Carson Vaughan
Auteur de Zoo Nebraska: The Dismantling of an American Dream
Œuvres de Carson Vaughan
Étiqueté
Partage des connaissances
- Sexe
- male
- Nationalité
- USA
- Lieux de résidence
- Nebraska, USA
Membres
Critiques
Statistiques
- Œuvres
- 1
- Membres
- 155
- Popularité
- #135,097
- Évaluation
- 3.7
- Critiques
- 7
- ISBN
- 5
For me the book was compartmentalized. The details of life in a rural farming community are vividly depicted and included some of the history of the area. That was of particular interest to me. The local townspeople involved and their personalities were described in detail, until you felt that you knew them well (or someone just like them, at any rate). But there was no escaping the main subject matter, the ill fated circumstances that resulted in the travesty that was the roadside attraction known as Zoo Nebraska.
Dick Haskins was a local boy, a loner and somewhat eccentric person who never quite fit in. He was drawn to the study of primates and fell in love with them, wanting to devote his life to a career studying them, in Africa. However, he never pursued the educational course that would have given him the expertise required to fulfill this career dream. After a stint working with the chimps at a nearby large zoo, he ended up being able to personally take Ruben, a chimp who he had grown very close to and quite fond of, ostensibly even teaching him some sign language. The chimp was put in inadequate housing and the debacle snowballed from there. There are many culpable parties in this story, but none so much as Dick Haskins. While there is alot of sympathy for Dick instilled in the story, that did not register with me. I felt he is guilty of manslaughter, thoug of course there is no such crime for the death of non-human beings.
The lack of oversight and regulation of roadside zoos is incomprehensible to me and has resulted in tragedy time and time again. I hope this book serves to bring more awareness to this topic and cause some action and legislation to take place to prevent these types of tragedy. It's a story that never should have happened, and should never have been allowed to happen, at any level.… (plus d'informations)