Hey Nicholas
I'm glad that you could get in some quality time as a couple. Wen looks like she enjoyed interacting with the animals 😁
Halfway houses is actually a very good term for some of these animal rehabilitation centres with the hope that some animals can later be released if they are wild, but it really depends on the animals, their origin and history. I don't like zoos very much myself and most of the time they are very restrictive compared to what animals would naturally require to be healthy in terms of territory.
And you are spot on, it's never a good idea to be in an enclosure with a tiger or to hold a black mamba. I like and have a healthy respect for snakes. I have handled and relocated probably hundreds of them - venomous and non venomous alike, but the black mamba still scares the crap out of me.