Born to Be Wild

Reckoning with the Zoo in the Age of Extinction

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Born to Be Wild

By: Andrew Westoll

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From the award-winning author of The Chimps of Fauna Sanctuary comes an immersive and thought-provoking exploration of the modern zoo that confronts our fraught relationship with the animal world in the age of extinction.

Most thinking on the modern zoo falls neatly into two camps: zoos are either vital institutions in the struggle against the Sixth Extinction, or cruel anachronisms that deny life and liberty to some of the most awe-inspiring creatures on Earth.

In this deeply researched, elegantly written, and compassionately argued book, Andrew Westoll explores the many paradoxes of the modern zoo, while engaging readers in the practical and ethical quandaries that lie at the heart of the institution.

Born to Be Wild takes us to some of the most iconic zoological parks in the world, where we meet extraordinary animals—from the Sumatran tigers of London to the giant pandas of Vienna—and the humans who look after them. Along the way there is a death in Copenhagen, a shooting in Cincinnati, an elephant in a New York courtroom, and a fugitive owl in Central Park.

As the climate emergency churns through the biodiversity of our planet, zoos struggle to remain relevant as they try to balance our need to connect with nature and our responsibility to protect it. In Born to Be Wild, Westoll grapples with the impossible question of whether the diminished lives of captive animals can ever be justified, at a time when the world’s wild places are nearing extinction.

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