Noah's Ark All Over Again
Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast
Episode 43
Noah’s Ark All Over Again
A number of years ago I had the opportunity to travel extensively through the Amazon basin. I visited remote villages and saw things that most people never see except on the pages of National Geographic.
Yet there are so many people in the world that will never have that opportunity nor are they willing to take the risk. Most people would rather view a wild animal in a cage instead of seeing that same animal in the natural world. It is much safer that way.
That is in fact what most people do when they visit the zoo. You get to see fierce animals up close and not be in danger. Perhaps a day at the zoo also makes people feel better about the preservation of endangered species.
But is that really what is going on? Is our collection of wild animals about conservation or entertainment. Listen to this episode and find out.
Welcome back everyone to the Adventures in Sustainable Living Podcast. This is your host Patrick and this is episode #43 which is called Noah’s Ark All Over Again.
If you have been listening to my podcast then you know I have spoken several times before about the world wide loss of habit and loss of bio-diversity that is so concerning. Not only that, but our efforts to repair the damage is so often over shadowed by our unrelenting destruction. More often than not, we are using a bandaid in a weak attempt to repair an enormous gapping wound. And that is what we are doing by capturing animals and keeping them in captivity.
Having been a veterinarian for over 25 years now, my fascination with animals started at a young age. One of my favorite things to do was to visit the zoo. The animals were incredibly fascinating. And like so many other people, I also thought that zoos lovingly took care of their animals and to some degree had an influence on the care of animals in their wild habitats. But what most people do not realize is all the things that go on in the back ground.
Now I know very well that this is highly controversial topic that many people are passionate about. But I also want to point out both sides of the issue, look at it from a sustainability perspective and allow my listeners to make a decision for themselves.
There are pros and cons to keeping animals in captivity. There are many zoos and aquariums that are doing some fantastic work. The people that work in these facilities are often enormously passionate and dedicated to what they do. But, there is also a down side to having zoos and aquariums that so many people are just not aware of.
Throughout history men have collected and held large fierce animals in captivity as simply a display of their prestige and power. It all started with royal menageries. These were private collections of world rulers that used their authority and power to collects exotic animals for their own pleasure. The earliest evidence found of this dates back to 3500 BC in Egypt. There are also numerous examples of wealthy or famous people from newspaper tycoons to drug lords that collected wild, fierce and exotic animals.
You know I have to point out the fact that I do find that somewhat entertaining when the one animal in the world that kills more people than anything else is actually the mosquito.
Anyway, it was these private collections that eventually led to the modern zoo. Early zoos kept animals behind metal bars. But an exotic animal importer named Carl Hagenbeck changed all that. He opened his Animal Park in 1907 in which he had designed cages that didn’t look like cages at all. He used moats and cleverly arranged rock walls to pen animals in such as way as to give the impression that they were actually in nature and not captivity. His early work was incredibly influential on modern zoo design.
Eventually zoos expanded their collections too many species other than just large dangerous animals. They expanded to include birds, reptiles, and even insects. They truly morphed into what would turn out to be an educational day out for the family. But late in the 20th century, zoological parks began to make serious efforts toward rebranding themselves as organizations that make significant contributions to conservation. And this certainly was the primary image that I maintained for most of my life.
The idea that was promoted is that zoo animals served as a backup population for wild animals that are threatened in their normal habitat. And it is in fact this focus on conservation that is key if institutions want to be accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums. Case in point, there are several zoos that are famous for their conservation efforts. For example, four zoos and aquariums in New York City are managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society which is involved with wildlife conservation projects around the world.
But this is not the norm and the everyday reality is quite a different story.
Allow me to give you a few examples:
Conservation Efforts
One of the things that zoos promote is their contribution to conservation efforts. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) reported spending an average of $231 million annually on conservation project. However, zoos and aquariums produced on average $16 billions to the economy. If you do the math, that works out to be about 1% of the funds generated actually go toward conservation.
Education
Zoos also like to promote the idea that one of their purposes is to teach people about animals and the biodiversity crisis. They like to say that they educate people about animals and consequently people develop a conservation ethic. Yet there are more the 700 million visitors to zoos and aquariums each year and biodiversity is still in decline. Furthermore, in 2008 and in 2011 two separate studies were conducted which involved the Cleveland Metropark Zoo, the Bronx Zoo, Prospect Park, and Brookfield Zoo outside of Chicago. The purpose of the studies were to survey visitors and collect information about their reasons for visiting the zoo.
Of the thousands of comments collected, only about 12% said their purpose was to “learn about animals”. They also found that only 27% of people actually read the signs at the zoo exhibits. Furthermore, the researchers wrote, “In all the statements collected, no one volunteered information that would lead us to believe that they had an intention to advocate for protection of the animal or an intention to change their own behavior.”
In other words people do not go to zoos to learn about the biodiversity crisis. They do not go to zoos to learn about how they can help. People visit zoos for the same reason they went in the 19th century. They simply want to be entertained.
And yet the AZA, the Association of Zoos and Aquariums says that “zoos and Aquariums are some of the best places for you and your family to get connected with nature and become engaged in conservation action.”
Killing of surplus animals
The killing of surplus animals in zoos is something that is kept completely quiet. This is something that is rarely spoken about but it does happen.
So to be specific, according to the Species Survival Plan programs a surplus animal is one that has “made its genetic contribution to a managed population and is not essential for future scientific studies or to maintain social groups stability or traditions.” So what this means is that animals that do not fit into the zoos breeding program are disposed of in one way or another.
The underlying fact is that zoos do not take care of animals for their entire life. Surplus animals are sold, traded, or even euthanized. In 2014 the director of the European AZA stated that between 3,000 and 5,000 surplus animals were euthanized.
It is sad to say that zoos frequently promote the conservation of endangered species through their mission statements when the reality is that animal welfare often takes a backseat when the monetary value of a particular animal is no longer worth the time and energy the zoo is investing in them.
Private Zoos
And this does not even begin to touch on the topic of private zoos, rescues and other animal collections and organizations that are not even accredited by the AZA. As far as I could find, there are about 420 or so zoos and aquariums in the US. Less than 10% of those are accredited and many of these do not meet even the most basic standards of animal care.
For some people, visiting private zoos is the only way they will fulfill their life long dream of cuddling a tiger cub. Many facilities even offer high priced photo opportunities with various species, the big cats being the primary targets. Other places offer petting opportunities to the public. What this means is that the animal has to be restrained in some way in order for anyone to get close enough to touch it in the first place. This of course is completely unethical.
And then there are the questionable breeding practices. The object of course is to produce some sort of novelty that will attract the crowds while producing some sort of genetic off- spring that most likely would never occur in a natural environment.
The Good Work That is Done
Now you may think at this point that I am completely against any sort of zoo or aquarium. But I am not. I did say at the beginning of this episode that I would present both sides of the issue.
There are in fact some very good examples of how endangered species have been saved from extinction due to the fantastic conservation work of zoos and other organizations.
-The Arabian oryx, which is an antelope native to the Arabian Peninsula. This animal went extinct in the wild in the 1970s. Reintroduction into the wild was made possible using zoo populations.
-The California condor was no doubt saved from extinction thanks to the work of 5 different zoos
-The black footed ferret in the United States is another good example. In fact, I worked with one of the researchers on this project, who was a biologist and veterinarian at the Wyoming State Veterinary Lab.
-Golden Lion Tamarin, which is native to Brazil, was on the brink of extinction due to logging, mining, and poaching. Today about 1/3 of the wild population of these species came from those raised in captivity.
-Bellinger River Turtle. This unique species is found along the Bellinger River in Australia. In 2015 almost 90% of this species was wiped out due to disease. An emergency response from the Taronga Zoo Sydney rescued 16 healthy turtles and began a captive breeding program.
-Regent Honeyeater: This interesting Australian species relies on the nectar of a particular species of eucalyptus tree for food. Due to deforestation, this species has lost an important food source. But thanks to active breeding programs in Australian zoos and tree-planting initiatives, the future of this species looks much more secure. So, applause to the Australians again.
-Panamanian Golden Frog: Now this frog is incredibly poisonous. But due to a fungal disease it was almost wiped out. It was thought to be extinct in 2007. However, a population was successfully located and taken into captivity and due to a collaborative effort from several zoos, this species was saved from extinction.
Also, according to the AZA website, there are 241 accredited facilities in 13 countries. They have about 800,000 animals representing some 6,000 different species in their care with 1,000 of them being from the list of threatened or endangered species lists. Further more, their site list 217 reintroduction programs with 50 reintroduction programs involving species that are either threatened or endangered.
Now what I want to do is take a minute to briefly summarize both sides of this story and put things into perspective.
Some of the advantages of having zoos are as follows:
-Zoos can be very important from the perspective of research
-Zoos can be very important for the protection of threatened and endangered species. I gave some obvious examples above.
-Zoos provide an important economic contribution to their host communities, provides jobs, etc
-The average person involved in zoo work is enormously devoted to the animals in their care. So the zoo keepers are by far and away the good guys
-Zoos can raise awareness of environmental issues.
So, the bottom line is that there is a tremendous amount of good work being performed by a lot of dedicated and passionate people.
Disadvantages of having zoos
- Animals are deprived of their natural environments
- Animals often have limited space
- The largest percentages of animals in zoos spend their entire life in captivity and are never returned to the wild.
- Most zoos exist only for profit maximization.
- 90% of facilities are not accredited and enforcement of regulations is difficult at best.
- Captive animals often exhibit psychological problems and it is common to use medications to manage behavioral problems.
- Opponents to zoos say these facilities are cruel at best.
All this being said, let’s just step back and take a look at the big picture here.
There is no doubt that there is a lot of fantastic work being done. I gave several examples of species that would have been lost forever had some of that work not been in place. But, in the big picture experts say we are loosing species at a rate of 1,000 to 10,000 times faster than the natural back ground extinction rate. At a minimum, at least 10,000 species go extinct every year.
Only about 1% of the economic gain produced by zoos and aquariums actually goes toward conservation efforts. The AZA put a figure on it of $231 million. To put that into perspective, if 190,000 people in the US donated their yearly Starbucks expenditures that is all it would take to fund this amount of yearly conservation expenses. Such a statistic makes me question what zoos are for if they are not dedicated to saving animals. What is their true purpose if they focus billions of dollars on business and entertainment and only millions on conservation.
There are now twice as many tigers in captivity in the United States as there are in the wild.
The educational efforts of the zoos are not encouraging people to engage in conservation efforts. The most common reason people go to the zoo is to be entertained.
All the while in the background, surplus animals are euthanized, sold, and traded.
And one other thing that the common person is clearly not aware of is the specter of zoonotic diseases due to our interaction with exotic animals. Humans have always been plagued by epidemics caused primarily by infectious diseases that originated from animals, in particular wildlife.
According to the Center for Disease Control website 6 out of every 10 known infectious diseases can be spread from animals and 3 out of every 4 new or emerging disease in people come from animals.
These so called disease spill over events have intensified in recent decades largely driven by human population growth, attempts to alleviate poverty which has included intensified farming and the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources.
Even certain cultural dietary habits and traditional medicine that drives the trade of wild animals contributes to infectious disease emergence. All of this coupled with our increasingly globalized planet results in an efficient and sustainable transmission between humans that quickly spreads.
This of course has been well demonstrated with the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. In 2007 in an article published in the Emerging Infectious Disease journal, researchers estimated that 75% of emerging infectious disease are zoonotic, meaning that the disease can be spread from animal to humans.
And so, wow, if this does not make you step back and wonder why the heck we are messing with nature then I am not sure what else it will take to get your attention.
The bottom line is that the goal of many captive breeding programs at zoos is to reintroduce animals into the wild. I have given several good examples of that. And while such efforts do help to sustain endangered and threatened species, the release of a few animals into the wild does little to address the real problem which is habitat loss. People continue to farm, build houses, exploit resources, purchase consumer goods at record rates, plow under and burn natural habitat areas, dump garage into the ocean, while we all swim in a sea of micro-plastics.
Now you must know that I actually support zoos and aquariums. I personally know a veterinary surgeon that does work at one of the local zoos. And I have been to our local aquarium in downtown Denver on a number of occasions and have even gone scuba diving in the shark tank. Now that is quite fascinating. But looking at zoos and aquariums from the perspective of the information I have presented here it makes me wonder if this is just Noah’s Ark All Over Again or are we actually accomplishing something.
In the end the whole point of this episode it to get you thinking about zoos and aquariums from a sustainability perspective. These types of organizations do some fantastic work but they are loosing their primary focus.
For example, you do not need a person with experience in the veterinary industry to successfully manage a veterinary hospital. It is enormously helpful but not necessary because in many respects it is simply managing a business. Similarly, you do not need someone with a background in an animal related or conservation related field in order the manage the business of a zoo or aquarium. It is enormously helpful but not necessary.
But therein lies the rub. More and more people hired to manage these facilities do not have a biology, conservation, ecology, or any other related background. Consequently, the facility gets managed simply as a business instead of an organization that is in the business of conservation.
This is just another example of how we are loosing our focus on the primary issue. Our culture is so good at that. We focus on consuming, acquiring more personal possessions, and endlessly entertaining ourselves instead of figuring out how to live a sustainable lifestyle that more environmentally friendly.
So, as an individual, you need to make a choice. Either support and patronize your local zoo or aquarium or never go there in the first place. And if you patronize such a facility then go there from the perspective of learning about the species involved and how you can help instead of simply visiting the facility simply for entertainment.
In closing, I simply want to give you something to think about. First of all I think we can all agree that we now live in an ever changing world. There are so many things going on in the world right now that it is hard to say what things will be like one month from now. It is kind of unsettling in a way.
That said, I was found this article sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute titled Introduction to Human Evolution. According to this article, it has taken humans 6 million years to evolve into what we are today.
The nuclear accident at Chernobyl took place in 1986. Since that time, a lot of research has been conducted in what is called the Chernobyl exclusion area. This is basically an area of land that is 1600 square miles where no on is allowed to go. In less that 30 years the some of the local animals have mutated and adapted to the high levels of radiation and continue to thrive. Now they cannot be hunted, harvested, and used as a food source because they are highly radioactive.
So human evolution took 6 million years. Animal evolution and adaptation takes less than 30 years. If we do not do a complete turn around and make efforts to slow down and/or reverse the rapid changes we are now seeing in our world, who do you think will evolve fast enough to survive, the animals or the humans?
This is your host Patrick signing off until next week. Always remember to live sustainably because this is how we build a better future.
Resources
Introduction to Human Evolution
Zoos Shirk Conservation Mission
The Shocking Truth of What Happens to “Surplus” Zoo Animals
32 Important Pros and Cons of Zoos
Animals Rule Chernobyl Three Decades After Nuclear Disaster
