Should we close or rethink our zoos

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

I would like to invite you to watch this BBC documentary that addresses and at the same time questions the vital role zoos play in our society.

It’s about the missing evidence when it comes to the success of educating zoo visitors. It’s about the limited success of zoo conservation programmes, and the false hope it provide. Science is not the magic cure for all the wrong we did to nature. Zoos need to change, but we have to change too! Our burden on the planet should decrease enormously to ensure our survival.

When animals cannot thrive in captivity, we shouldn’t keep them in zoos. When the lifespan of elephants in zoos is half that of elephants in the wild there’s something wrong with the zoo environment. Same counts for the stereotype behaviour, such as pacing, shown by animals in zoos.

And what about the surplus of animals that zoos produce to ensure a vital gene pool in the animals they keep in captivity. Is this acceptable? Zoos do not have the space to keep the surplus animals alive. So, they kill them and feed them to their predators. A common practice, but for many zoo visitors this is an appalling practice, so it is kept a secret. Nonetheless it happens on a large scale.

The question is, are zoos willing to reappraise their fundamental role as zoological and conservation organisation? This requires a fundamental change in how zoos keep and present their animals.

An envisaged future for zoos includes less animals and less species kept on the premises in an appropriate climate. As a result people will not find all kind of species in one zoo, but they should choose which zoo they will visit based on which species they want to see and learn about. This might require long distance travel, which is an undesirable side effect as long as travel depends on fossil fuels.

Source of documentary: BBC – Horizon; Should we close our zoos?