I was ready with my debit and Sacramento Zoo membership cards in hand to pay for my visit at the Folsom Zoo Sanctuary only to be told that they have no affiliation with the Sacramento Zoo and couldn’t give me a discount! They were not a zoo, but a sanctuary!! That’s what’s in a name!!!

Marlene and I had visited the Folsom Zoo, in Folsom, once before and found it not too favorable for photography, but Ray set up this outing for our Tuesday group and off we went. I just wasn’t prepared for the difference between a zoo and sanctuary to be explained so explicitly and rudely. What makes one better than the other?

You might say that the sanctuary takes in animals that can’t be released into the wild while the zoo breeds animals into captivity. I find there’s a place for both. When you look at the amazment in children’s faces you understand that a zoo is where they learn about animals they may never get to see. I think it’s great that a sanctuary gives animals a home when they can’t be in the wild any longer, and their stories touch your heart. For me, there’s a place for both.

Getting back to why the Folsom Zoo is not a great place for photography, their cages are too thick. We can’t shoot through the thick metal and make it disappear. Knowing that, I just took pictures of the crowds, the beautiful landscaped and designed walkways and some animals not in caged enclosures.

Meanwhile, at the Sacramento Zoo, in Sacramento, there were so many children visiting the day we went. I couldn’t get close to some of the exhibits. Or, by the time I could take the shot, the animal was out of reach or went back inside.

So, here are a few images from both the zoo sanctuary (FZ) and the zoo (SZ)!

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

•