Reddit reviews Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals

Zoos are not there to protect animals. They are there to amuse humans. https://slate.com/technology/2014/06/animal-madness-zoochosis-stereotypic-behavior-and-problems-with-zoos.html

>Many animals cope with unstimulating or small environments through stereotypic behavior, which, in zoological parlance, is a repetitive behavior that serves no obvious purpose, such as pacing, bar biting, and Gus’ figure-eight swimming. Trichotillomania (repetitive hair plucking) and regurgitation and reingestation (the practice of repetitively vomiting and eating the vomit) are also common in captivity. According to Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson, authors of Animals Make Us Human, these behaviors, “almost never occur in the wild.” In captivity, these behaviors are so common that they have a name: “zoochosis,” or psychosis caused by confinement.

Instead of doing "more", we must do less -- by not endangering these animals in the first place.

I always come in late on these kinds of things. People need to check out the book Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin. The book, overall, is about the physical and psychological needs of animals, and how we can meet those needs, and sometimes touches on how we can identify animals who aren't getting those needs met.

The first half of the book is about pet animals (dogs, cats) and the second half talks about farm (and zoo) animals.

It was a really interesting read. Ms. Grandin has worked for a couple decades as a consultant doing audits of the "humane-ness" of large factory farms. She talks about things that are done wrong, and ways to get it right - ways that farmers have already been making changes, and things that still need to be improved.

It's an interesting read from an activism standpoint (thus relevant here) but even if you want to have more insight into the underlying needs and motivations of your dog or cat.

You may be interested in Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin. She is an animal behaviorist who works to make slaughter houses and mass agriculture more humane. The book also talks about animal behavior, why they do what they do and signs of distress. It covers pets as well as agriculture and there is a chapter on zoos.

If you want to try going meatless for a few days a week, but don't know where to start, you could try one of the meal shipment services and try their vegetarian boxes. I have been a vegetarian since I was a teenager. I have a lot of great recipes but was getting bored with them so I started getting boxes to try something new. While some miss the mark, a lot of them are really good!

Also, an easy way to cut meat out for just one day a week... tacos! Just get Boca or morning star crumbles and season them as you would ground beef. Done.