Where the Wild Things Aren't

The geography of American zoos is interesting.  Sometimes you find great zoos in cities that you might not expect, such as Omaha or Cincinnati or Colorado Springs, while other big cities might have surprisingly small zoos, or, in some cases, such as Las Vegas, no zoos.  There are definitely hot spots of great zoos around the country, where it's possible to plan a trip, if you are so inclined, and see many wonderful facilities in a relatively short radius.  Other parts of the country are dead zones.  

The two major zoo dead zones that I could think of are northern New England and the northern Great Plains.  And yet, of the fifty states in the union, there are only two which are zoo-less.  Vermont is a fairly small state that's not that far of a drive from New York or southern New England, and there is a small aquarium on Lake Champlain, so that sort of counts.  The other zoo-free state, probably not surprisingly, is Wyoming.

But why Wyoming, as opposed to, say, Montana or Idaho, or one of the Dakotas (South Dakota has the impressive-looking Great Plains Zoo in Sioux Falls, which is one of the larger US zoos I haven't been to... yet)?  Andrew Rossi, of the Cowboy State Daily, has some thoughts...  Fortunately, the Cowboy State has enough natural wildlife to keep animal lovers more than happy!

Why Wyoming is One Of Only Two States Without A Zoo