For our updated and fully referenced factsheet 'Sad Eyes & Empty Lives, the reality of zoos', click here. The reality of zoos
The term 'zoo' was not used until the early 1800s when the Zoological Society of London was founded. At the end of World War II, the UK had only fourteen zoos, but in the late fifties and early sixties saw the number of zoos rise, reaching about 250 by the 1980s. Today zoos are a relic of a bygone age - a Victorian concept which, as our knowledge of the animal kingdom grows, becomes even less palatable. To most people, it is self evident that keeping a rhinoceros in a small concrete enclosure in central London is hardly appropriate. So zoos claim they are on a greater mission: for conservation, education, research, and entertainment. Zoos now favour terms like wildlife park or even 'sanctuary'. In a survey, undertaken by the World Society for the Protection of Animals, 80% of those questioned were concerned about the welfare of animals in zoos, three quarters believed that the alternative for many species was extinction. Over half said they would not visit a zoo if they knew that it had little impact on conservation. Yet zoos haven't really changed from the menageries of old.
The Captive Animals' Protection Society is totally opposed to the incarceration of animals for entertainment and believes that zoos do not educate, but misinform, and further, divert funds from positive conservation. Animals remain threatened or are even driven to extinction, whilst precious resources are drained away on expensive, high profile breeding projects with no serious hope of success. THE CON IN CONSERVATION? In the region of 6,000 species are either threatened or endangered, yet only a handful are in captive breeding programmes and only around twenty have actually been returned to wild with any degree of success. Out of an estimated 10,000 zoos worldwide, less than 500 register their animals on an international species database. Of these, it is estimated that only between five and ten per cent of space is devoted to endangered species. Most animals in zoos, for example the African lions, elephants, and giraffes, are not threatened they are simply exhibits. Take a look at the way they keep those precious, rare species whose very future they claim to hold in their hands: At Southport Zoo, for example, a pair of highly endangered snow leopards live alongside a big dipper with cars hurtling past every few minutes.
Even if zoos were working as hard for conservation as their publicity material would have you believe, the very nature of most would doom their efforts to failure. Captive breeding projects need to be as close as possible to the ultimate release site, certainly in terms of climate, habitat and fauna. The animals need space appropriate to their needs and populations large enough to provide a suitable gene pool and a natural social balance of the species, with minimal human contact. Unfortunately, zoos and safari parks consistently fail to achieve any of the criteria necessary to succeed at their self-appointed task of maintaining viable groups of animals, ready to repopulate the wild. Instead they keep solitary, or unnaturally small groups of misplaced animals in substandard artificial habitats, permanently on show, thousands of miles from where the animals belong. Animals don't need help breeding; they've been doing it successfully for a very long time. They become threatened because of a variety of environmental factors - all too often, the destruction of their habitat by humans. Protection of a habitat and its animals has been shown to be the swift and cost-effective way of reversing any decline in a species.
The Arabian oryx is often trumpeted as a success of captive breeding, having been hunted to extinction in the wild by 1972. Captive oryx in Arabia and the USA became the nucleus of a breeding programme and in the 1980s some were released in Oman at a cost of approximately $25 million. In 1999 it was reported that of 400 animals just 100 have survived; thirteen females have been taken into captivity for their own safety. The oryx may be a rare example of an animal that might be extinct but for captivity, but only serves to underline that effective conservation protects animals within their habitat. The Golden lion tamarin is also regarded as being 'saved' by captive breeding, having been threatened primarily by habitat destruction, as well as capture for the pet and zoo industry. Of over 100 captive-bred tamarins released into the wild, only about 30 survived. Some were unable to cope with life in the wild; unused to climbing on natural springy branches, some fell off. Others refused to move whilst others did not settle to a natural diet. While their offspring fared somewhat better, the project highlighted an additional danger of re-introduction. In 1991, a lethal virus was identified in a captive-bred tamarin just three days before the animal was to be released into an area where the virus was unknown. The virus was thought to have crossed the species barrier from mice fed to the tamarins. In the wild, species build an immunity to naturally occurring disease, but in a zoo animals might not develop resistance to the most commonplace of ailments. On the other hand they may be challenged by viruses from a species that they would never otherwise meet. Viruses can mutate, or be transferred across the globe, to devastate wildlife. During the 1980s, Gopher tortoises were released in California. A virus present in the tortoises resulted in the deaths of an estimated 40,000 wild desert tortoises.
BSE (or mad cow) type disease has been reported in a wide range of species kept in zoos such as cheetah, kudu, nyala, eland, Arabian oryx, puma and ostrich. WHAT HAPPENS TO SURPLUS ANIMALS? Surplus animals are a problem for zoos. The sad truth is that in many cases, zoo animals are bred simply to attract visitors and pressure on space and resources means that some will be disposed of or killed at the end of the season. Newborn or young male animals are often culled. In the wild, male antelope would leave the family group and find their own territory and mates, but this is not possible in captivity. Many zoos have killed their African lion cubs in the past because lions breed prolifically and homes are in short supply. In 1999 two adult lions were to be culled at Woburn Safari Park. A home was only found when the story appeared in the national media. Woburn has admitted that its culls surplus monkeys. Animals may be shunted from one zoo to another because of pressure on space, commercial reasons, or to fit in with 'breeding projects'. Jimmy an orang-utan from Blackpool Zoo was sent to Tenerife Zoo, where he lived alone for four years, until his death.
Surplus stock of certain species are 'recycled' - fed to other animals. However, whilst zoos might argue that rearing animals for their carnivores is logical, supplying the exotic meat trade for humans is clearly questionable. Chester Zoo and Cotswold Wildlife Park have supplied bison and ostrich respectively to exotic meat farms. Some zoos and safari parks have supplied animals for experiments. London Zoo has experimental facilities on site, and zoo experiments have included the decapitation of conscious wallabies in research attempting to understand 'winter depression' and jet lag in humans. London Zoo once supplied the Wellcome Research Laboratories with owl monkeys; Banham Zoo supplied red bellied tamarins to the University of Wales; Prairie dogs were made available by Whipsnade for experiments at St Thomas' Hospital, London; Woburn Safari Park collaborated with lab animal dealer Shamrock Farms in the supply of monkeys for experiments, only stopping after a public outcry. WHERE DO ZOO ANIMALS COME FROM?
It is a myth to think that all zoo animals have been captive bred. All of the African elephants in UK zoos and most of the Asian have been imported from their country of origin. Wild animals are still captured and supplied to animal collections. In 1998 some 30 infant wild elephants were taken from their mothers in Botswana to be sold to European zoos by an animal dealer. Animal protection groups stepped in to oppose the sale but were unable to prevent seven elephants going to zoos in Switzerland and Germany. Although zoos may not take as many animals from the wild as they once did, once there, the animals are there for life. In 1996, of 138 Bornean orang-utans in 35 European collections, 38 were wild born, ranging from 7 to 41 years old. It is also important to note that even after many generations of captive breeding, animals retain their natural instincts. EDUCATION
Zoos claim that seeing a live wild animal gives an unparalleled appreciation of the power and wonder of nature. But what are they really showing us? The power and dignity of these animal is often stripped from them and instead of being at one with an environment for which they have evolved, they sit in a wasteland. They are often no more than caricatures of their wild counterparts. The zoo world is one where the primates hide their faces, the predators never hunt and mothers eat their young rather than let them survive. Lonely, solitary beasts shuffle around concrete enclosures, their eyes sad and empty. Television wildlife programmes have ensured that our understanding of these animals extends beyond these pathetic exhibits. Indeed CAPS believes school trips to zoos leave children with a distorted view of wildlife and how to care for animals. Even worse, a study at a US zoo found that most visitors spent less than three minutes looking at each exhibit, and sometimes as little as eight seconds. A six month study at Edinburgh Zoo found that 80% of passing visitors were attracted to the guenon monkeys but only watched for an average of 33 seconds.
Zoos claim that they afford people the opportunity to see something that many will never see in the wild. This is true; we will have to make do with books, magazines and television. But could a few minutes of entertainment ever justify the tragedy of the disturbed behaviours and suffering we have outlined? RESEARCH Some knowledge of animals may have come from research at zoos but, this is disproportionate to the number of facilities and most, including much of that relating to breeding and husbandry, is for the benefit of the industry rather than the animals. Ultimately zoos and safari parks are simply entertainment. Some even present animals performing little more than circus tricks to keep the visitors amused. CAPS has filmed elephants performing tricks at Blackpool, Twycross, Woburn, Whipsnade and London; parrots at Blackpool, Flamingoland and Knowsley; and sealions at West Midlands and Knowsley Safari Parks. Zoos claim that this is stimulation for the animal, but surely this is an admission of the impoverished nature of the captive environment. Whilst your pet dog might go into a frenzy of excitement at the prospect of a walk or play with a toy, there seems little such enthusiasm for these captive animals as they plod through their routine. Indeed keepers are on hand to give elephants a poke with an elephant hook to ensure they are lifting head and trunks high enough - would this really be necessary if the animals were having such a good time? THE LAW HAS FAILED ZOO AMIMALS
Zoos are governed by the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 which sets minimum standards for zoo management. Although these can be updated and improved without recourse to Parliament, the Captive Animals Protection Society feels that the 1981 Act is woefully inadequate and fails to effectively take in to consideration the psychological suffering of zoo animals. Thus we still see tiny impoverished cages with little or no environmental enrichment, and animals deprived of their most basic social needs. In principle, the Act is policed by zoo inspectors, but these are often zoo directors, zoo vets and zoo architects. Roger Cawley, Mary Chipperfield's husband, was a zoo inspector until allegations of cruelty were made against him by the Animal Defenders; the group who had filmed Cawley hitting elephants and camels. Cawley only resigned after his conviction for cruelty to a sick elephant, who he had whipped to force her to move faster. Cawley had also kept several elephants in a barn with no bedding or environmental enrichment, for months. Cawley was filmed instructing his elephant keeper to leave the elephants chained by a front and back leg for days on end - only able to shuffle forwards or backwards. CAPS believes that zoos should be outlawed - that keeping wild animals confined for our entertainment is not acceptable. We do not believe the law can adequately protect zoo animals from the inevitable suffering of imprisonment. In the short term a moratorium should be placed on new zoos in the UK - NO MORE ZOOS. For those animals stranded in captivity, the Zoo Licensing Act standards must be raised to provide the best possible lifestyle - not the minimum acceptable. In the wild, animals react to their surroundings, avoiding predators, seeking food and interacting with others of their species - doing what they have evolved for. Consequently, even what might seem 'larger' or 'better' enclosures may be completely impoverished in terms of the animal's real needs. Frustration and boredom are commonplace amongst zoo animals and can lead to obsessive and repetitive behaviours in the form of pacing, swaying, even self mutilation. This is known as stereotypic behaviour and such pointless, repetitive movements have also been noted in mentally ill people. With nothing to do, zoo animals go out of their minds.
Caged big cats will often pace the same path again and again, their plodding step not faltering, crushing vegetation to leave a neat track showing the course they will walk for the rest of their lives. Great apes and elephants will rock, sway or shift repeatedly from side to side. Other disturbed behaviour, particularly amongst giraffes, may include licking the walls and chewing the bars of their pens. Primates may overgroom themselves or each other and this can lead to self mutilation. Disturbed maternal behaviour may also involve over grooming but also the rejection or killing of young. Abnormal behaviour in reptiles may manifest itself as climbing or scratching at their glass tanks because they don't understand why they can't get out. Other reptiles may become completely sedentary, seemingly sleeping their lives away behind a rock. The animal may be trying to wait out the environment in which it is trapped, but the wait never ends. (See our report on reptiles.) CAPS filmed an adult gorilla repeatedly eating his own vomit - some call this behaviour R&R (regurgitate and re-ingest). A sign at the enclosure claimed this behaviour has been documented in the wild. A gorilla biologist, who studied wild gorillas in Rwanda with the late Dian Fossey, told CAPS, "I have never seen wild gorillas perform R&R (regurgitate and re-ingest, as it's known in the zoo world, being such a well known by-product of captivity) and I have have never spoken to anyone who has. In fact, I have never seen a wild gorilla vomit." THE LONGEST LIFE SENTENCE Space in zoos rarely, if ever, matches the animals' natural range, and more commonly is reduced instead to virtually nothing. Animals which would naturally roam for tens of miles a day tread the same few paces daily. Some of the fastest animals on earth live in pens so small that they could not gather pace to a trot, let alone full speed.
Some zoo enclosures mean that the inmates cannot even enjoy their most basic behavioural repertoire including exercise, social interaction and bathing. Birds are virtually stripped of their most precious gift - flight, often able to do little more than flutter their wings. Birds of prey do not soar, but perch and vegetate. Consequently, captive birds like vultures and pelicans are prone to bone disease. For fifteen hours a day, many animals may be shut away in their night quarters with even less room to move. However, it is not just a matter of space, but also the quality of the environment. Chimpanzees are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, their intelligence is universally accepted, but they exchange the infinite possibilities of the forest for little more than playground climbing frames which would not keep a human child occupied for hours, let alone years. Reptiles need complex thermal ranges, variation in humidity, special phases of light and other factors which may seem difficult for us to appreciate as humans. Zoos rarely, if ever, have the numbers to match the natural social interaction of herd animals. And when animals do find company, their world may be torn apart when cage mates are sold. Solitary and shy animals are often in enclosures with viewing from all sides, and even a window in the night quarters as well. Signs might ask visitors to be quiet, yet CAPS has found little evidence of attempts to actually enforce this. On the contrary, we have filmed people tapping the glass of reptile tanks, poking animals, and being noisy and boisterous. During visits to London zoo and Flamingoland we saw visitors feeding bread to elephants, sweets to meercats and crisps to chimps. |
