zoos and circuses...

growing up, my father's family was quite eccentric. at one point he owned 35 reptiles - turtles, snakes, etc. his mother was not afraid to handle them, either. adding to this eccentricity was their love of the circus - they even had a full model circus in the basement with a little train and everything! my grandparents were members of Circus Fans of America, and there are many pictures of the boys (grandfather, two uncles, and my dad) dressed in clown attire. my grandfather was also a docent at the Detroit Zoo. my personal experience with zoos probably began when i was just a baby - i don't think a month or two went by in my childhood when we didn't go to the Toledo Zoo! i think i had been to at least 20 different zoos by the time i was eight years old, but the Toledo Zoo remains my favorite. the lincoln park zoo is a close second...especially since it's the only free zoo in the nation, and it's just ten blocks away! unfortunately, my own experience with the circus is not as wonderful as the zoos. circuses have been on a sort of decline ever since the mid-1970s, most likely as a result of animal rights groups. nonetheless, i've definitely been to my fair share of circuses, and i even wrote a 12 page term paper on the history of the circus for my U.S. history class in high school.

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