The purposes of zoos have been intensely scrutinized in recent decades. Conservation and education are the most commonly given reasons; however, simple entertainment is all too often their actual function. Where others have argued for the improvement of zoos by providing more natural enclosures and enrichment opportunities for animals, this volume questions the very existence of zoos. The work often has a very obvious animal rights perspective. Chapter contributors are generally philosophers and geographers. They make quite thought-provoking and compelling arguments. They document very well some of the pressing ethical concerns associated with keeping animals in captivity, as well as suggesting alternatives to zoos....Useful for presenting an alternative... viewpoint. Summing Up: Recommended.

Choice Reviews

[Metamorphoses of the Zoo: Animal Encounter after Noah] twelve chapters (plus an afterword) are remarkably diverse in voice and content, ranging from scientific contestation of the actual role of zoos in conservation and of prevailing inhumane practices to a phenomenological exploration of new relationships we might develop with both captive and wild animals, to creative proposals for radically altering if not upending the human subject/nonhuman object presumption that underlines the typical zoo encounter. ... [A] good read. . . , one that exercises the mind with respect to alternative possibilities.

Environmental Ethics

This diverse collection takes reflections on zoos to new and interesting places. It is a welcome contribution to the growing literature on animal studies.

Dale Jamieson, New York University, Professor of Environmental Studies and Philosophy

Zoos, and the ways in which their non-consenting confined residents are kept, raise important questions about how these animals should be treated. This impressive collection of essays is a significant contribution to the growing global concern about the well-being of animals in zoos, dealing with many important questions, such as whether zoos should exist at all and what possible educational benefits can be derived from zoos.

Marc Bekoff, author of Canine Confidential: Why Dogs Do What They Do and Dogs Demystified: An A-to-Z Guide to All Things Canine