My opinion on zoos was shaped entirely by personal experience, so take from this what you will.

A couple years ago my wife and I were visiting relatives in Ohio. We were bored of sitting around, so on a whim we decided to visit the zoo. It was a gray and rainy day, so the place was abandoned except for us. We were prepared with jackets and an umbrella so we could go outside and see the large animal exhibits. That was where we saw the elephants.

I will never forget it. Two adult elephants were standing in what looked like a concrete shoebox, open on one side to a space of maybe one thousand square feet, also bare concrete, separated from onlookers by a moat. The elephants were shoulder to shoulder in their enclosure, staring at a the wall, rocking back and forth.

It was unsettling. I thought elephants would need a lot more space, and knowing nothing about elephants, I wasn't sure what to make of their behavior. I watched them for a few minutes. They just kept making this strange swaying motion, rocking back and forth in their tiny little box.

I don't know anything about elephants, really. I have seen a few nature documentaries on PBS and things like that, but that's the extent of it. Maybe someone more knowledgeable than me can provide a satisfactory explanation of what I saw that day. I hope so. Because to me, it looked like the saddest thing in the world. It looked spartan and claustrophobic. It looked like a mental hospital, or a prison.

I have heard that zoos provide a safe and comfortable environment for animals so people like me can go and learn about them, but I would rather I had never gone that day. I can learn enough from books and the internet.