BROOKFIELD ZOO

Zoos are truly amazing places. I visited the Brookfield zoo last Saturday, not expecting the visit to be special. However, every minute I spent in the zoo had its own special quality.

As this was the first time I visited a zoo in America, I did not know how many people would visit it. I was surprised at the number of people who visited the zoo, but I also realized that there is one universal law concerning people and animals: people react the very same way to animals at zoos. Although people react to animals the same, the reaction is peculiar. The reaction is peculiar in the sense that people never seem to get tired of animals. People might have been around a particular animal for their entire lifetime, yet when they see that animal again they react with the amazement they had shown the very first time they saw the animal. Why is this so? Why do we have an eternal passion for animals? Questions such as these are questions that will remain unanswered forever.

The zoo is considered boring by some people, and I feel sorry for them because of their misconception. In reality, the zoo is anything but dull, and in its own way is as interesting a place to visit as an amusement park, maybe better.

• People love to visit amusement parks mainly for the thrills that it presents to them. The roller coaster and other spine-tingling rides provide them with the thrills they are looking for.
  
  People visit the zoo to spend some time with their families, not for thrills. The zoo of course provides them with thrills. If a 2 ton rhino growing, what appears to be, restless trying to protect its baby, and threatening to run over you does not make your hair stand on your back, nothing will.

• People visit amusement parks for some fun, and time-out from their stressed lives. People do have fun at the amusement park, but their stress level might not be reduced in the bustling and shouting of the amusement park.
  
  Many people visit the zoo to enjoy some time with their kids. However, their stress level is reduced in the process of having fun with their kids. They get more space as the zoo attracts fewer people than an amusement park, and is spread out over a larger area. In addition, their reason for visiting is fulfilled as they and their kids have fun watching the animals, and interacting with friendly experts.

Aside from the thrills and fun, the zoo also provides many people with a chance to learn something new about the animals. The Brookfield Zoo, like many other vast zoos, has motor safari tours that provide people with an alternative way of moving from one area of the zoo to another without walking. The motor safari not only transports people from site to site in the zoo; it also provides people with information on the animals. This information coupled with information in the exhibit itself, is enough to make a person who could not tell a horse from a zebra an encyclopedia on animals.

The zoo is a very exciting place to visit. People and animals have had a bond forever, and the zoo just makes maintaining that bond a lot easier.

Date Posted : August 16, 1998.

What do you think?
Back to my homepage
Back to the weekly column