Zoos - What Are They Actually For?

Let talk about Zoos. I’m sure that majority of the people reading have been to a Zoo, recently or when they were younger potentially on a school trip or a family holiday, and nearly everyone loves seeing the exotic animals in their enclosures. I have always loved going to Zoos as they provide an opportunity to see animals which you might never have a chance to see, due to distance or their rarity, they also serve as good motivation to show why we need to make a difference if we want to continue to see these animals in the world. One of the best Zoos I have ever been to was Taronga Zoo in the heart of Sydney and if you are ever there I would defiantly recommend that you find the time to visit it.

Now Zoos are an organisation which can be quite controversial, there are always images in the media which show animals in terrible condition in small cages in very poor conditions. This is of course a situation that no one should every condone, Sea World in America has been in the media a lot recently due to the fact that they keep Orcas in extremely small tanks and their captivity dramatically reduces the animals life expectancy. It’s sad to say that Zoos in developing countries tend to be general worst for their animal care than Zoos in more developed countries, of course this isn’t always the case as is can be seen in Sea World. But there are differences, all Zoos are profit organisations and are a business with the aim to make money, but some are a lot better than others.

I don’t want to talk about the bad sides of Zoos, I instead want to bring to everyone attention a lot of the good work Zoos do in terms of conservation of endangered animals. Within Europe in 2002 it became a legal obligation for Zoos to participate in ex situ conservation, and this law was fulling incorporated into UK Zoos in 2003. Every year Zoos from across the world spend millions on conservation efforts for both captive and wild animals. Information about a specific Zoo can be found in either the information boards within the Zoos or on their websites so it’s always worth reading before and during you time at the Zoo.

For instance one of the main things Zoo partake in is captive breeding schemes, these are becoming more and more important as wild population experience declines a larger captive population is needed to maintain genetic diversity and  this required the detailed stud books to be kept. Clearly it would be better not to have to worry about this sort of thing but that is no longer a luxury we can afford anymore with lots of species. Although some people suggest that not enough work is done on this front however, as again a Zoo is a business and so they have a bias towards conserving animals which attract the most visitors through the gates. For instance a Born Free report suggested that over 60% of captive animals within Zoos are classed as ‘Least Concern’ by the IUCN (which is their lowest category) but are kept due to their appeal to costumers.

Many Zoos are also known for their conservation partnerships with other groups conducting field research, which generally takes the form of facilities which can be utilised, grant money to allow the continuation of the research and exposure of the research to gain support from other sources. This is extremely important as it is not possible to house all endangered animals and the wild population should not be forgotten about.

Finally Zoos are extremely important in the continued education of younger generations in the importance of conservation, with many of them possessing facilities to teach classes on the effects their actions have on the environment around them. Education is important as it is the future generations which are going to have to work the hardest to combat the damages humans are currently inflicting on the planet at the minute.

I hope that this post has encouraged you to take a trip down to your local Zoo at some point soon so as to allow you to support their conservation efforts and learn along the way. It is always important to remember however have a look into the Zoos background before you go especially if you are in an developing country as although a lot of them are working to aid the conservation efforts some simply serve as a money making pit at the cost of the captive animals welfare and I don’t condone this at all.

Thanks for reading!

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