Who needs a zoo?

It's no secret that one of my favorite places to go is the zoo.  I enjoy seeing these animals up close and in person that I'll probably never get to see in the wild.  I'm not alone in this passion:  According to Wikipedia, the zoo is Oregon's most popular paid tourist attraction, with almost 2 million people visiting annually.

However, there's a disturbing new trend developing at our office:  Online wildlife cams.  It's an epidemic around here.  We've got people watching all sorts of animals at work.  There's an Eagle Cam, a Raptor Cam, a Panda Cam, and my personal favorite, OctoCam.  I prefer octo cam because you can watch the people watching the octopus, which is fun because then I wonder if someway, somehow someone is watching me watch the people watching the octopus.  Those are just the ones I know about the people watch here.  There may in fact be more. 

One of my coworkers has actually watched Eagle cam so much, she's determined the mannerisms of this eagle family.  I just overheard her explaining to someone else that the Mama will shoo other little birds away from the nest so they don't steal food, but the "Daddy" just lets them nibble.  Do you know how to tell the difference between a male and female bald eagle?  No?  NEITHER DOES ANYONE ELSE!  I highly doubt my coworker has been spending a lot of time examining the hallux talons of these majestic creatures. 

I just don't get what the benefit of this is.  At least when you go to the zoo, you can appreciate the size of these animals and fantasize about what would happen if someone accidentally left the gate to the rhino enclosure open and he started charging through the park.  Yes, I do this when I go to the zoo.  I try to determine the nearest place of shelter or how best to protect my family if the chimpanzees get a hold of that chemical James Franco cooked up.  Half the time on these cameras, they either aren't online, the animals aren't in the fixed shot, or they're sleeping.  Is that part of the allure?  Do these people check back 14 times a day, hoping to get lucky and see a baby eagle trip as it walks across the nest?  Why not just go to youtube and type in cute eagle?  Is that too easy?  Is it like watching Sportscenter for the highlights instead of sitting down and watching the game?  Are these cameras like safari's for secretaries?  I don't get the allure.

But trust me, there's allure.  I really feel for our IT department, who has to field questions like "I need to download something to make Panda Cam work, can you help me with that?"  Or "do you know a way to make it easier for me to look up eagle cam?"  And yes, I've overheard both of those questions asked.  Look, I'm living proof that not all computer activity here at the office is work related, but for the love of God I don't go rubbing it in our IT department's face!  Think about how demeaning that is to them....you're basically saying "I think so little of your rules and position here, that I'm going to blatantly disregard everything you told me in orientation TO YOUR FACE."  C'mon man.