Notes From Michael Masterson’s Blog: A Visit to the Zoo Sparks Entrepreneurial Thoughts

After visiting the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago, I had mixed feelings. It is halfway between an undisguised prison for wild animals (e.g., the Central Park Zoo in Manhattan) and a natural habitat (e.g., the San Diego Zoo).

At natural-habitat zoos, you can feel good for the animals, even jealous of their problem-free lives. But it is difficult to see the animals up close, because they have so much room to move and shelters to hide in. In a caged environment, the animals are clearly visible, but lethargic and seemingly bored. It is clear that, like prison guards, the keepers of these caged facilities are primarily focused (as they should be) on the physical health of their inmates. But, unlike the keepers of natural-habitat zoos, they pretty much ignore their psychological well-being.

I have no prejudice against zookeepers. Were it not for them, I am sure that people around the world would never have developed an interest in keeping endangered species from dying out.

Like most aspects of human culture, zoos were first created by quick-buck entrepreneurs who had little concern for the quality of their product or the satisfaction of their customers. They had an idea - that showing exotic animals could be commercially remunerative - and they pursued it. Because they were correct in their assumption, they succeeded.

At some point, customers started demanding more quality, and thus the save-the-animals industry (for it is an industry) was created.

The San Diego Zoo is an example of how you can reinvigorate a business by combining an old commercial idea (displaying wild animals in cages) with a new tipping-point idea (we should be ecologically responsible) to create something new (the natural-habitat zoo). This has to be seen as progress.

- Michael Masterson

[Ed. Note: To read more of Michael’s unedited, uncensored (and sometimes unexpected) ruminations, check out his blog.]

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