All things have spirit and beauty

San Diego Zoo is a place I want to visit ten thousand times. Because I want to come often, I got an annual pass with a photographer friend, which covers tickets for both the San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park. Locals especially love the Safari Park because it is bigger and more spacious. Although the San Diego Zoo is already one of the world’s top zoos, San Diegans always prefer to see animals living more comfortably and freely. I used to think the same way and was very reluctant to see animals confined in small cages for people to watch. However, while reading "King Solomon's Ring" on the plane, the naturalist Konrad Lorenz wrote: "People tend to feel deep sympathy for animals in zoos, but many of these animals are quite content with their situation." For example, lions are one of them. The king of the jungle is especially lazy, so building a royal garden-sized lion enclosure is really a waste. In contrast, what people should really care about are animals with higher levels of evolution (such as primates 🦍, parrots 🦜, and birds 🦢 that need to migrate but are trapped in the park due to clipped wings). Also, on the way to the zoo, the driver told me that at Safari Park, keepers find time every day to let cheetahs sprint to release their natural instincts. "That’s true," said the volunteer grandmother who watches over the cheetah "estate," "but this arrangement is more to please humans. In nature, cheetahs only perform their maximum sprints for survival, at most once every few weeks." Later, people realized this and adjusted the sprint frequency back to the natural rate. In many important (and negative) moments in my life, it was being with animals that gradually made things better—I love watching them lazily bask in the sun, stroll leisurely after a full meal, and listen to birds singing love songs in pairs. Even in the most anxious and exhausted states, I can still find infinite patience and curiosity to quietly watch them live rustling lives beyond human sight. This kind of immersive observation has unknowingly become a kind of "indirect salvation" self-healing method. - I love animals, but not in a one-sided way; it’s more about respecting their way of life, not based on human pleasure and interest. I have always loved zoos because I deeply understand that a great zoo will bring children unforgettable childhood joy~ Only when these children grow up can our society and planet become better 🌍 · ·