On March 2, 2021, If I Ran the Zoo was among six Dr. Seuss books that Dr. Seuss Enterprises announced it would remove from publication because they contained racist and otherwise insensitive illustrations.
Dr. Seuss Enterprises put out the press statement on the deceased author's birthday. In it, the company announced they had reviewed their catalog of titles alongside a panel of experts before deciding to stop publication and licensing of And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street, If I Ran the Zoo, McElligot’s Pool, On Beyond Zebra!, Scrambled Eggs Super!, and The Cat’s Quizzer. The company wrote that "these books portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong." Prior to the decision, the books had been criticized for decades for containing stereotypical caricatures of non-white people from around the world.
While the decision to cease publication on the titles was welcomed by many, right-wing American commentators reacted by associating the decision with "cancel culture." Ben Shapiro wrote on Twitter that "we’ve now got foundations book burning the authors to whom they are dedicated."
The decision to remove the six titles from publication precipitated a rise in sales of other classic Dr. Seuss books. Two days after the announcement, the top four bestsellers on the American Amazon website were The Cat in the Hat, One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Green Eggs and Ham, and Oh, the Places You’ll Go!.
