Concordia University - Portland CU Commons Undergraduate Theses 2017 Extinction Breeds Innovation: A History of the Oregon Zoo Anna Doty Concordia University - Portland Follow this and additional works at: http://commons.cu-portland.edu/theses Part of the History Commons CU Commons Citation Doty, Anna, "Extinction Breeds Innovation: A History of the Oregon Zoo" (2017). Undergraduate Theses. 169. http://commons.cu-portland.edu/theses/169 This Open Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by CU Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Undergraduate Theses by an authorized administrator of CU Commons. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Extinction Breeds Innovation: A History of the Oregon Zoo A Senior Thesis submitted to The Department of Humanities-Arts College of Theology, Arts, & Sciences In partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree in History by Anna Mikail Doty Faculty Supervisor___________________________________ __________________ Dr. Gerd Horten Date Department Chair___________________________________ __________________ Dr. Kim Knutsen Date Dean, College of Arts & Sciences _____________________________________ __________________ Dr. Michael Thomas Date Provost ____________________________________________ _________________ Dr. Joe Mannion Date Concordia University Portland, Oregon July, 2017 2 3 Abstract This thesis is a study of the history of the Oregon Zoo, hereafter, Zoo, from the early 1800s to today. It places a particular emphasis on questions related to animal welfare and historical trends in human/animal relationships. Two research questions emerged in the study. First, how did this zoo go from a collection of living oddities to a standard to which other facilities are compared? And secondly, while the Zoo is exemplary, what challenges still linger regarding animal welfare? This thesis attempts to address these questions.