It's been 38 years since Berger's essay "Why Look at Animals?" was published, but his commentary on the current state of things is even further a prediction into today. Berger describes the relationship between animal and human through the medium of the gaze. (A topic the writer and thinker is well-known for.)
Berger describes the how a wild animal may look at in the same way as they look at another animal-wary and without comprehension. Meaning that their view of us didn't set us apart, but rather it was our view of them.
Throughout history animal has been related to nearly every creation story. They have a spiritual prescence in the human identity. They also have offered mankind service by being made into transportation machines, agriculture machines and so on. Our own comprehension of their lack of comprehension makes us interested. This is where Berger explains the human relationship to "pet".
With the introduction of our own machinery, animals have been replaced by the inorganic. No longer are they servers, but products.
This is where Berger couldn't be more right. Now animals are not longer raw material, we have modified their existence to something beyond that even.
After outlining the disappearance of animals in our society, Berger explains our replacement of them in zoos. He geniusly circles back to the topic of the gaze. He says it cannot be found at the zoo. The captive situation is so unrealistic that now man does receive a different look than other animals. He is set apart.