Cats and Trails and Garden Tales
Musings on cats, travel, gardens and life
Going to the Zoo – Woodland Park and Pt. Defiance
I’ve always enjoyed going to the zoo and went many times to Woodland Park when I was growing up in Seattle; back then it was free and animals were segregated in drab concrete enclosures.
Today it’s beautifully landscaped, and animals live in areas designed like their natural habitats. Buildings are mostly hidden and walkways connect the areas in a style known as ‘landscape immersion’ first pioneered here in the late 1970’s with the gorilla exhibit. It has now become the industry standard.
In 1975, ” David Hancocks, the then-director of the Woodland Park Zoo, redesigned the zoo’s gorilla exhibit to form what became referred to as landscape immersion exhibits, in which animals would become immersed in landscapes that represented their natural habitats as closely as possible, while visitors would also be immersed in the same replicated habitat. The habitat was designed with natural plants and rockwork, with special consideration being put towards the acoustic treatment of the exhibit to make the environment soft and quiet.” Wikipedia
I especially love visiting the Orangutans in the Trail of Vines, where they spend most of their time in the trees. These beautiful creatures, natives of Borneo and Sumatra, are critically endangered.
We love Woodland Park, but now that we live further south, we go to the Pt. Defiance Zoo in Tacoma more often. It’s smaller and less crowded and surrounded by forest and gardens.
The otters are always a top attraction for me.
And it also has an excellent aquarium where the jellies are my favorites.
Neither of these two zoos have elephants. For that you’ll have to go further south to the Oregon Zoo in Portland; we visited last year.
And while I love elephants, I have mixed feelings seeing them in captivity. Elephants in the wild live much longer, and need much more space to thrive. I would rather see them in sanctuaries, and I think that’s the trend.
And that will do for today.
Sharing with Sunday Stills, Zoo Animals.
~ Susanne
Cats and Trails and Garden Tales 
J’adore !
Merci!!
Wonderful post and photos which brought back some lovely memories. Like you, I remember visiting Woodland Park Zoo, and even as a youngster, feeling sad for the caged animals. I was greatly relieved when the new, larger enclosures were added.
The last time I visited Pt. Defiance, there was a pilot whale continuously circling its small tank. This was probably 20 years ago, so I imagine the whale has died, but I hope they’ve made changes too.
Thanks for your comment. I had forgotten about the whales at the Pt Defiance Zoo. Apparently, the last beluga whale was transferred out in 2009, and whales aren’t kept there any longer. I would love to see all captive whales released back into the wild. We have a bad history here in the NW, starting with the capture of Namu the killer whale.
Truly incredible captures of these amazing animals, Susanne! It’s nice to see the zoos of the world adjusting and growing to give the animals more space. Sadly, I think elephants may be safer in zoos since they are poached worldwide in the wild for their ivory–horrible! God is gonna be mad at us for not being better stewards of His creation!
Thank you, Terri! I love visiting a good zoo, and most are helping save some at-risk animals from the brink of extinction. It’s sad, that many natural habitats are shrinking, and animals are still killed as trophies. I’m hopeful that there will be more sanctuaries established with ample space provided, especially for elephants, who seem to understand their plight. I agree we haven’t been very good stewards!
All lovely photos but the jellyfish are incredible! They look like alien beings!
Thank you! I love watching jellyfish! they are mesmerizing!
I so agree that animals that are not endangered, like elephants, have no place being in zoos. For many years I refused to visit any zoos, until they started to house the animals in better and more natural conditions in the 1990s, and carried out breeding programmes to return some to the wild. Orangutans always look sad, but that’s just their natural expression I suppose. You got some lovely photos of the animals.
Best wishes, Pete.
Yes, I totally understand. Zoos can be good for conservation, rehabilitation and saving animals from extinction. But I don’t like seeing big cats enclosed, nor elephants. I found a lot of articles online advocating for elephants to be released from zoos, and that the breeding programs are very stressful for them. Even though it looked like a decent amount of space at the Oregon Zoo I felt sorry for the elephants there.
Wonderful photos. May God bless and keep all of His marvellous creatures everywhere and help us to care for them and for each other 🌱🙏🏼💚🍃
Amen. Thank you.
Fabulous photos of the zoo and all the animals! The jellyfish are stunning as well. I agree with you about the elephants being better off in a sanctuary, though.
Thanks, Debbie. Seeing the elephants at the Oregon Zoo made me sad, knowing they need lots of space to roam.
I agree that is no place for elephants. I’ve visited a couple of very good sanctuaries in different countries which offer them a much better quality of life. But the work done by Woodland Park to improve living conditions for their animals is impressive. And the otters are fun to see too 🙂
Thanks, Sarah. I like what they’ve done at Woodland Park. And I’m also happy they no longer keep elephants. Activist groups won this battle in 2015, but sadly the elephants were only transferred to another zoo where it didnt end well. 🙁 And I saw mixed reviews on the Oregon Zoos elephant exhibit.
Thankfully the days of cement enclosures and iron bar cages have given way to more natural habitats. Back in the early 1980s I worked at a vet practice that took care of the zoo animals. They had transitioned the bears from a horrible cement island to a wooded and verdant space surrounded by a Plexiglas barrier. It was so much better that they started changing all the exhibits one by one. The last one to be upgraded was “monkey island”. It was an engineering nightmare since the chimps were far smarter than the average bear!!
Oh wow, that must have been interesting work! It’s certainly better than it was, with many zoos embracing more natural habitat exhibits, with more space.
The rules have changed and if you want the permit to display animals you have to provide a good environment!
Good! 😊
Susanne, looks like an adventurous time!
Yes indeed!