i don't really understand why you would be pro-zoo. like i understand nature reserves and sanctuaries where people can observe from afar, but it doesn't seem right to me when they're locked up in generally small confined areas for people to watch them do nothing all day. idk maybe i'm getting this wrong, and i still really respect you, i just don't understand this. like i interned at a zoo and felt uncomfortable with how small their living areas were and how they had no stimulation
Zoos don’t look like this anymore.
They look like this:
Good zoos do not keep their animals in “tiny spaces” with no enrichment. I’m not pro-roadside zoo. I’m pro-accredited zoo. Zoos are incredibly important for conservation and education.
Are Zoos Necessary?
The Importance of Zoos: Resource Post
Why Zoos and Aquariums Matter: Assessing the Impact of a Visit to a Zoo or Aquarium
Why I Want to be a Keeper
Why I Believe in Zoos
There should be way more pictures of modern zoos so i just add some more
Seriously zoos do so much important conservation work as well I hate when people shit all over zoos as if the animals are locked up and not looked after
The SF Zoo has two sea lions. Now, if you know SF, you know that sea lions are a Thing. They’re all over Pier 39 and various other beaches in N California. In fact, the zoo is near the ocean, so there are sea lions not 200 yards from the zoo entrance. So having sea lions in the zoo seems sort of superfluous.
Except the sea lions are blind. One was found as an adult after suffering a gun shot wound to the face that destroyed his eyes. The other was found as an adolescent, weak and starving because it had been blinded and unable to hunt. So they were rescued and introduced and the zoo built them a nice pool where they can swim and sunbathe and people toss them fish. It’s not the biggest exhibit, or the fanciest. But it’s a home for them, where they’re safe and well fed. Sea lions aren’t the most romantic of animals, but they’re a part of SF culture and a lot of us have a soft spot for the loud, bulbous things. And because of zoos, these two get to live long, happy lives.
Whenever anyone complains about zoos, I think about Silent Knight and Henry.
I think it’s St. Louis zoo that is saving big cats in Africa. Scientists couldn’t figure out what was killing off the local lion population. They were dying off from Canine Distemper. The local unvaccinated dogs of the towns would spread the disease to other animals or have it themselves. When the lions ate the infected animals they would catch it as well. You know what that Zoo is doing to stop this disease? They are going over to those towns and vaccinating the dogs for free. The community loves it and people from other villages comes for miles to get their dogs vaccinated as well.
They also do work with camel populations because the local human population use the camels for food sources the zoos help monitor the camels health.
Another zoo, I want to say it’s the Oregon zoo but don’t quote me on that, is helping female inmates. The zoo works with the female prisons by encouraging the inmates to assist in the breeding and raising of endangered species of butterflies. They plant the specific plants that the butterflies and catapillars need, raise them, and release them. These inmates get noted in any scientific journals that get published. They are giving these inmates a sense of accomplishment and validation.
Zoos not only save species but bring together and assist communities in an effort to save the environment. Zoos, good zoos, are essential to the future and I will fight anyone who tries to say otherwise.
PS you don’t see PETA doing any of this.
Look folks here is what it comes down to. There is aways going to be good zoos, accredited zoos, and bad, shitty zoos. Good zoos, accredited by AZA, EZA and WAZA the American Association of Zoos and Aquariums, European Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and World Assocation of Zoos and Aquariums are the ones doing amazing work.
They are out there educating the public, working with communities, require the highest possible quality of care and safety standards possible. And it shows!
In addition to some of the outside conservation projects I named in my previous post here are a few more reasons good zoos are important and the stuff they do!
Accredited Zoos and Aquariums are the LARGEST contributor of donations to conservation projects. Not PETA, not the Humane Society, not Paws, not any damn celebrity. Zoos and aquariums.
Animal species that live in good zoos have life expectancys that are double those that live in the wild!
Accredited zoos do not take animals from the wild UNLESS it is an individual that can no longer surrive in the wild. By that I mean they CAN NOT care for themselves, the animals are dependent on humans(mostly because some human found it, thought it would be a pet, and tried to raise it. When that didn’t work it ends up in captivity), would be consider “nusiance” animals (potentially dangerous to people because they lost their fear of humans), injuryed or deformed, or were confiscated by private collections.
Accredited facilities participate in the Species Survival Plan the SSP. This is a captive breeding program that manages genetically diverse populations of endangered species. They do this so that for one they don’t have to take animals from the wild but second and more importantly so that years and years and years down the line, if there is any sort of feasible wild left a test population of a species can be reintroduced into the wild.
The black footed ferret, california condor, the gray wolf, the addax, and most recently the panda bear are just SOME animals that were part of the SSP and have either had success releasing test populations back into the wild or have been able to take off the endangered species list.
The problem today is that the voice and information that the average person receives is from television and news. That is the voice of PETA and the Humane Society. They are the voice with the money so they are loudest. Theyre the correspondance on the news when an incident happens, they are the whisper of a lobbyist in a politicians ear. They are loudest because they have the time and the money to be. However their voice is also filled with misinformation, manipulation, and more often then not, straight lies.
The voice we need to hear; scientist, biologist, curators, zoo keepers, trainers you know where our money for our voice is? Its in the food we buy for our animals, the constant matience in our animals homes, in the vet bills, in our research, in our projects, in our communites. Our money goes to our cause and when it comes to lobbying, to tv, to chatting up the celebs its gone and so is our voice.
We wake up everyday, to be bruised, bitten, sweaty, and horrifically underpaid. To be yelled at by people who don’t understand because we LOVE what we do, because we BELIEVE in what we do. Because at the end of the day our animals are making a difference. Our animals are the face to the name. The experience no book or movie could ever provide. The inspiration of future generations.
So help me, help zoos and aquariums, be our voice! Support your accredited zoos and aquariums! And for god sake shut down the misinformation! Because if we don’t these beautiful animals that we love will be lost.
