If Noah and his family were able to take care of all the world's animals, why do zoos have so many employees?

Question

I live near the St. Louis Zoo, and I am puzzled as to why it needs to hire so many employees. Noah and his family, who numbered less than 10, were able to take care of all of the world's animals (including ones that are now extinct) for thirty days without being resupplied. The St. Louis Zoo takes care of only a fraction of the number of animals that were on the Arc, but its employees number in the hundreds. My calculations, based on the book of Genesis, show that only 1 or 2 employees could handle the workload at the St. Louis Zoo.

Should I be outraged at this waste of taxpayer money?

Answer 1

...yeah, but Noah and his family only had to worry about 2 of each species...the world's animal population has proliferated quite a bit since then... ...and they only had to care for the animals for 40 days, not for years on end...

Lumber to build an ark was much cheaper back then, too. In Noah's day, there was no payroll, worker's comp or vacations to worry about. He didn't have to pay retirement or medical benefits. There were no behavior and breeding specialists...no staff vets doing surgery and administering vaccinations...nor the expense of the lab equipment. Noah didn't have to provide accommodations for visitors and didn't have to carry liability insurance to protect himself from being sued. He didn't have to worry about the EPA breathing down his neck about animal waste disposal.

Of course, it must also be noted that Noah received divine assistance. Since zoos are dealing with mere mortals of varying intelligence, it seems natural that more personnel are needed to match the skills of 10 divinely chosen and endowed caregivers. ...and, let's face it, cleaning up after the elephants at the St. Louis Zoo must be closer to Hell than Heaven.

Thanks for the chuckle...

Answer 2

Like you said, the St. Louis Zoo has employees, Noah had the Creator helping him. That makes all the difference.

Answer 3

Even after reckoning with Noah's extra ordinary efforts, and after reckoning with Government employees' reduced productivity (and considering that Noah did not have to bear with Animal rights and Peta people); the only rational answer could be that Noah's world was not the whole globe. He might have saved the animals in his "world" which could be from Jordan river to, say, Tigris river. Or between the Mediterranean sea to Jordan river. Do you expect that Pandas from China, Kangaroos from Australia and Reindeer from Alaska traveled to Arabia to get saved ? And before people start jumping that God flew them to Arabia, why God could not keep them flying for 40 days in China / Australia itself. Well I can not write further, at the moment I am enjoying visualization of my answer, flying kangaroos in Australia and flying Elephant in Africa and India - wow what a scene.

Answer 4

That was then and this is now, this was a job or mission that was given to Noah, and this is a job opportunity for people to be employed in our world today. Noah was doing something that God gave him to do, for God knew that Noah could handle it. In our society today it is impossible for one person to take care of all the animals that are contain in the zoo, so we have to use our taxpayers money to employ helpers.

Answer 5

According to the latest research from modern creationist scientists the animals on the ark may have been freeze dried This way all Noah had to do was throw them overboard after the flood and they poofed back into living animals.

Answer 6

I think God was taking a larger part of the responsibility.

He could make the poo just evaporate.
He could create food from air.
Either that or he could, in all his omnipotence keep them from being hungry and peeing and pooing for 40 days.

I still think Noah missed the boat on squashing those pesky mosquitoes!

Answer 7

God gave the dimensions For the Ark God Taught How to build the Ark God protected them while In the Ark Then God also would see to their needs while IN the Ark. When Jacob was going home and Esau was still upset with Jacob, God sent a Band of Angels to travel with Jacob as he went. I think that God sent a Band of Angels with them to see that the seeds and animals were properly cared for.

Answer 8

Uh, twas only two of every kind of animal not ALL animals, and it was for forty days, not thirty.

That being said, the St. Loius Zoo doesnt have the magic that turns bears and tigers into plant eating docile fluffies....

Answer 9

I'm sure God made sure all their needs were supplied to them. It rained for 40 days/nights and then they had to wait for the water to go down. I have heard of people who have fasted for 30 days so maybe they had to fast for a while. Evidentally, they didn't starve to death or you wouldn't have your zoo.

Answer 10

If the answer to this question is "he had the help of god" then why in the hell did god bring about the flood and make noah build the big boat in the first place? why didn't god just give him a boat and save him all the trouble.