Sailing with Noah: Stories from the World of Zoos by Jeffrey P. Bonner
Written in a lively, accessible style, Sailing with Noah explores
the role of zoos in today’s society and their future as institutions of
education, conservation, and research. Along the way, Bonner relates a variety
of true stories about animals and those who care for them (or abuse them),
offering his perspective on heavily publicized incidents and describing
less-well-known events with compassion and humor in turn. By bringing the
stories of the animals’ lives before us, Bonner gives them a voice. He strongly
believes that zoos must act for living things, and he argues that conservation
is a shared responsibility of all mankind. This book helps us to understand why
biodiversity is important and what it means to be a steward of life on earth.
Q: Why did you
choose the name Sailing with Noah for
this book?
In
the last chapter I talk about how much I hate it when people refer to zoos as
arks. But the Biblical story of Noah
always seemed important to me. I’ve
always viewed it as a parable that speaks to our obligation to care for all
living things. I think of the world as
the ultimate ark – a small, fragile sphere that holds all of life as we know
it. In the end, we’re all Noahs of a
sort. All of us hold the ability to
steward life on Earth in our hands.
Q: You cite a
visit to an aquarium and the awe an electric eel inspired in you as the moment
you were changed for good. Can you think of any other moments like this where
things seemed to just “click” for you?
I
can think of a lot of times where things just clicked. The first that pops to mind was when I took
my first anthropology course. I went to
the first class and then came back to my dorm and began to read the text. I don’t know how much of it I read in one
sitting, but I flipped open the book to find out where the author worked
(Columbia University) and decided on the spot that I would go to graduate
school there. Of course, there’s also the
first date with my wife…
Q: What did you
find to be the most challenging thing about writing this book?
The
real challenge writing this book turned out to be available time. I really didn’t have any. I wound up working on it pretty much every
Sunday that I was in town. The stories
were the easy part.
Q: How do you
feel about the current expansion plans for the St. Louis Zoo?
I
guess I’d have to say that I’ve never been busier in my life. Part of that is due to the expansion plans,
but you also have to consider that we’re still building projects that resulted
from our current fund-raising effort, “The Living Promise Campaign.” I don’t travel as much as I used to, but I
still have two trips that I’m leading up to Churchill, Manitoba, to see polar bears
this fall. There seem to be so many
things happening all at once. But I love
working on the expansion; the only problem is that I already have a full-time
job.
Q: What would you like readers to take away
from this book?
I
hope they’ll gain a better understanding of the role of modern zoos. More important, I hope that this book will
make people care more about living things. I want people to feel a sense of
responsibility and understand that even the smallest of things, if we all do
them, can have a huge impact on our environment.
Q: What are you
currently working on?
In
terms of books, I’m writing fiction now.
The problem is more one of time than anything else, so I’m not making
much progress. Work pretty much has
overtaken me and my work/life balance seems to be more than a little out of
whack. But I’m collecting some story
ideas for a sequel. Who knows? Maybe another is coming (someday).
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