The London Zoo was probably the first zoo opened to the public, in 1847, the same time Brigham Young arrived in our valley.

At that time, a zoo made sense. People could barely imagine many wild animals. Photography was in its infancy and highly primitive. It was also highly cumbersome. To spur interest in zoology and animal preservation, it was logical to give people, including wealthy and influential people, in far off big cities a chance to see these animals up close.

But things have, well, changed quite a bit in the last 170 years. What’s changed dramatically is video photography. And even the last 10 years have provided dramatic innovations that have changed everything. Today we have incredibly clear high definition digital video cameras that are also very small, un-intrusive and capable of zooming in with perfect clarity from great distances. The digital video cameras can be mounted on drones or hidden inside fake animals that the real animals accept as a fellow wild animal. These cameras can be motion activated and patiently wait for days or weeks just to be activated to capture wild animal activity. It allows you to watch wild animals act naturally and be, well, wild.

Skeptical? Then you must watch the BBC’s stunning new series, “Planet Earth II.” It is almost impossible to overstate the superlatives for this program: Gripping. Surprising. Amazing. Illuminating. Moving. Make that “highly moving.” After viewing this program, you will have no desire to see an animal in a zoo again.

In contrast, consider your last visit to any zoo. Did you see any animals asleep in the far corner of their cage? Humans are highly prone to project their own thoughts and feelings onto animals. Scientifically speaking, we just don’t know whether animals experience anything like our feelings such as excitement or boredom. So it’s hard to know how much animals may enjoy or suffer in captivity. For those animals for whom it is difficult or impossible to breed in captivity, I think that is strong evidence that captivity is detrimental for them.

In some animals, other factors signal suffering in captivity. Polar bears have exhibited bizarre behavior in captivity that suggests they are suffering. That is also true for killer whales. Nevertheless, I stipulate that not every kind of animal suffers in captivity. But it doesn’t matter. No wild animal has evolved for life in captivity. There’s no longer a reason to put them in captivity.

As habitats shrink, and evil, heinous, greedy poachers prey upon them, species such as elephants and rhinos are being pushed to extinction. Under these circumstances, a general policy against animal captivity has to be overridden by the need to take bold action to preserve these endangered species. Many zoos today, including the Hogle Zoo, serve this especially crucial function of helping preserve highly endangered animals such as the rhino.

But helping the rhino could be done differently. Let’s not put rhinos in relatively small enclosures where humans can easily gawk at them. Instead, let’s find a tract of land in rural Utah and create the biggest enclosure that is practicable to house as many rhinos as possible. Make the enclosure’s characteristics as close to the rhino’s native habitat as we can find. This enclosure would be created with zero consideration for public access. The only criteria would be suitability for rhinos. And do the same kind of thing for other endangered animals. And put a few high definition video cameras in each of the enclosures. Keep some drones with video cameras at the ready.

This animal preservation endeavor could be financed with the Hogle Zoo’s share of the ZAP tax. And hopefully, donations from generous Utahns could enhance the resources available for this critical endeavor. With the focus entirely on critically endangered animals, with any luck we would find ourselves preserving more such animals than we are today.

The Hogle Zoo site could be adapted to have high definition big screens that show the rhinos and other endangered animals acting naturally in their respective Utah preserves as well as videos from programs such as “Planet Earth II” of other wild animals in their natural habitat. It’s a better outcome for everyone.