Quotes about Zoos

"Zoos are becoming facsimiles - or perhaps caricatures - of how animals once were in their natural habitat. If the right policies toward nature were pursued, we would need no zoos at all."
-Michael J. Fox

"The L.A. Zoo's got a very popular attraction coming its way."
-Jay Young

"PETA is calling on all zoos to follow the lead of the Detroit Zoo and the San Francisco Zoo and retire their elephants to sanctuaries and permanently close their elephant exhibits."
-Michael Mcgraw

"One very obvious indication elephants don't do well in captivity is the fact that zoos are having so much trouble breeding them."
-Lisa Wathne

"There have been serious discussions by representatives of the four zoos to ask if there are ways that the price of keeping pandas can be negotiated downward."
-Don Lindburg

"The L.A. Zoo is a respected institution, the general manager is highly thought of, the L.A. Zoo is one of the top zoos in the world."
-Jack Hanna

"We think there will be more zoos who decide they don't want to continue with elephants."
-Jane Ballentine

"He has snuck into laboratories and zoos, found people with monkeys as pets. The story is amazing because of the extent he's gone."
-Jay Allison

"We evaluated lions on the same spatial scale that females and males evaluate them, which is from 20 to 30 yards away. The elbows, ribs, back, belly, flanks—those are areas that you only see thick in northern zoos."
-Bruce Patterson

"It is disappointing that elephants live in zoos and circuses, chained for days and months on end, forced to live in restricted spaces with no resemblance of anything natural. They simply exist to entertain the public. The Sanctuary elephants have freedom to do what they want, when they want, where they want. The decisions that are made about their lives are theirs to make."
-Carol Buckley

"[The zoo's five year redevelopment plan - for 2004 to 2009 - facilitates a sustainable approach.] If we teach environmental education, it must be evident in everything we do, ... We are constantly re-inventing ourselves."
-Jennifer Gray

"It's shameful that the National Zoo allowed her to decline to this point. Toni's death should prompt serious re-evaluation of the National Zoo's ability to care for elephants. The zoo simply does not have the space to meet the vast needs of earth's largest land mammal."
-Suzanne Roy

"I had 37 lions and tigers, two chimpanzees, 10 or 12 baboons, a hundred big-horn rams, probably a hundred deer. Zoos would sell me this stuff or they'd trade."
-Jeffrey Sharon

"The biggest problem we have (in zoos) everywhere is the males kill the females. What is it that makes them so weird, that makes them kill their mates?"
-Jogayle Howard

"All [zoos] actually offer to the public in return for the taxes spent upon them is a form of idle and witless amusement, compared to which a visit to a penitentiary, or even to a State legislature in session, is informing, stimulating and ennobling."
-H. L. Mencken

"People love giraffes. There are plenty of zoos out there who want giraffes. People expect to see those kind of animals at the zoo. It's what they are familiar with."
-Phil Coleman

"We don't want to flood zoos."
-Michelle Smurl

"The USDA is acknowledging the gravity of concern over the poor conditions for elephants in our nation's zoos."
-Elliot Katz