I have a love/hate relationship with small, local zoos. On one hand, the animal lover in me hates that the conditions are often poor and the habitats are tiny cages made of chain link fence with a dead tree thrown in for realism. The animals walk around in their own filth and pace the ten by ten foot area with little quality of life or semblance of an existence that they would have in the wild.

On the other hand, they are some of the only places where I can my children can get close enough to the animals to see them and sometimes even touch them and that's an experience I want me them to have.

This one was better than most but even so, I always have misgivings about giving my money to support these places. It's a dilemma.


This bird seemed to have imprinted on me and followed me as I walked back and forth around the cage:


Loved the colors on this guy.


I desperately wanted to take him home:


This llama had his head on backwards. See what I mean about the conditions? Or am I reading to much into it?



This elephant had covered herself in the red Virginia mud to keep the flies away. The Dormouse insisted that this wasn't a "real" elephant because "real elephants aren't red."