Jamieson, Dale and Bonnie Nadzam. “Zoo.”

“Zoo” is a short story about a zookeeper who takes his date into the enclosure of the last living tiger on Earth. The characters reflect on how humans and animals on the brink of extinction both experience love and loneliness. The story also provides an interesting take on the future of the institution as the other zoo-enclosures have been turned into simulations with virtual animals, blurring the boundary between ‘real’ animals and fictions created for their entertainment.

Similar texts:

• Davies, Gail. 2000. “Virtual Animals in Electronic Zoos: The Changing Geographies of Animal Capture and Display.” In Animal Spaces, Beastly Places, edited by Chris Pilo and Chris Wilbert, 243 – 259. London: Routledge.  

Jamieson, Dale and Bonnie Nadzam. 2015. “Zoo.” In Love in the Anthropocene, 167 – 197. London: OR Books.