Minn. Zoo animals start smoke-free life Saturday

Photo by leunix

Not the Minn. Zoo, but you get the point.

The Minnesota Zoo will officially go smoke-free starting Saturday. The Apple Valley zoo already bans smoking indoors, but now all outdoor spaces will be off limits too. If you need a smoke, head out to the parking lot, which is the one smoking zone on the grounds.

So why are they banning cigarettes in the great outdoors? Health concerns, zoo officials say. Oh and it makes the zoo cleaner because it's almost impossible to get a cigarette butt in a disposal container.

We're not sure if these are health concerns for the animals or the visiting humans, but we like to imagine it's an animal-run initiative. Watching a bone-thin tiger cough up a lung doesn't exactly sound worth the price of admission.

According to the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal report, about two out of three zoos and aquariums accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums are smoke-free or have smoking zones.