I have been a trapper, hunter and fisherman ever since I can remember. Lots of Alaskans are just like me, spending as much time as possible outdoors interacting with and appreciating the wild world around us. Some focus on fishing, others on hunting. A few trap.
However, I suspect most outdoorsmen and women are non-consumptive users. Even the most hardcore of hunters are more appreciative of the hunt than the actual take. In its natural form, the outdoors is an irresistible attraction.
This attraction is what draws me, and others, to the zoo. We can't get out to experience the wild first hand so we take this questionable second choice. Where else are my kids going to see a Siberian Tiger?
Tough on predators
Over the past several months I have been to a couple of different zoos and a sea life center. All of left me disappointed to some degree (though I keep returning). Pens seem okay for the prey animals. Most seem content to munch their food and get fat.
The same can't be said for the predators. The Alaska Zoo in Anchorage used to have a wolverine. He was gone the last time I was there, but the path he had worn into the ground pacing forth and back in his pen was not. Wolverine are traveling animals. They are predators and travelers who live for traveling the high wide-open vistas.
I once tracked a wolverine after a fresh snowfall from the lower end of Nonvianuk Lake (not far from Igiugig at the outlet of Lake Iliamna), to the top of Big Mountain, some 25 miles up the Southeast shoreline of Illiamna. I estimated his travel distance at 75 miles, which he covered in less than 10 hours. When I passed him with the Supercub, he had a ptarmigan in his mouth and was still going. It's an animal you hate to see in a pen, even though the animals that wind up at the Alaska Zoo are orphaned, injured or captive-born.
I visited a sea life center a week ago, too. The fish were fine. I couldn't get much feeling from the sharks. The dolphins bothered me. They were the park's big money maker. Fifty bucks would get one a touch; $120 would get you a kiss; $250 for a ride. These ocean travelers did this over and over, every day.
On the other hand, there are very few places where my kids get to be close to a dolphin. What are our alternatives? The Internet has some very good interactive virtual tours. Electronic animals. Great. I think it may be better to keep the mystery. The mystery of the Siberian tiger I may never see in the wild.
Season to get outdoors
However, I have been fortunate. I have experienced wolves, wolverine and polar bears in their natural habitat. I have seen dolphins cruising in the open ocean. I have watched killer whales taking seals from a rock. Most people won't get that opportunity, simply because of lack of time or inclination.
Folks take the second choice, the zoo. Maybe a wildlife refuge would be a better choice?
All of us should try to get outdoors this spring and see what we can see. Snow had one last shot at us this past week in parts of Alaska, but it will be gone soon. Birds are arriving from the south. Moose will be calving in a month. Some bears are out of their dens. This is the outdoors we can experience today, in our own environment. It isn't necessary to see all the animals in one afternoon. Maybe, as outdoorsmen and women, we should be content to see what we can, when we can.
John Schandelmeier is a lifelong Alaskan who lives with his family near Paxson. He is a Bristol Bay commercial fisherman and two-time winner of the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.