Mississippi? I'm confused haha.
Answer & Explanation:
Zoo animals are usually not the type that can be found everywhere, so working with these animals can help the veterinarians to get to know better how to treat and help the not domesticated animals. Also, this knowledge could highly contribute to the general understanding that veterinarians have of certain types of animals found in zoos.
I would say the author uses irony in this passage that remembering his mother makes him not happy but miserable which may be the opposite of what is expected but he would rather suffer this than be happy in forgetting her as this latter feeling would be expected to make him sad.
