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Zooburbia is a collection of essays that reflect on the environment, wildlife, and our relationships with animals. Tai Moses is a journalist with experience caring for all sorts of animals and in this book, she writes about how those in urban and suburban areas share their environment with wildlife. There are moments of mindfulness, reflections on the natural world, and how urban development has impacted wildlife.
Zooburbia is a book that leaves one reflecting on the environment and humanity’s relationship with it for months after reading it. Moses writes about so many animals and how they interact with people and urban settings – from a goat that kept getting stuck in a fence to an octopus in a pet store to volunteering at a shelter and bonding with a pit bull named Autumn to confronting a hotel about a lonely goldfish in a tiny bowl on the reception desk.
Each chapter brings a new essay and story about a different animal and lessons on how we can all be better stewards to them, especially if we live in urban settings. Moses writes about her own personal relationships with the natural world in such a way that the reader can’t help but learn about the world at large.
This book is one that’s best read with a cup of tea, a sleepy dog by your side, and a willingness to reevaluate how you understand and think about the wildlife around you. Through her writing, Moses reminded her audience to be present in nature, to look around at your surroundings, and to see all the ways in which wildlife coexists with us.
If you have any sort of affection for the natural world and the animals that also call this place home, then Zooburbia is the book for you.
