 There isn’t much in the way of zoos here in Newfoundland and Labrador. Not that we have a problem with zoos. It’s just that, well, we don’t really have much need of them.
Perhaps it’s because, in a way, the whole of Newfoundland and Labrador is already something of a wildlife display. And you can enjoy it pretty much everywhere, without admission prices, feeding times, or fences to keep the nature in.
How would you pen in humpback whales? Or limit the playfulness of dolphins behind a glass viewing area? Impossible, we say. At least out here. Better, instead, to see them as nature intended. In wide open spaces. On no schedule but their own.
And that theory applies here in every river, every field, every stand of trees, and every stretch of barrens. The bears roam free, as do the moose and the caribou, by the hundreds of thousands. There are 22 species of whales alone, including the world’s largest migrating population of humpbacks. To say nothing of the 35 million seabirds that fill the air above our cliffs, easily viewed by birders of any experience level. Pen in the kittiwakes and gannets, the bald eagles and storm petrels? They would not stand for it. And who, really, can blame them?
Certainly, we do have protected areas and nature parks. And some magnificent botanical gardens to stroll in. But nature, real nature, is found out here in its largely unadulterated form. We know Mother Nature blessed this place, over and over and over again. We feel that the best way to return the favour is simply by leaving her works be. It’s wild here, yes. But that’s sort of the point. |
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