Great Zoos of the United States - A Photo Thread

[OLS]

One of the great things about the US has been our determination back in the
early 70s to take zoos from a bunch of caged animals that depressed animals and patrons
alike, to an ethos of zoos created to be better for the animals first. And that is by the
very nature of it, better for the patrons. I grew up in New Orleans, and the Audubon Zoo
was one of the most shameful zoos in the world. It was a large, magnificent place in terms
of collection, but the cages were tiny, dirty and outside of the eyes of kids who are just
amazed to see animals, pretty depressing for everyone else involved. One need only rent
CAT PEOPLE to see what it was like even in the fairly modern dawn of the 1980s. Dozens of
big cats kept in cages the size of a prison cell. Concrete and steel.

This thread is going to be another photography thread, I guess, but first and foremost, it should
honor the zoo as a place where despite their captive status, animals look like they are actually
not totally depressed by their surroundings. I have been to the Greater Baton Rouge Zoo,
the (Hattiesburg, MS) Kamper Park and Zoo, the (New Orleans) Audubon Zoo, and the Como Park
and Zoo in Minnesota. Outside of that, I have not had too much zoo exposure. But I would like
to see what other people see. And while I love a good close-up, or a shot that makes the animal
look like it is sitting in it's home in the wild, this is first a ZOO thread, so if your shots the exhibit
the...well, EXHIBIT, that is all the better. I want to see and help share what is out there in hopes
that people might be inspired to visit a zoo, even a zoo far from home. Share what you have,
I know we will all enjoy it. And if its a closeup, or a shot that looks like it is not in a zoo, well,
we love those, too.