Life on the Ark: The Zanesville Animal Catastrophe A Decade Later

Bonus Episode Two: Last Thoughts

This special bonus episode contains fascinating extended interview segments with scholars and wildlife experts that did not make it into the original documentary series. Topics covered include problems in U.S. animal law, gun culture in the U.S., and the challenges of coexisting with bears in the Mountain West.

Bonus Episode One: Re-homing without a Home

This special bonus episode picks up where the original series leaves off, reflecting on the idea of "home" for captive exotic animals in the United States. The main storyline covers a serval rescue operation that occurred in Cincinnati, Ohio, in the spring of 2023. Interviews include an animal-law scholar, a zoo historian, a philosopher, animal rescuers and caregivers, and an exotic-animal veterinarian.

Part Eight - Prince Sattva and the Hungry Tiger

What are Zanesville's legacies, more than a decade later? Interviews with animal activists, legal scholars, journalists, and wildlife experts.

Part Seven - Zoopolis

A brief history of the relationship between the professional zoological industry and the private animal trade -- before and after the 2011 Zanesville incident. (Note: This episode mentions a proposed federal bill called The Big Cat Public Safety Act. Since the time of this recording, that bill has passed through both the House of Representatives and the Senate to become law.) Further reading: Nigel Rothfels, Savages and Beasts: The Birth of the Modern Zoo, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008. J. Donahue and E. Trump, The Politics of Zoos: Exotic Animals and Their Protectors, Northern Illinois University Press, 2006. Irus Braverman, Zooland: The Institution of Captivity, Stanford University Press, 2013.

Part Six - Lions, Tigers, and AR-15s

How police militarization and notions of public safety shaped the public's response to the incident. (Note: This episode mentions a proposed federal bill called The Big Cat Public Safety Act. Since the time of this recording, that bill has passed through both the House of Representatives and the Senate to become law.) Further reading: Jennifer Carlson, Citizen-Protectors: The Everyday Politics of Guns in an Age of Decline, Oxford University Press, 2015. Jennifer Carlson, Policing the Second Amendment, Princeton University Press, 2022.