Zoo Story: Life in the Garden of Captives Book

I found stacks and stacks of this book in a neglected corner during a Borders going-out-of-business sale. It was odd for me, because I hadn't heard of it at all. So I picked it up and took it home. (How could I not? It had elephants on the cover and promised to be a behind-the-scenes look at a zoo.)

It was over and above anything I was expecting. It is, in fact, the first in-depth look at the personal life of zoos that I've been able to find. French, a journalist with no zoo ties, does an admirable job profiling, both the animals and humans who populate a zoo. He also aptly captures the contradictions inherent in a zoo, and the people who work there. There are no (good) zoo employees who do not feel at least a little skeptical about whether they're doing the "right" thing for the animals at times. French is able to capture the personalities and motivations that make zoos tick (or not).

He tells fascinating stories about the individual animal personalities of the Tampa Lowry Park Zoo, and the controversies it endured around the turn of the 21st century, but he also touches on two of the most controversial and conspicuous issues zoos face today: Animal escapes (called Code Ones at Tampa) and free vs. protected contact for elephants. He chronicles Tatiana's Christmas day escape in 2006, and San Deigo Zoo's move from free to protected contact. He does an admirable job telling Tatiana's story, but he over-simplified the free vs. protected contact argument, and made the transition sound a lot simpler that it has been, though perhaps not simpler than it should have been.

The telling of Tatiana's story sets up the climax of the book, which was compelling and difficult to read. (I don't know one zoo employee who has not had this nightmare. I have it repeatedly). French deftly used the incident as a microscope to look at the power dynamics of the Tampa Zoo.

The rest of the book deals with the political fall of Lex Salisbury, the (now former) Tampa Lowry Park Zoo director.

I can't recommend this book highly enough. It should be required reading for anyone who works in a zoo, and it'd be good for anyone who plans to visit (or have an opinion about) zoos. French's perceptive eye and acute mind were a perfect narrator for such a story.