I like the zoo, but I don't get much opportunity to leave the house, so I haven't been to many. One of my most enduring remnants from a zoo trip is my wolf plushie that I just had to buy.
But yes, zoos are really the only way I can get a glimpse of anything that isn't a cat, a a squirrel, or some generic local birds, so of course I find them fascinating. I just want to stare at animals for hours, watching their behavior, and observing the beauty of their designs.
Some may think that it is cruelty to keep an animal locked up, and I have to say that this depends entirely on the situation of their containment. If they're well fed, well cared for, and are given enough space for exercise. So I can't really judge based on a glance. I do wish that they could roam free as needed, but some animals need to be kept in captivity for research and scientific purposes. There are also cases where people find wounded animals and can't ever release them back into the wild. (At the zoo I went to, I saw a bald eagle with one wing, for instance) For all I know, letting outsiders look at them could just be a way to fund this research, that could do a lot of good for humanity. As long as they are treated humanely, it isn't something that I try to be bothered by or think about too much.
food in the wild is free ;)
In terms of having no monetary value, yes. But the amount of effort it takes to actually obtain food in the wild is... quite taxing. So it really is free food when they don't really need to exert much effort to obtain it.
