Zoos started back when travel was impractical & when documentaries and live Internet video feeds weren't available. Nowadays, wildlife watchers can hop on a plane to Costa Rica, Africa, or Australia for photo safaris or even stay at home and catch documentaries or view video feeds, which capture animals' natural behavior that is rarely, if ever seen in zoos.
Zoos use to attend to 142 million people yearly.. unlike now. They are declining interest to a public that has become much more knowledgeable about the needs and behavior of wild animals. We are aware of the toll that captivity takes on creatures who are meant to be free. There is no excuse for keeping social, intelligent animals in cages for amusement. Confining animals to cages and depriving them of everything that is important to them does not percent habitat loss and other perils.
Individuals are often separated due to zoos.. traded and shuttled from place to place to suit breeding programs, leaving their complex and multifaceted social relationships in tatters. Animal welfare usually takes a backseat to the bottom line. Taxpayer subsidies and other financial resources are often squandered on gift shops and amusement rides instead of being spent to upgrade the exhibits.
The exhibits provide to little, if any, opportunity to express natural behavior or make choices in their daily lives, and this usually leads to boredom and neurosis. Animals in zoos sleep and eat too much, exhibit behavior that is rarely, if ever, seen in the wild because there is nothing to do! Some examples of what different species are known to do in zoos are:
Zoos use to attend to 142 million people yearly.. unlike now. They are declining interest to a public that has become much more knowledgeable about the needs and behavior of wild animals. We are aware of the toll that captivity takes on creatures who are meant to be free. There is no excuse for keeping social, intelligent animals in cages for amusement. Confining animals to cages and depriving them of everything that is important to them does not percent habitat loss and other perils.
Individuals are often separated due to zoos.. traded and shuttled from place to place to suit breeding programs, leaving their complex and multifaceted social relationships in tatters. Animal welfare usually takes a backseat to the bottom line. Taxpayer subsidies and other financial resources are often squandered on gift shops and amusement rides instead of being spent to upgrade the exhibits.
The exhibits provide to little, if any, opportunity to express natural behavior or make choices in their daily lives, and this usually leads to boredom and neurosis. Animals in zoos sleep and eat too much, exhibit behavior that is rarely, if ever, seen in the wild because there is nothing to do! Some examples of what different species are known to do in zoos are:
- Primates throw feces and engage in "regurgitation and re-ingestion" - vomiting and then consuming the vomit. They also mutilate themselves. Chimpanzees and gorillas become over aggressive.
- Wide-ranging animals such as bears and big cats pace incessantly.
- Birds mutilate themselves.
- Hooved animals lick and chew on fences and make strange lip, neck, and tongue movements.
- Giraffes twist their necks, bending their heads back and forth repetitively.
- Elephants bob their heads and sway from side to side.
- Captive animals might show no interest in mating, or alternatively, become obsessed with sex.
- Marine mammals repetitively swim in the same repetitious patterns in their tanks.
Fish suffer too. A study conducted by the Captive Animals' Protection Society concluded that ninety percent of public aquariums studied had showed stereotypic (neurotic) behaviors, such as interacting with transparent boundaries, repeatedly raising their heads above the surface of the water, spinning around an imaginary object, and frequently turning on one side and rubbing along the floor of the tank.
Newborn animals brings paying customers in their zoos quicker than anything and zoos know it. But breeding programs, which often operate under the guise of species preservation, inevitably result in a surplus of adult animals who are less crowd pleasing. In conclusion, zoos routinely barter, trade, lend, and warehouse adult animals they no longer want. Unwanted animals may be sold to dealers, who then sell the animals to dilapidated roadside zoos or traveling circuses. Some end up at canned hunt facilities, where they become targets for hunter who are eager to shoot "big game." From 2006 to 2009, Missouri's Dickerson Park Zoo handed over "surplus" giraffes, zebras, kangaroos, wallabies, and exotic antelopes to questionable entities including Buddy Jordan (a notorious animal dealer who is know to have sold animals to hunting ranches), exotic breeders, dealers, and uncredited zoo.s New Jersey's Cape May County Zoo sold two giraffes, Twiggs and Jeffrey, to an animal broker who them sold them to a traveling circus.
The exotic pet trade has become saturated with tigers and other big cats because of the zoo industry's reckless disposal of these animals. Others are simply sold for slaughter.. murder. When the baby animals that are exhibited in the Minnesota Zoo's farm display grow up and lose their appeal, the zoos sends them to livestock auctions, and from there are usually sent to slaughter. The following spring, more babies are born, only to meet the same fate at the end of the season. They chief of veterinary services at the Cleveland Zoo has even called on members of the zoo community to support the use of surplus zoo animals in medical experimentation.
Not one U.S. zoo has a policy of providing lifetime care for the animals who are born at its facilities.. many zoos breed species knowing in advance that the offspring, especially males will be difficult to place once matured. By their nature, zoos leave animals vulnerable to a variety of dangers from which they have no defense or opportunity to escape. Animals in zoos all over the world have been left to starve, burned alive in fires, poisoned, and deprived of veterinary care. Often many have died of items such as coins and plastic bags thrown into their cage. They have been bludgeoned, beaten, and stolen by people who were able to gain access to their exhibits.
Examples include:
Newborn animals brings paying customers in their zoos quicker than anything and zoos know it. But breeding programs, which often operate under the guise of species preservation, inevitably result in a surplus of adult animals who are less crowd pleasing. In conclusion, zoos routinely barter, trade, lend, and warehouse adult animals they no longer want. Unwanted animals may be sold to dealers, who then sell the animals to dilapidated roadside zoos or traveling circuses. Some end up at canned hunt facilities, where they become targets for hunter who are eager to shoot "big game." From 2006 to 2009, Missouri's Dickerson Park Zoo handed over "surplus" giraffes, zebras, kangaroos, wallabies, and exotic antelopes to questionable entities including Buddy Jordan (a notorious animal dealer who is know to have sold animals to hunting ranches), exotic breeders, dealers, and uncredited zoo.s New Jersey's Cape May County Zoo sold two giraffes, Twiggs and Jeffrey, to an animal broker who them sold them to a traveling circus.
The exotic pet trade has become saturated with tigers and other big cats because of the zoo industry's reckless disposal of these animals. Others are simply sold for slaughter.. murder. When the baby animals that are exhibited in the Minnesota Zoo's farm display grow up and lose their appeal, the zoos sends them to livestock auctions, and from there are usually sent to slaughter. The following spring, more babies are born, only to meet the same fate at the end of the season. They chief of veterinary services at the Cleveland Zoo has even called on members of the zoo community to support the use of surplus zoo animals in medical experimentation.
Not one U.S. zoo has a policy of providing lifetime care for the animals who are born at its facilities.. many zoos breed species knowing in advance that the offspring, especially males will be difficult to place once matured. By their nature, zoos leave animals vulnerable to a variety of dangers from which they have no defense or opportunity to escape. Animals in zoos all over the world have been left to starve, burned alive in fires, poisoned, and deprived of veterinary care. Often many have died of items such as coins and plastic bags thrown into their cage. They have been bludgeoned, beaten, and stolen by people who were able to gain access to their exhibits.
Examples include:
- A bear starved to death at the Toledo Zoo after zoo officials locked her up to hibernate without food or water - not knowing they her species doesn't hibernate.
- At the Niabi Zoo in Illinois, a 3-month old lion cub was euthanized after his spinal cord was crushed by a falling exhibit door.
- Despite knowing that two Asiatic bears had fought dozens of times, the Denver Zoo continued to house them together until one finally killed the other.
- A kangaroo was struck by a train running into the exhibit at the Cleveland Zoo was so severely injured that she had to be euthanized. She was at least the fifth animal to be stuck by the train!
- A hyena at the Buffalo Zoo was crushed to death by a boulder in the exhibit.
- At the Saint Louis Zoo, a polar bear died during exploratory surgery, which revealed that pieces of cloth and a plastic trash bag had obstructed his digestive tract.
- At the National Zoo, dozens of animals have died in recent years, including two zebras who died of malnutrition, two red pandas who died from eating rat poison that was spread in their enclosure, and an orangutan who was euthanized because zoo officials mistakenly believed that she had cancer.
In the event of natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, or wildfires, animals are often left to fend for themselves. When wildfires broke out near the Los Angelos Zoo, officials admitted that they had no evacuation plan. During Hurricane Katrina, most of the six thousand aquatic animals a New Orleans aquarium perished when the power failed and employees were forced to vacate the premises.
Captive breeding is irresponsible and makes even the worst situations worse! Each year accredited sanctuaries have to turn away hundreds of exotic and wild animals make homeless by circuses, pet trade, and roadside zoos. While few zoos, such as Detroit Zoo and Baltimore Zoo, have made the compassionate decision to provide refuge for animals who are truly in need, most reject these animals. The industry must transform itself from a prison to a refuge, where the welfare and rights of animals are given the highest priority. Let your local zoo know that the public will support such change by urging it to stop all breeding in order to provide greater space to fewer animals and to make room for wild animals who are confiscated from backyard cages, roadside menageries, basements, and circuses. Zoos will be forced to stop breeding and capturing more animals from the wild if their financial support disappears, so the most important way to help animals who are imprisoned in zoos is simply to boycott and urge everyone you know to do the same & thank you.
Captive breeding is irresponsible and makes even the worst situations worse! Each year accredited sanctuaries have to turn away hundreds of exotic and wild animals make homeless by circuses, pet trade, and roadside zoos. While few zoos, such as Detroit Zoo and Baltimore Zoo, have made the compassionate decision to provide refuge for animals who are truly in need, most reject these animals. The industry must transform itself from a prison to a refuge, where the welfare and rights of animals are given the highest priority. Let your local zoo know that the public will support such change by urging it to stop all breeding in order to provide greater space to fewer animals and to make room for wild animals who are confiscated from backyard cages, roadside menageries, basements, and circuses. Zoos will be forced to stop breeding and capturing more animals from the wild if their financial support disappears, so the most important way to help animals who are imprisoned in zoos is simply to boycott and urge everyone you know to do the same & thank you.
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