Letters from Our Readers: Summer 2008

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It's a Zoo Out There

In "Why I Still Believe in the Zoo" (Spring 2008), Susan Freinkel cites a common justification for zoos: that it is beneficial for children to have this encounter with animals. I find myself wondering why she didn't elaborate on her daughter's ability to feel the sadness of the polar bears. I think it is unfair to use the example of Tatiana, the Siberian tiger who escaped from its cage in the San Francisco Zoo, without mentioning that it is likely she was being taunted by the young males who were attacked. How quickly a caged animal can become fierce when it is living on the edge of insanity.

Terri O'Hara
Corvallis, Oregonk

I spent my first year as a zoo groundskeeper trying to avoid see­ing all the "shadows" around me and to focus instead on creating comfortable, interesting habitats and enrichment for our animals. As a zoo convert, whenever I ques­tion my convictions I remember the young boy who hit me with a bar­rage of questions about my com­plicity in the horrors of captivity. Suddenly, before I could come up with an appropriate response, the boy stopped midstream and, look­ing over my shoulder from the step where he stood, said, "Wow! Look! Giraffes!" And he was gone. Zoos do have a place and a purpose, if for no other reason than to provide incen­tive to develop better solutions.

posted online by Janicak

Green Collar Vets

Regarding "Looking for a Few Good Men" (Spring 2008): What a logical and wonderful idea. Vets get good jobs and this country can move away from oil dependence. Way to go, girls; the best of luck.

posted online by Mary K.

Major Trade-Offs

Regarding "Time to Be Unfaithful to Old Faithful" (Spring 2008): Is this supposed to be funny?

Deirdre Cavanagh
Andover, Maine

Editor's reply: Um...yes.

Back to the Future

I read Bruce Stutz's "Transylvania: Welcome to the Future" (Spring 2008) with great interest. When I traveled through Romania by tour bus in 2006 the roads were barely passable. There was, however, an extra lane for horse-drawn wagons only! Your article is one of the best I have read on this self-sustaining culture, and I would like to see this area declared a cultural heritage site, similar to what has been done in some parts of Japan. 

Christel Plowden
Winter Haven, Florida

Transylvania is and has been rich in ethno-diversity, as well as in the biodiversity Stutz discusses. Hungarian, Saxon, Roma, and Romanian people throughout the region all share similar challeng­es to their ways of life. Just 20 miles from Crit, the people of the Gagy Valley villages, which I have visited several times, are mostly Hungarian speaking. Villages in the valleys are isolated by rutted dirt roads, so "developing non-farm activities," as suggested by the World Bank, is not really an option.

posted online by A. K. Gary

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