Zoos

WHY SHOULD ANIMALS LIVE LIKE PRISONERS FOR THEIR ENTIRE LIVES, JUST TO SUIT CURIOUS HUMANS?

“The saddest thing about zoos is the way they drive animals mad. Much of the behaviour we take for granted in zoo animals – repetitive padding up and down, head banging, obsessive paw swinging, or just plain moping – is actually psychotic, the sort of thing humans get driven to when they are kept in solitary confinement.” Bill Travers – Star of “Born Free” and co-founder of Zoo Check

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A wild animal confined in a restrictive, artificial zoo environment is a sensitive being condemned for the rest of its life to a deprived existence. Where it sleeps, what it eats and with which other animals, if any, it interacts are all decided for it. It’s inherent value is denied and the respectful treatment to which it is entitled, dismissed.

Those who support zoos say they fulfill an important function for the conservation of endangered species, that important research is conducted there, that the public learns about wildlife and the need for environmental conservation, and last, but not least, the public is entertained by the spectacle of captive wild animals.

Let us examine each of these zoo “justifications”.

CONSERVATION

To claim that the zoo acts as a safety net for endangered species is to misrepresent the facts. Consider the following:

· Because of the limited number of animals that can be accommodated in any zoo, zoo animals lack genetic diversity

· Zoo animals usually cannot mate with a partner of their choice (if indeed they have a partner) which leads to unnatural selection as opposed to the natural selection that occurs in the wild – this results in the perpetuation of unfavourable genetic traits in succeeding generations

· Animals returned to the wild would have little chance of survival if the problems that led to their becoming endangered in the first place were not resolved

· Zoos have played a part in attempting to “conserve” only a minute fraction of the enormous variety of animal species in the world - for every endangered species that is part of a zoo breeding programme, there are many other animals in the zoo for entertainment only

· If the resources required to encourage animals to breed in the unnatural, restrictive conditions of zoos were utilised in protecting their natural environment, all the plants and animals and other natural features of that protected area, including the endangered species, would be conserved

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RESEARCH

Studies and research conducted in the artificial, restrictive confines of the zoo can teach us very little about the complex lives of wild, free-ranging animals. Most studies and research done in zoos serves merely to teach us more about wild animals in zoos. If zoos did not exist then such studies and research would not be necessary in the first place.

Zoos provide a convenient and available stock of animals for researchers and students whose academic curiosity and demands are their prime motivators. Their need to publish their “findings” has more to do with enhancing their professional status in the research and academic community than attempting to secure the future of an endangered or threatened species of animal.

It is possible to do morally acceptable, non-invasive research on captive wild animals in instances where such animals are unfit for survival in the wild (e.g. too tame for rehabilitation, injured or deformed) and therefore sanctuary life offers them a chance at life which would otherwise not be possible. Such research is limited in its scope and value and does not provide the justification for keeping “healthy” wild animals in captivity. It does however contribute to the knowledge required to do the best for wild animals in such sanctuaries.

Methods of field research relying on minimal interference with wild animals in their natural habitat have been pioneered and are becoming increasingly popular. Unlike zoo-based research, this research produces results directly applicable to the animal in it’s natural habitat.

EDUCATION

Observing an animal living in the unnatural and restrictive confines of a zoo can never educate anyone about that animal and the way it lives and behaves in the wild. There is no comparison between the routine, safe, dull life of a wild animal in a zoo and the life it would lead in the wild. In the wild it would meet and deal with all manner of challenges every day, where routine is virtually non-existent, and would in fact be fatal.

For those truly interested in learning about animals there is ample opportunity to study them in locations as diverse as the urban garden or park, on farms or in the many sanctuaries, game reserves or other natural areas. There is a wealth of knowledge and enjoyment to be found in the many excellent books and video documentaries on wildlife which are readily available to most people. These show animals in their natural habitat and can be looked at over and over again. People with a genuine interest in wildlife will find a way of converting their book or TV wildlife experience into a real-life adventure.

One would be justified in asking how much of the so-called “education” acquired by zoo visitors, including the hordes of school children bussed to zoos on the pretext of doing school projects, has ever been put to any subsequent use that could benefit any wild animal? How many zoo visitors ever learn anything about the animals in zoos other than that those animals are bored, frustrated or psychotic?

If there is anything to be learnt from a visit to a zoo it is that the zoo is not the place to go if you really care about animals and are curious about their natural habits and behaviour.

ENTERTAINMENT

Although always last on the list whenever anyone attempts to justify the existence of zoos, it is primarily as a source of entertainment to the general public that zoos are marketed. Even the dubious breeding of endangered animals is used as lure for the thrill-seeking public, either because of the rarity of a birth or the uniqueness of the opportunity to see a particular animal.

And who can deny the cuteness of most baby animals?

But is this moral justification for holding wild animals like prisoners in artificial, restrictive and boring enclosures?

Whatever visitors to the zoo derive from gawking at captive wild animals, it can never justify the imprisonment, for life, of any animal that has a reasonable chance of survival in the wild.

Wild animals are not here for our entertainment. They do not exist for our amusement or our pleasure. That they do amuse and provide us with endless pleasure simply by living their lives in the wild as nature intended, is our privilege and not our right.

SO WHERE TO FROM HERE?

If you still have the urge to visit a zoo, take a good, hard look at what you see there, and then ask yourself these questions:

· What kind of “conservation” denies animals their freedom and keeps them in prisons?

· Can “research” under such unnatural conditions produce results applicable to real life situations, and at what point does the product of such research justify the incarceration of a wild animal and the deprived existence it is forced to lead?

· If this is “education”, exactly what is it that has been learned, by who, and to what end?

· Is the sight of bored and lonely animals exhibiting signs of psychotic behaviour really entertaining?

· Some wild animals like lions, tigers and certain monkeys and Lemurs breed readily in zoos, and the their babies are advertised as attractions to the public. But what happens when these babies grow up and are no longer so “cute”? Zoos certainly cannot keep all the babies they breed, and those that do breed easily are not in great demand by other zoos – they simply breed their “own”. It is not inconceivable that many healthy baby wild animals get “euthanased” by zoos to make way for “new” babies, or if of a species attractive to hunters they are sold off to hunting outfitters and end up in “canned” hunts. Monkeys and other small animals might very well end up being sold to research labs.

Finally, ask yourself what it is that you have learnt about the animals you have seen at the zoo, and is this newfound knowledge sufficient justification for condemning those animals to a lifetime of captivity, deprivation and frustration?

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WHAT YOU CAN DO

• Do not visit the zoo other than for reasons that will support your anti-zoo campaign
  
  
• If your child asks to visit the zoo, explain why you believe that this should not happen. If the child insists on going to the zoo, use this an opportunity to highlight the immorality of keeping wild animals captive in zoos.
  
  
• Write to you local newspaper expressing opposition to zoos
  
  
• Support Animal Rights Africa in its efforts to close down zoos, prevent the opening of new zoos, and finding sanctuary for wild animals released or rescued from zoos
  
  
• Support our NO ZOO campaign and distribute copies of the Animal Rights Africa leaflet on zoos.

The Animal Rights Africa NO ZOO campaign does:

• Campaign for the phasing out of existing zoos
  
  
• Campaign against the establishment of new zoos
  
  
• Promote the ethical conservation of wild animals in their natural habitat
  
  
• Locate and expose all abuse of captive wild animals
  
  
• Campaign against the capture of wild animals for zoos
  
  
• Promote the establishment of sanctuaries for wild animals rescued or released from zoos or private collectors

It is said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Unfortunately, the good intentions of the many well-meaning but naively misguided supporters of the zoo concept do nothing for the many thousands of animals that are its victims.

PLEASE HELP US HELP ZOO ANIMALS