BIAZA issue clear statement on inbreeding for recessive alleles

This can be short and sweet as the statement speaks for itself.

I felt it very important that this should be shared, It's long overdue that an influential zoo organisation should issue a firm statement like this. It sends a clear message to those who chose to glorify the likes of white tigers and lions for the sake of profit over welfare, not only within Britain and Ireland but beyond, across the world. Doing the right things are not always the easiest, you certainly can't make the best omelet without breaking any eggs.

Bravo to BIAZA for making such a bold and clear move, policy in zoos NEEDS to be driven exclusively by good animal welfare, to produce and encourage and animal which has it's welfare compromised from birth due to intentional inbreeding is a failure to observe welfare from the offset.

I can only hope that BIAZA upholds this statement with every ounce of it's influence. Better late than never.

Anti-anti-zoo PROPAGANDA. (Graphic)

A short post, for once I'm going to spare you all the epic saga!

Just to warn those who'd rather hide in the sand than face the reality of the wild, this post contains graphic images!!

When we look at the zoo anti circles, their use of manipulative propaganda is ever present. Seeing it for what it is, it bears little relevance to me, but for a laugh I thought I'd have a go myself at creating an anthropomorphic sob story via the wonderful media of modern photography.

It seems you can take any photo and turn it monochrome to get a sad point home, so here's my attempt.

The first obvious misconception of people who dislike zoos is that somehow they suffer LESS in the wild, honestly? really? having to work to feed yourself and your offspring every day and hope you don't get killed in your sleep is somehow less stressful than having security and food on tap. I know where I'd rather be.

The second is the ideal that the wild is a safe place to be at the moment, which for many species it is most certainly not. Unless these individuals wish to see zoo populations euthanized I can only presume they wish to send rhinos back to this barrel of freedom and security.

If an animal gets sick or injured in captivity, it is dealt with straight away to reduce as much as possible, it's suffering. Wild animals do not receive such privilege. Are you thankful for the NHS?? So are they.

It is just as sad for a zookeeper to see one of our closest cousins needing to be protected in captivity, but that is the reality for many of these species. Some zoos are now heavily involved with in situ research and re-introduction of gorillas in certain safeguarded areas. What pray tell, are the anti zoo lobby doing to assist here??

The golden pinioning argument. Seeing some birds pinioned is soul destroying and for certain species, no zoo could ever condone such a procedure, but for birds such as pelicans and flamingo, the advantages of being pinioned massively outweigh the disadvantages. A pinioned bird (bear in mind these are birds which in the wild spend most of their time on water) can have access to a much larger body of water and get the kind of exercise it needs. Putting such species in aviaries would be crueler by far. Would you rather see such birds hunted to an absolute brutal extinction (look up the bird massacres in the middle east right now) than living a safer life with a little compromise as a safety net population?

A zoo animal never needs to go hungry, it also receives food that far exceeds the quality it could expect in the wild, granted not all captive diets are perfect YET. Given time the ongoing work with captive individuals, in future this research will contribute even more to the nutritional and veterinary understanding of these species.

Even the ocean is not the ideal cuddly universe they would have you think. Fair play, I too agree that many aquariums have a hell of a long way to come and sustainable populations MUST become a reality sooner rather than too late. But seriously?? A shark living in an aquarium offends you more than a wild shark getting finned and left to die. Work out who the real villains are here and do something constructive. We are all pushing in the same direction, lets start pushing against the real issues that threaten our species rather than pushing against each other and wasting time barking up the wrong tree.

Zoo Outsider.