Wild Life

On October 19, 2011, the owner of a private zoo in Zanesville, Ohio, opened the cages of the fifty-six exotic animals he kept, and then shot himself. A few animals escaped before authorities could reach the zoo, but most hovered near the fence, afraid and confused. Imminent nightfall forced the hard decision not to risk use of tranquilizer, but to shoot to kill. One person described this real-life tragedy as “Noah’s ark wrecked.”

But what if the opposite had occurred, and most of the animals...