Opinion: Going to the zoo is a fun experience, or at least it should be. My latest trip left me heartbroken and questioning what exactly is the point of going to the zoo.
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Do you know why koalas aren’t classified as bears? It’s because they don’t have the right koalifications!

Cheesy humor aside, I think it’s time we had a conversation about going to the zoo.

Over winter break, my family, and I went on a trip to California. As part of our trip, we visited the famous San Diego Zoo. 

Before we got there, my hopes were high. I had checked the list of animals they had, and I was ecstatic at the thought of getting to see my second favorite animal: brown bears. Though I was a bit disappointed to learn they no longer had panda bears, they did have polar bears — which no longer live at the Denver Zoo — so I was still excited.

Unfortunately, when we got there, the weather was not in our favor. It was a gloomy scene of wind and rain, similar to the feeling of walking around campus during winter term.

This was not going to stop me though. I was set on seeing these bears.

For those who have never been to the San Diego Zoo, it is a really cool place. The zoo alone is massive, and in our several hours there, we still didn’t see everything. I will say, though, I’ve never felt like I was going on such a hike as I did at this zoo, all to see these animals..

Roughly halfway through our visit, we reached the Northern Frontier, the section that is home to animals like polar bears and reindeer. It was time. I was going to see my first bear in this zoo.

We walk up to the polar bear habitat, and I am met with an unforgettable sight. There were no polar bears. Instead, I was met with a sign saying the animals were in the back either eating, receiving medical care or doing whatever else polar bears do.

I was disappointed, to say the least. Denver no longer had polar bears, and I had missed my chance to see them in San Diego.
Oh well, I still had the grizzly bears to go see. Right?

We were down to our last two stops in the zoo: the grizzly bears and orangutans. 

As we approached the bear enclosures, we first passed the sun bears, and I got scared. I looked in the habitat and didn’t see a single glimpse of a bear. Then right next door was supposed to be the grizzly bears, and the same thing happened. There were no bears.

My dad pointed out that, since it is winter, they might be hibernating. Coincidently, at the same time he said that a tour bus drove by and said that bears in zoos don’t hibernate. So where were the bears?
We finished our time at the zoo, and I felt empty. What is the point of going to the zoo to pay to see these animals when I don’t actually get to see the animals?

This thought gave my dad an idea: a zoo in which people only pay to see the animals they want to. Instead of one general admission cost and not knowing what you’re getting into, you pay by the animal. That way, if you truly want to see the unnecessarily large collection of birds a zoo has to offer, you can pay to see them, and those who don’t want to don’t have to. Personally, I could skip all of the birds, except maybe the hummingbirds. But at least with this system, I am given a choice.

Going forward, I think this is the direction zoos should be going in. It takes the pressure off the zoo and zookeepers to have these animals ready at center stage at all times and it takes away the disappointment of folks like me who pay to see every animal except the one they truly wanted to see.