Zoos are doing more and more in science and in scientific research now, because we realize that they’re a lot of things that we didn’t know about some animals that we know now, and that we can think back in our career and say, oh yeah, that’s what probably caused us this problem or that problem, or why we lost this animal. I’ll tell you one thing about domestic animals. In South Texas, there’s a prevalent disease now called chagas disease, which causes a neurological condition and a cardiac condition in dogs. It’s been brought in though to the US by people because it affects people. And with the large immigration influx coming in, especially from Central and South America, they’re bringing in chagas disease, which is spread by an insect vector, a kissing bug is what they commonly call them, rejuve type of beetle. And it is not spread by the bite itself, but it’s spread by, after they bite, they pass an excrement and it gets on the dog’s feet or the person’s hands. And then they end up putting it in their mouth and that’s how it’s passed. So there’s been a lot of work done on things such as this that’s just one example.
