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.
In your first point you mentiond that animals suffer LESS in zoos, while this does seem prefectly plausible, it is unfortunately not the case. This is because often times when zoos reach a surplus of animals, they are killed. In 2005, an entire wolf pack was killed after their social structure broke down, and up to 200,000 animals in just europe are in surplus at any given time. Lion cubs in zoos actually have a lower survival rate than in the wild, where many of these deaths come from predetors. It is equally important to consider mental health as it is physical health, and most animals in zoos live in a fraction of the space they were meant to live in. Lions live in spaces 18,000 times bigger when they are in the wild, and spend almost half their time in zoos pacing, behavior that exhibits stress. Animals in zoos overeat, oversleep, show signs of both extreme agitation and mental instability. These animals also get disturbed and depressed.
ReplyDeleteIn your second point you mentioned the conservation efforts of zoos. This is true, some zoos do strive for conservation, however this is overwhelmingly not the case. Most zoos are proven to not make any conservation efforts. This can be seen by looking at the species of animals they harbor. Most lion species for example, are so generic they are conservationaly useless. Many zoos in fact, go against conservation efforts. 70% of the elephants found in European zoos, are taken from the wild, along with almost 80% of aquarium animals. Zoos use millions of dollars to support themselves, while wildlife services desperately need this money to combat poachers. A 2020 study estimated that zoos invest 1% of their income on conservation efforts. Some zoos even train animals for use in the circus, which i'm sure you are aware is internationally recognized as an atrocity, the worst aspect being the mental and physical health of animals such as the elephant. Zoos are not the last hope for "birds being hunted to extiction" or rather zoos are not any hope. Major conservation groups provide the only support that can sustain these animals.
I think it is important to note that almost all of the images you used were clearly a result of human brutality, meaning that any of these pictures could be a result of zoos, and only the lion and zebra (the first bird picture actually shows bird lime, an illegal substance used to capture birds, and therefore it is easily plausible this was a zoo-based effort) are effects of the wild, while the lion's starvation could possibly be a result of global warming. I do agree however with the sarcasm in the first image, and that the wild can present a savage environment. I thiink the gorilla conservation you mentioned in zoos is very benneficial, and should be highly encouraged. I understand how opposing zoos can appear harmful to conservation efforts, but I think most people who oppose zoos do so solely for the sake of animals, and should therefore be given much more support than those who support zoos, who mainly do so for economic bennefits (thank you for being an exception). While it is crucial for us to come together to support conservation, we cannot afford to support zoos if we want to preserve animal health. It is only possible to live how zoo animals live by going to jail, where food, housing, and a society is also given, however here humans are also given many more rights.