My last day in Hamilton I decide to visit the zoo. The layout reminds me again of the Museum visited earlier, that there are set paths and routes to take, certain information is revealed to you and others are not. There is a sense of superiority felt by the visitor in that your identity becomes one of an observer, that the animals are there for your entertainment, that is their identity and yours is merely to consume. Zoos bring about mixed feelings because the true identity of these animals are stripped and they are being controlled to feel and act in certain ways. Another aspect that is interesting is that to witness wildlife and exoticness is apart of travelling and gaining social capital, and yet visiting a zoo I feel is a cheap way for people to gain social capital without travelling to the natural habitats to see it.
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