Hi Peggy Sue,

When we had the Habitat forum, things like this came up periodically. I hear the complaints about zoos - I feel very much the same way. They are both very sad, yet, I fear a necessary evil as we are taking up the space of all the other wild things.

"My way to try to earn money to help the animals is to paint and photograph them. How do we do that without affecting them? When I first started with this site, I asked if people would like to help wildlife. I did find a site that I hope will provide us with a outlet to make a difference. "

Unfortunately, I don't think that we can really photograph them and not have an impact on them. However, with all things, it is all about balance. i.e. is what you are doing causing more harm than good? Having spent more than a few periods in Yellowstone, I would say that some folks are very good about it and others are not. Some might even consider Yellowstone a giant petting zoo - at least if you see some of the tourists with the elk and buffalo.

As to the site that you just linked, I have never heard of them. The site looks interesting though and I will be doing a bit more digging around there myself. One thing I noticed, the site has not been updated since August of this year (or does not appear to have been updated). I wish that their mission statement was a bit more clear, and that they said where moneys donated were actually going (and exactly how much).

James