ZOOS ARE OUTDATED: IT IS TIME TO DISRUPT THE BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY

The suffering and starvation of captive wild animals are widely known. There is widespread animal cruelty in zoos, safari parks, circuses, and tourist attractions. It is not unusual to see captive wild animals in tiny cages with no environmental enrichment and inappropriate groupings.

Zoo animals do not necessarily display the same behaviors and actions in their natural environment. There is no way for them to do so in captivity. Many wild animals, such as elephants, live in chains, unable to display any natural roaming behaviors or move beyond a few metres.

Some mammals in captivity in zoos also suffer from injury and disease. Many wild animals in captivity even self-harm due to the frustration and boredom of constant confinement. Most receive no medical care and are left to suffer alone. In many zoos and safari parks, terrified cows, donkeys, pigs, and chickens are dropped into the enclosures of starving lions and tigers and live prey for the entertainment of crowds.

Many zoos also force wildlife in captivity to entertain crowds with unnatural, degrading, and stressful circus-style performances. The training methods used to force the animals to perform are cruel and abusive, using punishment and fear. Trainers will do whatever they can to break the animals’ spirits. Endangered tigers and lions routinely have their teeth ripped out and declawed to render them harmless. Many cubs and baby animals are removed from their mothers very young, so they can be held in social isolation, making it easier for the trainers to access them and force them to pose for photo opportunities.

While the collection of exotic animals by wealthy and powerful individuals has gone on since Egyptian times, the modern zoos have shifted focus away from marking royal power and towards public entertainment in the past two centuries. Public voyeurism has been defended in various ways, from education to preservation, but at the heart of the commercial business of zoo, keeping is the attraction of a day out.?

We don’t need to exhibit live animals to the public to educate. Technology has reached the point where we can enjoy a closer, more informed view of wild animals in documentary films than by staring at them behind metal bars. Careful surveillance in their natural habitat provides a more informative and less obstructive study of wildlife than monkeys swinging from old tractor tyres.?

Contrary to popular belief, zoos don’t help people, specifically, children, learn about animals and conservation. The majority of children left the zoos without meaningful learning and experienced adverse learning outcomes. The children did not feel empowered to believe that they could take effective ameliorative action on matters relating to conservation after their zoo experience.

It is undoubtedly the case that the animals themselves would be better off in something approximating their natural environments, enjoying their natural climate, in larger and more peaceful spaces. It is inhumane to cage any species against their own will. Any manufactured structures and projects require costs, while nature does not. The biodiversity and humans benefit from the accompanying ecosystem services by taking the conservation effort back to the wild.??

Zoos as breeding facilities are another double-edged sword. Though much research is done at zoos about breeding and preserving endangered species, the animals that come out of these institutions will never be wild. Having successful births of endangered species at zoos is fantastic, but does it solve the problem of their pending extinction? Not necessarily.

Rewilding Conservation Areas or Protected Wildlife Areas, as opposed to zoos, provide a more natural habitat for the animals. Though these animals will never truly be wild, protected areas provide the next best thing to complete freedom. Many of these sanctuaries allow the animals to live and behave similarly to how they would out of captivity. These sanctuaries may be the only hope for critically endangered species.?

Resources should be invested in bringing breeding and environmental programmes back to the wild. If we accept that we could conserve animals more cheaply, more humanely, and more effectively in larger habitats abroad, then what you’re left with is a pretty straightforward argument between prioritizing entertainment and biodiversity.

"The use of animals to entertain human beings is wrong from the welfare point of view because: it removes animals from their natural habitats and socio-ecological structure. It involves the animal in performances that are foreign to their natural behaviour. It may involve cruelty during the show."

Zoos may have served to educate people about wildlife once, but today they are proving to serve less of a purpose. The goal of wildlife conservation should be to protect our planet’s wildlife in their natural habitat. Zoos remove the natural behavior of many of their resident animals. As technology and conservation efforts grow and change, zoos will become obsolete. It is time to focus on what is best for the wildlife instead of what impresses the masses of people.

Here’s the big question. Do we have a right to gawp at exotic animals, or should we have to travel to see them where they are happiest? We could focus our attention on our much-overlooked native flora and fauna and let the wildlife roam happily in natural habitats.

It is time for Great Rewilding to return the wildlife to their natural habitats. It is the right thing to do as they should never be part of any human-based economic sector.