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Although the style of zoos
has changed somewhat in the last 200 years from the bare concrete
enclosure with no environmental enrichment to stimulate the
animals to the open range style of zoo, this has NOT meant a
huge improvement in the health and welfare of the vast majority
of animals kept in zoos and similar situations today. Why?
Animal
welfare concerns relate to the following issues:
1. illness and death in zoos;
2. stereotyped behaviour and psychoses;
3. the role of zoos in education and research and
4. the value of captive breeding programs.
When
you have read about these issues below, you will see what YOU
can do for these animals.
Illness
and death in zoos
Most zoos around the world are poorly funded by either governments
or private philanthropists and rely on large numbers of visitors
and donations to pay their way. This means that many have poorly
designed facilities, many are understaffed, the staff are poorly
trained and do not fully understand the needs of animals in
captivity and therefore animal husbandry techniques are sub
standard.
There is
a high incidence of death and disease in animals in zoo captivity
the public never gets to hear about. In recent years, in one
four-month period alone, over 30 animals died at Taronga Zoo
in Sydney. These included parrots, rosellas, lorikeets, pheasants,
eagle, monkey, antelope, dogs, otters, kangaroo, sitatunga,
deer, jaguar, leopard, chimpanzee and orang-utan.
They died
because of:
•
Unnatural food and/or insufficient variety of food
•
Unnatural feeding patterns - zoo animals are fed once or twice
daily. In the wild, many animals feed constantly during their
waking hours and their digestive tracts are suited to this.
An elephant can spend up to 20 hours a day searching for food.
•
Inbreeding - Researchers from the USA Smithsonian Institution,
Ballou and Ralls, provided a report to Senate Select Committee
of Inquiry into Animal Welfare in Australia in the early Eighties
and they were "able to demonstrate conclusively decreased
survival and fertility - general lack of vigor - of inbred stocks
in 11 out of 12 species."
•
Poor, inadequate or NON-existent veterinary treatment. In Australia,
most vets receive minimal training in the health of native wildlife
let alone in the care and treatment of exotic animals that are
commonly kept in zoos, e.g. African animals. When these animals
become ill, the zoo management must often seek advice from a
specialist vet who may be hundreds of miles away from the ill
animal or even in another country.
Stereotyped Behaviour
Stereotyped
behaviours are repetitive behaviours that are not normally performed
by a particular species, Scientists believe these behaviours
are indications of severe neurological disturbance in the animal
caused by boredom, lack of the company of others of their kind
if they are social animals, frustration and stress as well as
by habitat and psychological deprivation.
A report
in the New Scientist, January 2002, called “No Way Out”
examines in depth what happens in the brains of human and other
animals when they exhibit stereotypical behaviour. The report
indicates that:
"An estimated 80 million captive animals worldwide
perform bizarre, repetitive rituals, known as stereotypies."
(p34)
"Preventing animals from following natural instincts
may sabotage neurotransmitters in the brain." (p36)
When these
behaviours first begin, scientists believe that the animal behaves
that way in order to try to cope with its environment and captive
situation. These behaviours are common in captive animals, especially
those that have been in captivity for many years. Many children
have already seen zoo animals behaving in ways that are not
at all natural for that animal; elephants swaying from side
to side or monkeys bouncing their heads up and down for hours
on end. Bears, dogs and cats pace back and forth; monkeys star
into space; rhinos circle. Anthropod apes will eat faeces and
gorillas will eat their own vomit. Bar-biting and rail-sucking
are both common in imprisoned bears and giraffes.
When an
animal has suffered extreme neurological disturbance because
of captivity, the behaviours become extreme and the animals
can become psychotic. That is, sent insane.
These behaviours
can occur in human beings who are mentally ill and 36 human
mental disorders have been recorded where stereotypical behaviours
occur, including autism, schizophrenia, Tourette’s syndrome
and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Psychosis
In Bristol
Zoo in the UK, two polar bears called Nina and Misha have been
confined in a tiny concrete enclosure for 28 years. They are
described as being in a psychotic state. Zoocheck, an organisation
founded by Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna (Born Free) discovered
that more than 60% of polar bears in British zoos are mentally
deranged and cubs born in zoos are twice as likely to die as
those in the wild.
The
role of zoos in education and research
Zoos claim
they fulfil an educational function. Is this true? Not in the
opinion of those who really know animals in the wild. Vice President
of the International Trust for Nature Conservation, Sir Christopher
Lever, has been taking safari groups out to East Africa for
many years. He says that once participants see animals in their
true environment in the wild, their opinion is unanimous - animals
in zoos are a parody of the real thing. Any good wildlife film
would give a better impression.
Like us,
animals are shaped and formed by the conditions of their environment.
After many months and years of captivity in a zoo, without interest,
without variety, without challenge, most animals, birds and
reptiles lose their natural characteristics. They cease to be
representative of their species.
"The educational and protective premise of zoos is
false and self-deceiving. The natural activities of animals
- stalking, foraging and interaction with other species - are
impossible in the confines of a zoo, no matter how benevolent."
"Captive
breeding programs that do not return animals to preserved habitat
are futile and perverse."
-
D. Phillips & S. Kaiser "Not Man Apart"
Sadly, for
most people, a visit to the zoo is a momentary and fleeting
act of entertainment. They will have learnt little about the
animals as they are in their natural environments and what they
think they may have learnt is likely to be forgotten within
a week of the zoo visit.
Captive
Breeding Programs
Zoos around
the world are claiming to be the lifeline for endangered species
with their captive breeding programs. The implication is that
these species will be reintroduced into the wild. But will they
be? How can they be, if habitats are being destroyed all over
the planet?
When habitat
itself is diminishing, talk of preserving captive species in
order to restore them to it has little credibility. Collectors
selling animals to zoos know the market. Once an animal becomes
rare, zoos are increasingly keen to acquire it. Collectors will
hunt it to extinction to satisfy that demand. The illegal trade
in Australia native wildlife is testament to this.
But around
the world, the actual reintroduction of species has been miniscule.
Zoo officials admit it.
"The
1986 list of endangered species totals 2,422. Worldwide, zoos
contain nearly 3,000 species, of which only 66 are part of an
endangered species program controlled by registered stud books.
Zoos cannot justify themselves in this way. The role they play
in conservation is minimal."
-
Will Travers (Born Free)
Captive
breeding and zoos are not the answer to the problem of rare
or endangered species. Protection of habitat and ecosystems
is the only way to halt extinction
"The
simple basis of my opposition to captivity in zoos is that we
are holding animals there in grossly unnatural, debilitating
and aberrant circumstances. None of their beauty and force and
intelligence is apparent. Confined, frustrated, performing the
ritualistic and often dangerous damaging behaviour of acute
boredom, they caricature the real thing."
-
Professor Euan C. Young
Head of Department of Zoology
Auckland University, New Zealand
WHAT
YOU CAN DO TO HELP CAPTIVE ANIMALS
• Do not visit zoos, themes parks or so-called sanctuaries
• Discuss the problems for animals in zoos with friends,
family and work colleagues to educated people about the reality
of the lives of these animals
• Write letters of objection to the establishment of new
zoos, or the expansion of zoos in your area. Write to the zoo
management or to your local MP
• Volunteer for an organization that is interested in
habitat conservation
For
more in depth information on this issue please visit:
Zoocheck
Canada
World watch dog on captive animals
Animals
Asia
For captive animals in Asia
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