histories, which read as though they were co-written by Dickens and Darwin.
Zoo Story shows us how these remarkable individuals live, how some die, and what their experiences reveal about the human desire to both exalt and control nature.
Zoo Story crackles with issues of global urgency: the shadow of extinction, humanity's role in the destruction or survival of other species. More than anything else, though, it's a dramatic and moving true story of seduction and betrayal, exile and loss, and the limits of freedom on an overcrowded planet--all framed inside one zoo reinventing itself for the twenty-first century.
Thomas French, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter, chronicles the action with vivid power: Wild elephants soaring above the Atlantic on their way to captivity. Predators circling each other in a lethal mating dance. Primates plotting the overthrow of their king. The sweeping narrative takes the reader from the African savannah to the forests of Panama and deep into the inner workings of a place some describe as a sanctuary and others condemn as a prison. All of it comes to life in the book's four-legged characters. Even animal lovers will be startled by the emotional charge of these creatures' histories, which read as though they were co-written by Dickens and Darwin.
Zoo Story shows us how these remarkable individuals live, how some die, and what their experiences reveal about the human desire to both exalt and control nature.
December 4, 2011
I think most people are either for zoos or against them. I don't really like the idea of any animal being kept in captivity, but this book presented a rational argument for the need for zoos - one which didn't sugarcoat their dark histories and sad anecdotes. I was initially drawn to the book because it was written based on testimonies and experiences occurring at or revolving around Lowry Park Zoo in St. Petersburg, Florida. I'd been visiting that zoo ever since I was a little girl. French begins his exploration into the zoo world with Lowry Park's groundbreaking acquisition of a group of elephants from Kenya. He presents the problems and resolutions from both an environmental standpoint (effects of overpopulation, conservational efforts) and an emotional bias (the wonder animals instill in humans, and the connections established). He introduces the reader to several famous residents at the zoo - an elephant, a bengal tiger, and an orangutan. Some of these animals' lives were saved, and some of them lived less-than-fulfilling lives behind bars. It's a true story with a real villain, as the financial underworld of the zoo industry is revealed in depth. To be honest, you don't really walk away from this book feeling one way or the other; you kind of just accept the sad reality that zoos are necessary evils. But despite that, it really is an enjoyable read, and one all animal lovers and wildlife advocates should read. It shines a new light on a very misunderstood industry.
August 24, 2016
I am glad I listened to this challenging and thought-provoking audiobook. ZOO STORY is not simply about cute and clever exotic animals. Instead, it's an examination of the complex ethics, motivations, and responsibilities involved in animal captivity, through the trials and tribulations behind-the-scenes at one nationally-known Florida zoo.
I'm an animal advocate, but I do not blindly follow what this-or-that group says. Instead, I strive to research the issues and form my own opinions. I do not believe zoos are 100% bad (and I'm talking AZA zoos here, not roadside menageries). Nor do I believe zoos are 100% good. Indeed, even most zookeepers don't believe zoos are 100% good, as the book makes clear. All good zookeepers are plagued with crises of conscience--is this good, right, best for the animals?--and zoo visitors should be, too.
Can zoos be good for animals? They can. Many zoos rehabilitate wild animals who have been orphaned or injured or serve as a permanent home for those animals too damaged to be released. The Lowry Park Zoo (the focus of this book) provides this service for manatees. With their large budgets, zoos can help animals that privately-funded small wildlife rehabs cannot.
Zoos are also one of the very few popular institutions that depict animals (at least the ones being displayed) in a positive light and encourage people to love and make connections with them, and care about what is happening to them in the wild. In a time in which a minority of Americans will ever enter an animal shelter, and even fewer will visit an animal sanctuary that espouses an animal rights viewpoint, zoos are one of the very few forms of animal-based institutions that actually ask attendees to care about the animals.
And of course, zoos can also help preserve those species who are being driven to extinction. ZOO STORY tells a fascinating and sad story about the rapid disappearance of the Panamanian golden frog, and the zoo's amphibian specialists' determination to propagate and restore this little creature. (However, this brings up some more ethical questions. I was rather distressed to hear about the artificial insemination of Ellie, an elephant at Lowry Park Zoo, because the males in her herd weren't old enough to mate. What if she didn't want a calf? Is it right to force motherhood on an animal just because she's an endangered species--something she knows nothing about?)
At the same time, zoos also have a lot of problems. A major storyline is the rapid rise and fall of Lowry Park's charismatic and dictator-like director, who is so obsessed with growing his animal collection that corners get cut, valuable staff members are lost, and animals end up suffering or even dying as a result. It's easy for big zoos to take on a theme park-like mentality, in which the search for the next big thrill can overtake the notion that these are sentient beings we're talking about.
While standards of care in zoos have improved with great speed--indeed, far more quickly than any other animal-based enterprise--there's still much work to be done. I've seen exhibits in which the animals appeared to be genuinely happy, mentally engaged, and at ease--and those in which the animals' boredom was manifesting itself in distressing ways--in the same zoo. The staff should be more open about what is being done to help animals in the latter segment.
And of course, there are animals who are still kept in captivity who should not be. Whales and dolphins, the consensus seems to be, are not capable of living long or healthy lives in aquariums. Other animals are far too shy and simply not suited for life in the zoo environment. I'm sorry to say that a large segment of zoo visitors behave in an abysmal manner. Parents play on their phones while kids run around, scream, and pound on the glass. Are these kids learning about animals and conservation? Are the parents?
ZOO STORY doesn't depict animal rights activists--at least those who opposed a transfer of a doomed African elephant herd into American zoos--in a very positive way. The narrator uses an unsympathetic whiny voice for activists' words, and the book attributes animal organizations with far more power than they actually have (a look at the commercial farming industry should put to rest that notion). I hoped the zoo guest who suggested a vegetarian diet to make an aggressive tiger more peaceful was just a Lowry Park urban legend, but I'm doubtful. Even animal lovers can be very dumb about animals at times.
However, even if the individual activists don't come off well, many of their concerns are validated in this book. It was activist pressure that drove zoos away from the old concrete-steel-bars-and-circus-acts model of zoos to begin with. And many of the concerns about zoos are explained and amplified. So even if activists aren't always right, neither are the zoos.
Zoos have changed a great deal over the past couple of generations. How will they change in the future? Ideally, they will expand their "sanctuary" role and focus most or all of their resources on helping individual animals who are injured or in danger. Maybe they will start taking more firm stances on issues of environment and conservation, and stop partnering with corporations that just want to "greenwash" their name brands and serving hamburgers in their snack shops.
In this issue, there's a lot of gray where only some see black and white.
I'm an animal advocate, but I do not blindly follow what this-or-that group says. Instead, I strive to research the issues and form my own opinions. I do not believe zoos are 100% bad (and I'm talking AZA zoos here, not roadside menageries). Nor do I believe zoos are 100% good. Indeed, even most zookeepers don't believe zoos are 100% good, as the book makes clear. All good zookeepers are plagued with crises of conscience--is this good, right, best for the animals?--and zoo visitors should be, too.
Can zoos be good for animals? They can. Many zoos rehabilitate wild animals who have been orphaned or injured or serve as a permanent home for those animals too damaged to be released. The Lowry Park Zoo (the focus of this book) provides this service for manatees. With their large budgets, zoos can help animals that privately-funded small wildlife rehabs cannot.
Zoos are also one of the very few popular institutions that depict animals (at least the ones being displayed) in a positive light and encourage people to love and make connections with them, and care about what is happening to them in the wild. In a time in which a minority of Americans will ever enter an animal shelter, and even fewer will visit an animal sanctuary that espouses an animal rights viewpoint, zoos are one of the very few forms of animal-based institutions that actually ask attendees to care about the animals.
And of course, zoos can also help preserve those species who are being driven to extinction. ZOO STORY tells a fascinating and sad story about the rapid disappearance of the Panamanian golden frog, and the zoo's amphibian specialists' determination to propagate and restore this little creature. (However, this brings up some more ethical questions. I was rather distressed to hear about the artificial insemination of Ellie, an elephant at Lowry Park Zoo, because the males in her herd weren't old enough to mate. What if she didn't want a calf? Is it right to force motherhood on an animal just because she's an endangered species--something she knows nothing about?)
At the same time, zoos also have a lot of problems. A major storyline is the rapid rise and fall of Lowry Park's charismatic and dictator-like director, who is so obsessed with growing his animal collection that corners get cut, valuable staff members are lost, and animals end up suffering or even dying as a result. It's easy for big zoos to take on a theme park-like mentality, in which the search for the next big thrill can overtake the notion that these are sentient beings we're talking about.
While standards of care in zoos have improved with great speed--indeed, far more quickly than any other animal-based enterprise--there's still much work to be done. I've seen exhibits in which the animals appeared to be genuinely happy, mentally engaged, and at ease--and those in which the animals' boredom was manifesting itself in distressing ways--in the same zoo. The staff should be more open about what is being done to help animals in the latter segment.
And of course, there are animals who are still kept in captivity who should not be. Whales and dolphins, the consensus seems to be, are not capable of living long or healthy lives in aquariums. Other animals are far too shy and simply not suited for life in the zoo environment. I'm sorry to say that a large segment of zoo visitors behave in an abysmal manner. Parents play on their phones while kids run around, scream, and pound on the glass. Are these kids learning about animals and conservation? Are the parents?
ZOO STORY doesn't depict animal rights activists--at least those who opposed a transfer of a doomed African elephant herd into American zoos--in a very positive way. The narrator uses an unsympathetic whiny voice for activists' words, and the book attributes animal organizations with far more power than they actually have (a look at the commercial farming industry should put to rest that notion). I hoped the zoo guest who suggested a vegetarian diet to make an aggressive tiger more peaceful was just a Lowry Park urban legend, but I'm doubtful. Even animal lovers can be very dumb about animals at times.
However, even if the individual activists don't come off well, many of their concerns are validated in this book. It was activist pressure that drove zoos away from the old concrete-steel-bars-and-circus-acts model of zoos to begin with. And many of the concerns about zoos are explained and amplified. So even if activists aren't always right, neither are the zoos.
Zoos have changed a great deal over the past couple of generations. How will they change in the future? Ideally, they will expand their "sanctuary" role and focus most or all of their resources on helping individual animals who are injured or in danger. Maybe they will start taking more firm stances on issues of environment and conservation, and stop partnering with corporations that just want to "greenwash" their name brands and serving hamburgers in their snack shops.
In this issue, there's a lot of gray where only some see black and white.
September 29, 2020
I somehow knew that this story would warm my heart. I have a real love for elephants because my mother collected elephants (not live!) for displaying in our house. So when I saw the cover and read the blurb, I thought maybe I would like it. I'm not huge on nonfiction but this nonfiction read more like fiction for me, so that made it more engaging. I also like history and historical fiction, but I wasn't so sure I'd like "Natural History" which is on the MPG for this book; however, I truly enjoyed learning about the various animals and their habits, personalities, and even their histories. It was quite fascinating. I enjoyed reading about all of the animals, but for me the elephants especially stood out and made the story of the animals' live a more engaging read.
October 4, 2021
I partly rated this book so highly because I am familiar with the Lowry Park Zoo. It was always one of my favorite zoos due to its compactness and beauty. Of course, this was back in 1994-95 before all of the expansion that is talked about in this book. That started in about 2003.
Being a journalist, Thomas French knows how to scope out all of the facts making this narrative very thorough. It is well written, fact-filled, sometimes humorous, sometimes heart-wrenching, yet still historically accurate.
It starts in Swaziland where elephants have been sanctuaried but have overcrowded the area and are destroying much of the native vegetation. The CEO of the Tampa Zoo (Lowry Park Zoo) decides to bring some of the elephants to Florida as does the San Diego Zoo. There is much controversy as to the price and from animal rights groups. The story follows their transport, giving colorful insight into the elephants and to the handlers. A doctor is onboard as is an elephant handler who used to be with Ringling Brothers circus.
One of the great personalities presented is the first animal to be listed at the Lowry Park Zoo--Herman the chimpanzee. He is beloved by many and is quite a personality having been raised for a couple of years by a family. That family continued to visit him at the zoo after they gave him up due to their moving and not being able to keep him. Herman always greeted them when they visited by raising his hand. Some other chimps are added through the years but Herman mostly maintains his alpha position.
Another dynamic animal highlighted is a tigress Enshalla, who stays very wild. A male tiger is brought in later, but it takes a really long time for them to be safe together.
A couple of men run the habitat for things like frogs, spiders, and the like. The two are so different in physical and social characteristics.
The employees of the zoo have a high turnover due to being underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated. Many are fired or quit. The CEO Lex Salisbury comes under investigation due to a couple of the animals being killed and because of his opening of Safari Park north of Tampa which will be for profit. He shifts animals back and forth from Lowry Park, his own ranch, and the Safari Park.
The author ends the book by highlighting how humans are basically destroying the planet.
Being a journalist, Thomas French knows how to scope out all of the facts making this narrative very thorough. It is well written, fact-filled, sometimes humorous, sometimes heart-wrenching, yet still historically accurate.
It starts in Swaziland where elephants have been sanctuaried but have overcrowded the area and are destroying much of the native vegetation. The CEO of the Tampa Zoo (Lowry Park Zoo) decides to bring some of the elephants to Florida as does the San Diego Zoo. There is much controversy as to the price and from animal rights groups. The story follows their transport, giving colorful insight into the elephants and to the handlers. A doctor is onboard as is an elephant handler who used to be with Ringling Brothers circus.
One of the great personalities presented is the first animal to be listed at the Lowry Park Zoo--Herman the chimpanzee. He is beloved by many and is quite a personality having been raised for a couple of years by a family. That family continued to visit him at the zoo after they gave him up due to their moving and not being able to keep him. Herman always greeted them when they visited by raising his hand. Some other chimps are added through the years but Herman mostly maintains his alpha position.
Another dynamic animal highlighted is a tigress Enshalla, who stays very wild. A male tiger is brought in later, but it takes a really long time for them to be safe together.
A couple of men run the habitat for things like frogs, spiders, and the like. The two are so different in physical and social characteristics.
The employees of the zoo have a high turnover due to being underpaid, overworked, and underappreciated. Many are fired or quit. The CEO Lex Salisbury comes under investigation due to a couple of the animals being killed and because of his opening of Safari Park north of Tampa which will be for profit. He shifts animals back and forth from Lowry Park, his own ranch, and the Safari Park.
The author ends the book by highlighting how humans are basically destroying the planet.
October 6, 2010
I picked up this book at the library as I do many of my books - randomly cruising the animal/conservation related shelves in the non-fiction section. As I was just about to start reading, my friend told me the author had appeared on The Colbert Report. So of course, I had to check that out. I was surprised to see that Colbert actually let him talk during the interview, which is unusual, but I think it may have been because the subject was not "political" per se.
I absolutely enjoyed this book, as the 5-star rating implies. I felt that it was very well-written - highly nuanced and absolutely engrossing. I myself have a mixed view of zoos, I feel they are necessary but I'm slightly uncomfortable with the concept. I've visited several and even have ambitions to possibly work at one one day, but all of that is very pie-in-the-sky.
It was very informative to read the story of the Lowry Park Zoo, in Tampa, FL. It was an inside view that I've never gotten to see/read before. I really liked how French tried to portray many sides of the story, not just in relation to this particular zoo, but to zoos in general. It showed that the issue of zoos is nowhere near black and white. There are so many issues to consider, so many things to take into account. Zoos are not going to go away anytime soon, so the best we can do is try to improve them and give the greatest importance to the lives of animals, as well as the greater issue of conservation.
I'm walking away from this book with a lot of things to think about, with a sense of despair, but also of hope, as well as a big list of more books to read. (He includes a Notes section as well as a Bibliography with a ton of books and papers related to the topics in the book.)
I absolutely enjoyed this book, as the 5-star rating implies. I felt that it was very well-written - highly nuanced and absolutely engrossing. I myself have a mixed view of zoos, I feel they are necessary but I'm slightly uncomfortable with the concept. I've visited several and even have ambitions to possibly work at one one day, but all of that is very pie-in-the-sky.
It was very informative to read the story of the Lowry Park Zoo, in Tampa, FL. It was an inside view that I've never gotten to see/read before. I really liked how French tried to portray many sides of the story, not just in relation to this particular zoo, but to zoos in general. It showed that the issue of zoos is nowhere near black and white. There are so many issues to consider, so many things to take into account. Zoos are not going to go away anytime soon, so the best we can do is try to improve them and give the greatest importance to the lives of animals, as well as the greater issue of conservation.
I'm walking away from this book with a lot of things to think about, with a sense of despair, but also of hope, as well as a big list of more books to read. (He includes a Notes section as well as a Bibliography with a ton of books and papers related to the topics in the book.)
September 22, 2012
Interesting subject matter presented in a convoluted manner. Story lines would end abruptly and then pick up later in the middle of another tangent. Rather than build suspense or deepen our appreciation of a particular point, this jumbled writing style left the reader frustrated and trying to remember the finer details of previous chapters. The lack of flow hurt the story.
Second, I think the book also suffered from too many themes: was this mostly about the displaced elephant pod; an inventory and analysis of animals and animal care at Lowry Zoo; an analysis of the rise and fall of a megalomaniac zoo director? It was difficult to focus or sympathize with any one story line.
Third, the regular comparison of the chimp society in the zoo and the human "alpha" staff members and political gatherings was overdone and not particularly profound. And the rhetorical questioning of what the animals may be thinking or what a particular action says about humanity was not very convincing.
Perhaps we anthropomorphise too much, perhaps too little. This book offered no real fodder for analysis in either direction.
I did like the too brief tale of Herman and his first human caretaker. It was one of the more emotional moments in a story that could have been more effectively and engagingly told.
November 4, 2010
Many people hold ambivalent feelings about zoos. Without them, most would never have the opportunity to see many of the beautiful and fascinating animals with whom we share the planet. Zoos also offer the best hope for the continued survival of threatened species whose habitats we’ve obliterated through our profligacy. Yet there is an unease that comes with holding wild animals in captivity.
In “Zoo Story”, Thomas French examines these complex and often contradictory issues at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa Florida and their importation in 2003 of 4 African elephants (3 wild and 1 raised in captivity). There are ethical problems that arise when intelligent animals are taken from the wild and placed in an artificial environment. Every aspect of the animals lives from their feeding and care, to their social interactions and contact with other species (particularly with humans) is affected and changes the animals in ways that are poorly understood.
French considers these ethical dilemmas in a manner that is both sensitive and thorough while at the same time spinning a compelling narrative that encompasses individual animals and the zookeepers that tend to them. I also found his descriptions of human behaviors in terms often used to describe animal interactions amusing.
In “Zoo Story”, Thomas French examines these complex and often contradictory issues at the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa Florida and their importation in 2003 of 4 African elephants (3 wild and 1 raised in captivity). There are ethical problems that arise when intelligent animals are taken from the wild and placed in an artificial environment. Every aspect of the animals lives from their feeding and care, to their social interactions and contact with other species (particularly with humans) is affected and changes the animals in ways that are poorly understood.
French considers these ethical dilemmas in a manner that is both sensitive and thorough while at the same time spinning a compelling narrative that encompasses individual animals and the zookeepers that tend to them. I also found his descriptions of human behaviors in terms often used to describe animal interactions amusing.
May 9, 2014
I really enjoyed this book that was about Tampa's Lowry Park Zoo. The author did an excellent job changing back and forth between the story of the animals and the story of the humans involved. In fact, some of the most interesting parts of the book are when he compares the habits of the two. The look behind the cages at the world and lives of the zoo keepers was particularly interesting, but the best part of the book was the story of the rise and fall of Lex Salisbury, the zoo's CEO. As a Tampa Bay area resident, I distinctly remember both when Lowry Park Zoo was a horrible zoo to visit (small, concrete, iron-barred cages) and the political fallout of Salisbury's personal conflicts of interest with the zoo. Fortunately, he is no longer with the zoo and it continues to be a great place to visit (especially for families). Even if you aren't from the Tampa Bay area though, this is a fascinating look behind the scenes at a zoo over the course of a year.
January 28, 2014
Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Thomas French reported exhaustively on the Lowry Park Zoo in Tampa, Fla., for this fascinating and beautifully written book. Beginning with the transport of elephants imported from a game park in Swaziland, the book explores the delicate balance between conserving endangered animals and exploiting them for profit.
I really appreciate the end notes that let readers know exactly where he got his information. The opening of the book reads as though French were on the plane with the elephants. Consulting the end notes, I saw that his description was based on interviews with those who were there. A lot of the time however, French's reporting is first-hand.
One of the blurbs on the cover of my paperback called Zoo Story a "fun read." I recommend it highly, but I wouldn't call it "fun." The plight of many of these captive animals is devastating.
I really appreciate the end notes that let readers know exactly where he got his information. The opening of the book reads as though French were on the plane with the elephants. Consulting the end notes, I saw that his description was based on interviews with those who were there. A lot of the time however, French's reporting is first-hand.
One of the blurbs on the cover of my paperback called Zoo Story a "fun read." I recommend it highly, but I wouldn't call it "fun." The plight of many of these captive animals is devastating.
November 18, 2018
Through the story of one zoo, an examination of zoos: What do they mean? How have they evolved? Is there a place for zoos in our culture? Are they doing a good job?
These are important questions these days, as in the news a gorilla has just been shot, a child fell into an enclosure and died - zoos across America are grappling with fluctuating purpose and strong opinions about what they do.
The multilayered narrative is fascinating - wild Swazi elephants transported to America, one tough tiger who had enough, manatee surgery, bunny huggers, and a chimp who lives his entire life among people.
Between the story lies the questions....
These are important questions these days, as in the news a gorilla has just been shot, a child fell into an enclosure and died - zoos across America are grappling with fluctuating purpose and strong opinions about what they do.
The multilayered narrative is fascinating - wild Swazi elephants transported to America, one tough tiger who had enough, manatee surgery, bunny huggers, and a chimp who lives his entire life among people.
Between the story lies the questions....
May 16, 2010
This marvelous examination of the motivations and mandates behind the zoo industry raises all the expected questions and allows the reader to make their own judgements. Both sides are adequately represented, and the humanity, as well as the...animality (? take that as a parallel for the animal side) of the business is emotional and heartfelt. The acknowledgements thank Yann Martel, the author of Life of Pi for showing the author the possibilties in imagining an inner life for animals. It is a stupendous job of journalism, done with sensitivity and acumen. Bravo!
April 7, 2013
This was an amazing book. I love animals. They bring joy, life and intrigue to our world. This book questions keeping animals in captivity and I still don't know if humans protecting animals in zoos is the best way to care for them. I do know my life has been enriched by my experiences at many zoos, museums and aquariums. I don't know if that is best for the animals and the planet. Everyone should read this book.
April 11, 2020
Captivating Look at Animal Behavior
A panoramic view of animal life from the wild to zoo life, Zoo Story begins in the tiny country of Swaziland, which recently had a name change to Eswatini. Many details are provided about the national parks and the operation of zoos. But, the animals themselves are the most fascinating part of the story. From elephants who bury their own dead, to transporting elephants by air, to great predator cats breeding and rituals; the reader gets a 'birds-eye view' of the animal kingdom in today's world.
Not only is the story very realistic, but it looks at the lives of animals honestly from every angle in a non-political way. From stalking predators, to tool-wielding primates; I will never forget some of the mental images I will take away from this book. While the Audible narration of Zoo Story was great, I think it would have been nice to have a hardback copy for the photos, which I can not speak for here, since I haven't seen them. I enjoyed the narration by John Allen Nelson.
I read this book for my stop in Eswatini on my Journey Around the World for 2019-2020. My next stop will be Mozambique, where I will be getting "a window on eternity" from a picturesquely illustrated hardback copy of A Window on Eternity: A Biologist's Walk Through Gorongosa National Park.
A panoramic view of animal life from the wild to zoo life, Zoo Story begins in the tiny country of Swaziland, which recently had a name change to Eswatini. Many details are provided about the national parks and the operation of zoos. But, the animals themselves are the most fascinating part of the story. From elephants who bury their own dead, to transporting elephants by air, to great predator cats breeding and rituals; the reader gets a 'birds-eye view' of the animal kingdom in today's world.
Not only is the story very realistic, but it looks at the lives of animals honestly from every angle in a non-political way. From stalking predators, to tool-wielding primates; I will never forget some of the mental images I will take away from this book. While the Audible narration of Zoo Story was great, I think it would have been nice to have a hardback copy for the photos, which I can not speak for here, since I haven't seen them. I enjoyed the narration by John Allen Nelson.
I read this book for my stop in Eswatini on my Journey Around the World for 2019-2020. My next stop will be Mozambique, where I will be getting "a window on eternity" from a picturesquely illustrated hardback copy of A Window on Eternity: A Biologist's Walk Through Gorongosa National Park.
May 18, 2024
People are the worst
July 14, 2017
4.5 stars. fascinating. I learned alot, was amused by the animal stories, and interested in the lives of the people surrounding the zoo. That says alot.
August 27, 2024
This book was so good and interesting! I definitely recommend if you want to learn more about what goes on at zoos.
April 18, 2022
This was a fascinating look into the historical, scientific, political, economic, and cultural aspects of Lowry Park’s zoo (later Zoo Tampa).
August 13, 2022
What were the most interesting things I learnt?
In the book there is a lot of detail about a group of elephants from Swaziland that were transferred to Lowry Park (the zoo the journalist studied for this book). I particularly enjoyed learning about a communicative strategy that elephants have, and how it not only facilitates intra-herd communication, but also inter-herd communication:
“Elephants routinely communicate with one another through snorts, shrieks, roars, bellows and trumpets. They also exchange information through low-frequency rumbles, most of which humans can't hear. Sometimes, people in the vicinity of elephants can feel these rumbles; the vibrations have been described as "a throbbing in the air" similar to thunder. Elephants tune into these rumbles not just with their ears, but also with their feet. Through motion sensitive cells in the soft pads of their feet, they can detect low-frequency sounds as they ripple in seismic vibrations along the ground. Elephants use these infrasonic signals to attract mates, to assert dominance, and to find and rescue calves who have fallen into watering holes or got into other trouble and are calling for help.
The trauma of the culls, then, could not be completely contained. As the targeted animals ran in vain from the helicopters, they would have been capable of sending out terrified warnings to other elephants beyond the horizon.”
Additionally, I enjoyed learning about how the approach to elephant handling has changed. Originally, keepers adopted “free contact” – trying to emulate the traditional mahout-elephant relationship observed in places like Myanmar. The principle of free contact is that the zookeeper attempts to establish themselves as the “matriarch” in the zoo’s elephant collection. In doing so successfully, they are able to consistently commandeer obedience and respect from the elephants. However, there were too many examples where elephant-keeper personalities did not match, leading to an elephant “testing” their keeper with incrementally increasing violence and eventually killing them, as was the case with Char-Lee Torre in Lowry Park. Now, something called “protected contact” is used which is safer for keepers and much better for elephant welfare.
“Used increasingly in zoos around the country, protected contact required staff members to maintain a barrier between themselves and the animals, even when they had to get close enough to check the pads of their feet ... The alternative protocol was also considered more humane for the elephants since it relied on positive reinforcement. The elephants were not dominated or prodded or punished, as they often were with free contact. Through a system of food rewards, they were encouraging to follow the trainers' commands, not intimidated into compliance.”
Is there anything I should be critical of in this work?
The author, Thomas French is a journalist. The prose reflects this strongly. It’s very clear and concisely written, but there are flashes of more sensationalist writing that come through, as well as consistent humanisation of the animals being documented. My favourite example of this is the story about Herman the chimp and Dr Murphy:
“At times Herman seemed uncannily human, understanding things that eluded the other chimps. His unusual relationship with Dr Murphy was a good example. Like many of the animals at Lowry Park, most of the chimps disliked the veterinarian because they associated him with the strong of a tranquiliser dart and other indignities required for their medical care. One day, Murphy appeared in the chimp night house with a tranquiliser gun so he could attend to Herman. Murphy was a good shot and almost never missed. But this time, his aim was off. The other chimps would have run and hid. Herman just picked up the dart, walked over to the mesh, and handed it back to Murphy so he could try again.”
In some ways, like with the above story, this was very moving and served to connect me with the animals resident to Lowry Park, but in other instances, I found it quite disturbing, like the constant reiteration of Herman’s sexual fascination with blonde women.
I am also aware that the journalist had varying relationships with the people he wrote about, most notably Lex, the zoo manager who was forced to resign after, in his last year managing the zoo, set up a for-profit game park and ferried animals to and from Lowry Park to flesh it out. This would have affected his portrayal of them in the book.
How can I use this text to help me in my career development?
This book really drove home to me how prone these organisations are to corruption by the management and how, with the wrong leader, a place for scientific advancement, protection, and safety for extensive collections of endangered species can very quickly become exploitative.
One of the main things I have taken from this realisation is that it is the keepers and those most intimately in contact with the animals who will give me the most honest account of their welfare and who will be most knowledgeable of the little quirks possessed by each species, and individual of each species that is under their care. They are the people solely involved in the institution for the animals. Their intentions are not muddied by a dual responsibility for the zoo’s finances, publicity, or popularity.
This is reflected in two quotes from the book:
“All zoos, even the most enlightened are built upon an idea both beguiling and repellent - the notion that we can seek out the wilderness of the world and behold its beauty, but that we must first contain that wilderness. Zoos argue that they are fighting for the conservation of the Earth, that they educate the public and provide refuse and support for the vanishing species. And they are right. Animal rights groups argue that zoos traffic in living creatures, exploiting them for financial gain and amusement. And they are right. Caught inside this contradiction are the animals themselves, and the humans charged with their well-being. Keepers see the realities of zoo life up close, every day. More than anyone else, they know when animals are treated well at their zoo and when they are not. “The keepers,” a veterinarian at another institution once wrote, “are the core of the zoo’s conscience”.”
The next one refers to a keeper in charge of watching over the group of 7 elephants during the flight from Swaziland to Lowry Park.
“He paid special attention to their foreheads because he knew that when elephants communicated through their infrasonic rumbles - the effort sometimes caused their foreheads to move. Even if human ears could not detect the rumbles, he wanted to see who was talking and who was responding, who was connecting and who was keeping to themselves.”
I also got quite a shocking insight into the other considerations that this field of work involves. It is not just a matter of simply giving the endangered animals some land, food, and good medical treatment. Success in breeding programmes brings with it just as many problems as failure.
I am surprised by how much re-location is a part of a wildlife veterinarian’s job, and how necessary that re-location is. I am aware that frequent re-location of critically endangered species plays a crucial role in maintaining genetic diversity in the species, but it is so interesting to learn that when a breeding programme is successful, re-location becomes mandatory because over-population of an area leads to over-grazing of wild land so intense that it becomes irrevocably barren, and that, in cases where re-location is not possible due to underfunding or no other zoos being suitable to receive the animals in questions, the animals are culled by the very people that sought to increase their numbers in the first place! Reading about how these culls must be carried out (in a helicopter with a machine gun!) coupled with what I learnt about the inter-herd communicative ability elephants possess and the psychological damage stumbling on bloodied wild land is capable of incurring on intensely emotionally intelligent species like elephants, made me realise that the constraints conservation efforts face can mean they impart just as much trauma and loss and PTSD as poaching does.
This book really opened my eyes to how immense the considerations are for conservation efforts are, and how many factors are involved. How as a wildlife vet, I might be exposed to / forced to make some very difficult decisions, and how the financial struggles companion animal vets are privy to are tenfold in this field.
In the book there is a lot of detail about a group of elephants from Swaziland that were transferred to Lowry Park (the zoo the journalist studied for this book). I particularly enjoyed learning about a communicative strategy that elephants have, and how it not only facilitates intra-herd communication, but also inter-herd communication:
“Elephants routinely communicate with one another through snorts, shrieks, roars, bellows and trumpets. They also exchange information through low-frequency rumbles, most of which humans can't hear. Sometimes, people in the vicinity of elephants can feel these rumbles; the vibrations have been described as "a throbbing in the air" similar to thunder. Elephants tune into these rumbles not just with their ears, but also with their feet. Through motion sensitive cells in the soft pads of their feet, they can detect low-frequency sounds as they ripple in seismic vibrations along the ground. Elephants use these infrasonic signals to attract mates, to assert dominance, and to find and rescue calves who have fallen into watering holes or got into other trouble and are calling for help.
The trauma of the culls, then, could not be completely contained. As the targeted animals ran in vain from the helicopters, they would have been capable of sending out terrified warnings to other elephants beyond the horizon.”
Additionally, I enjoyed learning about how the approach to elephant handling has changed. Originally, keepers adopted “free contact” – trying to emulate the traditional mahout-elephant relationship observed in places like Myanmar. The principle of free contact is that the zookeeper attempts to establish themselves as the “matriarch” in the zoo’s elephant collection. In doing so successfully, they are able to consistently commandeer obedience and respect from the elephants. However, there were too many examples where elephant-keeper personalities did not match, leading to an elephant “testing” their keeper with incrementally increasing violence and eventually killing them, as was the case with Char-Lee Torre in Lowry Park. Now, something called “protected contact” is used which is safer for keepers and much better for elephant welfare.
“Used increasingly in zoos around the country, protected contact required staff members to maintain a barrier between themselves and the animals, even when they had to get close enough to check the pads of their feet ... The alternative protocol was also considered more humane for the elephants since it relied on positive reinforcement. The elephants were not dominated or prodded or punished, as they often were with free contact. Through a system of food rewards, they were encouraging to follow the trainers' commands, not intimidated into compliance.”
Is there anything I should be critical of in this work?
The author, Thomas French is a journalist. The prose reflects this strongly. It’s very clear and concisely written, but there are flashes of more sensationalist writing that come through, as well as consistent humanisation of the animals being documented. My favourite example of this is the story about Herman the chimp and Dr Murphy:
“At times Herman seemed uncannily human, understanding things that eluded the other chimps. His unusual relationship with Dr Murphy was a good example. Like many of the animals at Lowry Park, most of the chimps disliked the veterinarian because they associated him with the strong of a tranquiliser dart and other indignities required for their medical care. One day, Murphy appeared in the chimp night house with a tranquiliser gun so he could attend to Herman. Murphy was a good shot and almost never missed. But this time, his aim was off. The other chimps would have run and hid. Herman just picked up the dart, walked over to the mesh, and handed it back to Murphy so he could try again.”
In some ways, like with the above story, this was very moving and served to connect me with the animals resident to Lowry Park, but in other instances, I found it quite disturbing, like the constant reiteration of Herman’s sexual fascination with blonde women.
I am also aware that the journalist had varying relationships with the people he wrote about, most notably Lex, the zoo manager who was forced to resign after, in his last year managing the zoo, set up a for-profit game park and ferried animals to and from Lowry Park to flesh it out. This would have affected his portrayal of them in the book.
How can I use this text to help me in my career development?
This book really drove home to me how prone these organisations are to corruption by the management and how, with the wrong leader, a place for scientific advancement, protection, and safety for extensive collections of endangered species can very quickly become exploitative.
One of the main things I have taken from this realisation is that it is the keepers and those most intimately in contact with the animals who will give me the most honest account of their welfare and who will be most knowledgeable of the little quirks possessed by each species, and individual of each species that is under their care. They are the people solely involved in the institution for the animals. Their intentions are not muddied by a dual responsibility for the zoo’s finances, publicity, or popularity.
This is reflected in two quotes from the book:
“All zoos, even the most enlightened are built upon an idea both beguiling and repellent - the notion that we can seek out the wilderness of the world and behold its beauty, but that we must first contain that wilderness. Zoos argue that they are fighting for the conservation of the Earth, that they educate the public and provide refuse and support for the vanishing species. And they are right. Animal rights groups argue that zoos traffic in living creatures, exploiting them for financial gain and amusement. And they are right. Caught inside this contradiction are the animals themselves, and the humans charged with their well-being. Keepers see the realities of zoo life up close, every day. More than anyone else, they know when animals are treated well at their zoo and when they are not. “The keepers,” a veterinarian at another institution once wrote, “are the core of the zoo’s conscience”.”
The next one refers to a keeper in charge of watching over the group of 7 elephants during the flight from Swaziland to Lowry Park.
“He paid special attention to their foreheads because he knew that when elephants communicated through their infrasonic rumbles - the effort sometimes caused their foreheads to move. Even if human ears could not detect the rumbles, he wanted to see who was talking and who was responding, who was connecting and who was keeping to themselves.”
I also got quite a shocking insight into the other considerations that this field of work involves. It is not just a matter of simply giving the endangered animals some land, food, and good medical treatment. Success in breeding programmes brings with it just as many problems as failure.
I am surprised by how much re-location is a part of a wildlife veterinarian’s job, and how necessary that re-location is. I am aware that frequent re-location of critically endangered species plays a crucial role in maintaining genetic diversity in the species, but it is so interesting to learn that when a breeding programme is successful, re-location becomes mandatory because over-population of an area leads to over-grazing of wild land so intense that it becomes irrevocably barren, and that, in cases where re-location is not possible due to underfunding or no other zoos being suitable to receive the animals in questions, the animals are culled by the very people that sought to increase their numbers in the first place! Reading about how these culls must be carried out (in a helicopter with a machine gun!) coupled with what I learnt about the inter-herd communicative ability elephants possess and the psychological damage stumbling on bloodied wild land is capable of incurring on intensely emotionally intelligent species like elephants, made me realise that the constraints conservation efforts face can mean they impart just as much trauma and loss and PTSD as poaching does.
This book really opened my eyes to how immense the considerations are for conservation efforts are, and how many factors are involved. How as a wildlife vet, I might be exposed to / forced to make some very difficult decisions, and how the financial struggles companion animal vets are privy to are tenfold in this field.
December 2, 2022
"He was tired of the long and bitter debate that had raged on both sides of the Atlantic in the months before this flight. Tired of the petitions and the lawsuits and the denunciations from people who had never set foot in Swaziland, never seen for themselves what was happening inside the game reserves. There simply was not enough room for all of the elephants anymore, not without having the trees destroyed, the parks devastated, and other species threatened. Either some of the elephants had to be killed, or they could be sent to new homes in these two zoos. Mick saw no other way to save them."
---
I have loved animals my whole life, going back and forth between wanting to be a veterinarian, a marine biologist, and a zoologist. It has never crossed my mind that properly accredited zoos are anything less than necessary. Even so, the existence of zoos is something that just...sucks. It proves man's inherent belief that everything exists for us. Thomas French writes this book without ever truly discrediting either viewpoints - instead acknowledging that they can coexist. (Now, PETA, you can catch these hands.)
---
"All this talk of freedom as if it were some pure and limitless river flowing through the wild, providing for every creature and allowing them all to live in harmony. On an overcrowded planet, where open land is disappearing and more species slip toward extinction every single day, freedom is not so easily defined. Should one species - any species- have the right to multiply and consume at will, even as it nudges others towards oblivion? As far as Mick could tell, nature cared about survival, not ideology. And on this plane, the elephants had been given a chance."
---
For six years, French followed Lowry Park Zoo, meeting Hermon the chimp, Enshalla and Eric the Sumerian tigers, and several different elephants, as well as their caregivers who "are at the core of the zoo's conscience."
Zoo Story starts as a book about the morality of zoos, then becomes one chronicling Lowry Park Zoo during those six years, and ends as one narrating the rise and downfall of Lowry Park's CEO, Lex Salisbury. While the transition between the three parts was smooth, I found the ending to be quite jarring. I didn't expect to end the book focused on El Diablo Blanco and not the animals that made up 95% of the book.
Even so, I am so glad I read this book and am going to look into the books and journals listed in the Bibliography - something I've never done before.
---
"If animals aren't in heaven...I'm not going."
---
I have loved animals my whole life, going back and forth between wanting to be a veterinarian, a marine biologist, and a zoologist. It has never crossed my mind that properly accredited zoos are anything less than necessary. Even so, the existence of zoos is something that just...sucks. It proves man's inherent belief that everything exists for us. Thomas French writes this book without ever truly discrediting either viewpoints - instead acknowledging that they can coexist. (Now, PETA, you can catch these hands.)
---
"All this talk of freedom as if it were some pure and limitless river flowing through the wild, providing for every creature and allowing them all to live in harmony. On an overcrowded planet, where open land is disappearing and more species slip toward extinction every single day, freedom is not so easily defined. Should one species - any species- have the right to multiply and consume at will, even as it nudges others towards oblivion? As far as Mick could tell, nature cared about survival, not ideology. And on this plane, the elephants had been given a chance."
---
For six years, French followed Lowry Park Zoo, meeting Hermon the chimp, Enshalla and Eric the Sumerian tigers, and several different elephants, as well as their caregivers who "are at the core of the zoo's conscience."
Zoo Story starts as a book about the morality of zoos, then becomes one chronicling Lowry Park Zoo during those six years, and ends as one narrating the rise and downfall of Lowry Park's CEO, Lex Salisbury. While the transition between the three parts was smooth, I found the ending to be quite jarring. I didn't expect to end the book focused on El Diablo Blanco and not the animals that made up 95% of the book.
Even so, I am so glad I read this book and am going to look into the books and journals listed in the Bibliography - something I've never done before.
---
"If animals aren't in heaven...I'm not going."
January 16, 2018
This book turned me off right at the beginning with its hatred of animal rights advocates. Gosh, how dare the stupid animal rights activists be against putting wild animals into zoos when OBVIOUSLY the zoo people love the animals and take great care of them and what could be wrong with a zoo? Except the book then goes on to prove the points of animal rights activists. Are the animals happy? No. They try to escape whenever they see an opportunity. Then the people shoot them. Sounds great. Sounds like these zoo people are really right and animal rights people are clearly wrong. Oh wait. No.
Because the only animal rights position the book bothered to include was PETA saying the elephants are better off being shot in their overcrowded wild parks than being flown to a zoo, let me tell you the real position of those of us who care about animals. Instead of funding zoos, humanity needs to invest in the conservation and rebuilding of wild spaces. Zoos only give us the illusion of conservation, which dampens people's drive to make efforts to achieve real conservation. I don't hate zoos, I understand where they're coming from. I'm not sure what the best solution would have been for the elephants who started off the book being "saved" by the zoo from being shot because of elephant overcrowding that harmed other endangered animals. However, I think a better solution surely must be possible. Perhaps PETA is right that the elephants would rather be shot than caught a and enclosed forever in a zoo. But I don't believe those are the only two options and I don't think the elephant shooting option should be presented as the animal rights option.
Ultimately, thought, Zoo Story is an alright book. Even the audiobook narrator got choked up with some of the tragic deaths that would never have occurred if there weren't zoos. It does a pretty good job showing how profit motives harm animals. I came out of it feeling neither better nor worse about zoos.
Because the only animal rights position the book bothered to include was PETA saying the elephants are better off being shot in their overcrowded wild parks than being flown to a zoo, let me tell you the real position of those of us who care about animals. Instead of funding zoos, humanity needs to invest in the conservation and rebuilding of wild spaces. Zoos only give us the illusion of conservation, which dampens people's drive to make efforts to achieve real conservation. I don't hate zoos, I understand where they're coming from. I'm not sure what the best solution would have been for the elephants who started off the book being "saved" by the zoo from being shot because of elephant overcrowding that harmed other endangered animals. However, I think a better solution surely must be possible. Perhaps PETA is right that the elephants would rather be shot than caught a and enclosed forever in a zoo. But I don't believe those are the only two options and I don't think the elephant shooting option should be presented as the animal rights option.
Ultimately, thought, Zoo Story is an alright book. Even the audiobook narrator got choked up with some of the tragic deaths that would never have occurred if there weren't zoos. It does a pretty good job showing how profit motives harm animals. I came out of it feeling neither better nor worse about zoos.
September 2, 2015
I have been thinking about how to write this review because I feel my background played a large part in my enjoyment of this book. I went to school for photography and journalism, married into the circus business for a short time and then ended up living in Tampa from 1996-1999. I purchased this book a while ago because Lowry Park Zoo was my go to place anytime I needed to escape, clear my head, or just want to be around the animals. I enjoyed the layout of the zoo. I loved that they rehabilitated the manatees and I could sit in front of the chimp exhibit for the longest time, probably watching Herman, although I did not know it then. I recognize some of the names of keepers, good people who loved the animals in their care. With my history of working with animals, I can relate to having the extraordinary responsibility and gift of caring for and being around such magnificent creatures, all why questioning if this is really how it should be.
I really appreciated that this was written by a journalist..this is very good journalism. Well researched, well written, objective and accurate accounts of events, sharing as many sides of the story as possible. There isn't fluff that makes you feel like what you were reading is embellished or a tampered with story. This is an interesting and informative read framing a space in time of the lives of the humans and the animals in their care and their daily survival and struggle. Animals/conservation/activism, it is a touchy and emotional topic. Whatever your opinion is of the matter, I think you would be captivated by the book.
I really appreciated that this was written by a journalist..this is very good journalism. Well researched, well written, objective and accurate accounts of events, sharing as many sides of the story as possible. There isn't fluff that makes you feel like what you were reading is embellished or a tampered with story. This is an interesting and informative read framing a space in time of the lives of the humans and the animals in their care and their daily survival and struggle. Animals/conservation/activism, it is a touchy and emotional topic. Whatever your opinion is of the matter, I think you would be captivated by the book.
August 26, 2010
Such an interesting and nuanced book behind the scenes at Tampa's Lowry Park zoo! Thomas French understands the importance of zoos in keeping alive highly endangered species and introducing the public to the world out there, at the same time as the lives of the animals are clearly changed by their captivity. The book opens with 11 elephants on route from Swaziland to Florida and San Diego because the Swaziland park can no longer support the number of elephants there. PETA files several injunctions to prevent the transportation of the animals believing that death (the inevitable outcome of transferring the animals to other parks in Africa that license big game hunters - ugh - or slow starvation of too many elephants in the Swaziland park) would be better than captivity. I can't agree. I had no idea that poison frogs are no longer poisonous in a zoo because they don't eat the ants in their native environment that cause the poison.
I'm a huge fan of non-fiction written by journalists and Zoo Story is an excellent example of that kind of book. It's full of interesting characters - Herman, a chimp that lived with a family for so long that he prefers blonde women to female chimpanzees (isn't that awful?!), Enshalla, a Sumatran tiger that has always lived in captivity and is aggressive with everybody and dies shockingly and unexpectedly, and a CEO that bullies his staff (did you know that new zookeepers earn about $7.50 an hour?) with his grand expansion plans.
I'm a huge fan of non-fiction written by journalists and Zoo Story is an excellent example of that kind of book. It's full of interesting characters - Herman, a chimp that lived with a family for so long that he prefers blonde women to female chimpanzees (isn't that awful?!), Enshalla, a Sumatran tiger that has always lived in captivity and is aggressive with everybody and dies shockingly and unexpectedly, and a CEO that bullies his staff (did you know that new zookeepers earn about $7.50 an hour?) with his grand expansion plans.
March 1, 2011
I have a fascination with animals of all kinds, and I love zoos in a totally nerdy way. Granted, I of course suffer from the same ambivalence that most people do when I really examine it, and I think the author did a great job at expressing this feeling. He really didn't make any grand statement about zoos being evil, on the contrary he seemed just as torn as anyone is with the question of whether to hold an animal captive.
The stories about the animals at the zoo were so interesting, and I absolutely love getting a behind the scenes look at what really goes on. I feel that I would've enjoyed the book a little more if it focused more on this aspect than on the Lex Salisbury storyline/controversy.
My biggest complaint is that I felt that the author was a little heavy-handed when describing the humans involved in the story, and he went a little crazy with the animal behavior metaphors. He tended to paint the people with broad brush strokes, labeling the members of the zoo board as alpha primates, etc. I suppose he was trying to draw similarities between the way we tend to anthropomorphize animals and make sweeping generalizations about them, but it still just felt forced and a little mean-spirited at times, as if he were forsaking actual detail and explanation for just putting the players into well-defined categories.
Overall though, a great read!
The stories about the animals at the zoo were so interesting, and I absolutely love getting a behind the scenes look at what really goes on. I feel that I would've enjoyed the book a little more if it focused more on this aspect than on the Lex Salisbury storyline/controversy.
My biggest complaint is that I felt that the author was a little heavy-handed when describing the humans involved in the story, and he went a little crazy with the animal behavior metaphors. He tended to paint the people with broad brush strokes, labeling the members of the zoo board as alpha primates, etc. I suppose he was trying to draw similarities between the way we tend to anthropomorphize animals and make sweeping generalizations about them, but it still just felt forced and a little mean-spirited at times, as if he were forsaking actual detail and explanation for just putting the players into well-defined categories.
Overall though, a great read!
September 29, 2010
This book is a series of stories, more or less in chronological order, about the Lawry Park Zoo in Tampa, about its zoo keepers, its animal residents and more. French not only does a good job conveying the humanity of the animals in the zoo, but he captures the animal nature and "signals" humans make, showing we aren't as distant from the beasts as we may like to think. Readers will find out about the history of the likes of Enshalla and Herman, two of the more famous residents there, as well as of the newer denizens -- a small herd of elephants, who made their way from a preserve in Swaziland to Tampa. There's a lot of humor in this book, such as the friendly feud between the zoo keepers in the herpetology area and those that work with the mammals. But there's a sadness, too, such as the baby manatees the staff can't save, and the frustration of the zoo staff with the administration. The book deals a pretty even hand with the varying perspectives, and was very eye-opening (for example, I knew elephants were intelligent, but not to the degree described; and I had no idea how destructive elephants can be).
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