She believes those zoos “that acted as conservationist sanctuaries for threatened species … put the animals first they tried to understand and mitigate the stress of captivity, they created partnerships with organizations that protected indigenous animal populations, and they participated in breeding and reintroduction programs with local Department of Natural Resources offices.” Another character posits that zoos can make children care about unpopular animals, like reptiles. Yancy would disagree with the idea that zoos are always bad places for animals. The attention and debate lead to pressure on Yancy, and make her fear for the reptiles she considers her responsibility – and, sadly, sometimes even her property. Attempts to explain the hatchlings’ conception include allusions to the Virgin Mary and scientific diagrams illustrating parthenogenesis. Though Yancy has romantic entanglements that occasionally claim her attention, her priority remains the Komodo dragon, Jata, and, once they arrive, her three hatchlings.Ĭontroversy and excitement swirl around Jata and her babies because the dragon mom has no mate. Yancy is a keeper of reptiles at the fictional Bloomington’s Zoo of America, including the zoo’s Komodo dragon, native to the Indian Ocean island of Komodo. Meg Yancy, the protagonist of Mindy Mejia’s debut novel The Dragon Keeper (Ashland Creek Press, 2012), may even care too much about her charge, the zoo’s captive Komodo dragon. Some species have much shorter life spans, more disease, and higher infant mortality rates in zoos than they do in the wild, as I discussed on a television show debating a lawsuit against the Los Angeles zoo for abusing and neglecting its elephants.īut even many people who are staunchly anti-zoo believe that there are some zookeepers who do indeed care about the animals, have their best interests at heart, and do their best to keep the animals comfortable and healthy. Some zoo animals are stolen violently from their habitats and families so humans can gawk at them. Zoos tend to provide less space, stimulation, and company than the animals would have in the wild. On the rare occasions that I have visited them, I have seen only animals imprisoned against their will, sometimes bored and frustrated to the point of madness. Book Review: The Dragon Keeper by Mindy Mejia
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