Hi guys, I honestly feel a bit of a tool. Sure I've left this blog to gather dust, it started with the best intentions, but in the months that passed other blogs started to crop up just like this one and it suddenly felt that maybe the world didn't need the ZOO OUTSIDER as much as I had imagined. It lost priority in the grand scheme of things, but was perhaps the noblest thing I could have done at the time. I have also felt a great deal of despondence in the past year at the zoo industry as the problems which looked to be rectifying themself suddenly took a turn and seemed to overwhelm to zoo world. The longleat Lions surplus scandal, Marius the Giraffe, the dreaded Blackfish and more recently the Cecil the lion media parade. It felt like the fire might have died.
In the words of George Harrison...
"Try to realise it's all within yourself no-one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
And life flows on within you and without you"
Sounds obscure right? I suddenly started to feel very small and insignificant for some time and that's where I was wrong, so maybe it's time for an update on the world of the ZOO OUTSIDER.
The first thing that made me realise that reasonable observation can influence others and make a change in an almost immutable industry was that on re-visiting a collection I had blogged on before, one year ago - http://zoooutsider.blogspot.co.uk/2014_06_01_archive.html
Without trying to single out any individual collection, I used my visit there to highlight the obscure double standards seen in zoo collections when it comes to products sold in outlets. Much to my absolute delight, on visiting the same gift shop featured in the first item, now every single reference to white lions and tigers is gone, not a one to be found, no cuddly toys, plastic figures or t shirts. I can only hope then, that my post reached the right eyes and minds to make a change, furthermore there may be collections that have also followed this idea that I am not yet aware of.
Seeing this I logged back into my dusty old account to find that there were still hundreds of people visiting the blog pages to read the posts and although I have little feedback, the world is still interested in the blog.
In this time of the everyman animal rights activist, who is a self proclaimed expert on animal welfare and celebrities using any chance they can to gain traffic on their social media channels, maybe there is still room in the world for the ZOO OUTSIDER.
I might create some new material for the page, but as ever, I won't be posting for posting's sake, if there's something to be said or looked at, I will certainly thrash it out here.
Sorry again for the year long void, we all have to learn, grow and change. I guess I needed that time.
I'm always happy to answer any comments or questions people might have, please do get involved.
Lets look forward to some interesting new posts, any ideas please ping them my way, as long as there are people wanting to listen, I will continue to speak.
Peace,
The ZOO OUTSIDER
