The Urban Pantheist

The JN "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge is a protected estuary on the barrier island of Sanibel on the gulf coast of south Florida. It's something of a birder's mecca, with wide mud flats allowing for amazing visibility, and a resource-rich habitat attracting a variety of birds, including tropical migrants. It is named for the man who did much of the work to get the land protected.

Ding Darling was an editorial cartoonist and conservationist. He was often very critical of the policies of then president Franklin D Roosevelt in his cartoons. FDR was aware of him, and eventually asked him to be the first head of the agency that became the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Often on this visit to Southwest Florida I was struck by how hard the conservation fight seemed to be here. And yet the beauty and biodiversity are so omnipresent you would expect people would be clamoring to protect it. It's a shame the state wasn't discovered by westerners 500 years later than it was.

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On one morning of our trip, we went to Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens. And while I loved their animal and plant collections, their visible and well-organized animal training program, and the fact they use bicycles instead of golf carts for many purposes, I really liked their signage.

Most zoos can't afford to have staff in all locations, and so the signs have to do a lot of work keeping the guests safe and informed.


This is the fist time I've seen a zoo sign that is about reading the signs. I don't know if this increases the amount of attention that the zoo guests pay to the other signs, but I like it.
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