nilesh@pawsasia.org
September 13, 2006

Sad Eyes & Empty Lives
The reality of zoos

Introduction

There are over 400 zoos in the UK today, ranging from small farm parks and
butterfly zoos to large safari parks and aquaria. Worldwide there are
probably more than 10,000 zoos, with hundreds of thousands of animals held
captive.

Zoos are a relic of a bygone age - a Victorian concept which, as our
knowledge of the animal kingdom grows, becomes even less palatable.

An increasing number of people are concerned about keeping wild animals
captive. So zoos claim they are on a greater mission than simple
entertainment: for conservation, education and research. Zoos now favour
terms like 'wildlife park' or even 'sanctuary'.

The Captive Animals' Protection Society is totally opposed to the
incarceration of animals and believes that zoos misinform rather than
educate, and further, divert funds from positive conservation. Animals
remain threatened or are even driven to extinction, whilst precious
resources are drained away on expensive, high-profile breeding projects with
no serious hope of success.
Sad eyes and empty lives

In the wild, animals react to their surroundings, avoiding predators,
seeking food and interacting with others of their species - doing what they
have evolved for. Consequently, even what might seem 'larger' or 'better'
enclosures may be completely impoverished in terms of the animals' real
needs.

Frustration and boredom are commonplace amongst animals in zoos and can lead
to obsessive and repetitive behaviours in the form of pacing, swaying, and
even self-mutilation. This is known as stereotypic behaviour and such
pointless, repetitive movements have also been noted in people with mental
illnesses. With nothing to do, animals in zoos go out of their minds.
Disturbed maternal behaviour may involve over-grooming and the rejection or
killing of young.

Studies by Oxford University scientists found that lions in zoos spend 48%
of their time pacing
[1]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>and 40% of
elephants performed stereotypic behaviours
[2] <http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.

Even diets are unnatural, with zebras in zoos becoming overweight as the
grass they are given is higher in calories than the grasses of the African
savannah. The resulting obesity can affect fertility
[3]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.


CAPS have filmed adult gorillas in zoos repeatedly eating their own vomit. A
gorilla biologist, who studied wild gorillas in Rwanda with the late Dian
Fossey, told CAPS: "I have never seen wild gorillas perform R&R (regurgitate
and re-ingest, as it's known in the zoo world, being such a well known
by-product of captivity) and I have never spoken to anyone who has. In fact,
I have never seen a wild gorilla vomit."

Some animals suffer such serious behavioural problems in zoos that they are
given anti-depressants, tranquillisers and anti-psychotic drugs to control
their behaviours [4]
<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.


Zoos often refer to the animals they confine as being 'ambassadors' of their
species, but just what message does it give when we see animals in such
unnatural conditions, displaying disturbed behaviours?
The longest life sentence

[image: Lions pacing]
It is so common for big cats to constantly pace up and down their enclosure
that zoos put concrete paths along the fence to stop the ground wearing
down.

"Birds are finely tuned matabolic machines designed for flight. In zoos they
are denied the one thing all their evolution has revolved around."
*Professor Alan Feduccia, University of North Carolina
*[5]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>

Space in zoos rarely, if ever, matches the animals' natural range. Animals
who would naturally roam for tens of miles a day tread the same few paces
daily. Some of the fastest animals on earth live in pens so small that they
could not gather pace to a trot, let alone full speed.

A study published by CAPS revealed that enclosures in UK zoos and safari
parks are on average 100 times smaller than the minimum home range in the
wild for the animals they contain
[6]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.


Another study of zoos worldwide found that lions and other big cats have
18,000 times less space in zoos than in the wild, and that figure rises to
one million times less space for captive polar bears
[7]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>
.

For fifteen hours a day, many animals may be shut away in their night
quarters with even less room to move.

Some zoo enclosures prevent the inmates from enjoying even their most basic
behavioural repertoire including exercise and social interaction. Birds are
virtually stripped of their most precious gift, flight, often able to do
little more than flutter their wings. Consequently, birds in zoos are prone
to arthritis and osteoprosis
[8]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>
.

However, it is not just a matter of space, but also the quality of the
environment.

Chimpanzees are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom, their
intelligence is universally accepted, but they exchange the infinite
possibilities of the forest for little more than playground climbing frames
which would not keep a human child occupied for hours, let alone years.

Reptiles need complex thermal ranges, variation in humidity, special phases
of light and other factors that may seem difficult for us to appreciate as
humans.

Zoos rarely have the numbers to match the natural social interaction of herd
animals. And when animals do find company, their world may be torn apart
when cage mates are sold or become excess to requirements.

Solitary and shy animals are often in enclosures with viewing from all
sides, and even a window in the night quarters as well. A study of gorillas
in Belfast Zoo found that when there were more visitors the gorillas
displayed "more behaviours suggestive of agitation, such as repetitive
rocking, group-directed aggression and self-grooming."
[9]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>

[image: Jaguar cub in zoo]
Jaguar cubs would normally remain with their mother for the first two years
of life - this 8-day-old cub at a zoo was being shown to a group of
children.
The con in conservation?

A quarter of British zoos don't keep any threatened species
[10]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>and those
that do only have them in very small numbers. Many animals are
there just to draw in the tourists.

Lions are popular 'exhibits' in zoos, but according to an international zoo
journal the vast majority of the lions "are 'generic' animals of hybrid or
unknown sub-specific status, and therefore of little or no value in
conservation terms."
[11]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>

Even many of the high-profile co-ordinated breeding programmes amongst zoo
bodies have no mechanism for returning animals to the wild, they simply
provide for the continued breeding of certain species.

When reintroduction programmes do take place they are often initiated by
government wildlife agencies rather than by zoos. Many examples given by
zoos as 'success stories' have simply been translocations into previously
occupied or vacant habitat or have failed to lead to the establishment of a
self-sustaining wild population.

The Arabian oryx is seen as the flagship of zoos' conservation image. Hunted
to extinction in the mid-1970s, a captive-bred group was released in 1982 at
a cost of $25 million
[12]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.
By 1999 only a quarter of the 400 animals had survived
[13]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>;
just 13 females remained in the wild, closely guarded by rangers
[14]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.
Poaching has continued to impact on numbers.

Captive-bred animals often lack survival skills, especially those normally
learned from a parent - finding food, avoiding predators, etc. Some
reintroduction projects have had to be suspended indefinitely.

Releases of captive animals also pose a significant disease threat to native
populations. In some cases reintroductions have been cancelled after
discovering viruses in captive-bred populations that were due to be released
in areas where the virus was unknown; in others, native animals have died
because of viruses spread by introduced animals.

Zoos still take animals from the wild. Throughout the 1990s over 1,000
elephants were taken from the wild and sold to zoos and circuses
[15]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>,
and over 70% of elephants in European zoos today were wild-caught
[16]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>
.

Aquaria are even bigger culprits, particularly due to the short life span of
many aquatic species in captivity. A study by CAPS found that 79% of all
animals in UK public aquaria were wild-caught
[17]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.


The very nature of most zoos would doom any conservation efforts to failure.
Captive-breeding projects need to be as close as possible to the ultimate
release site, certainly in terms of climate, habitat and fauna. The animals
need space appropriate to their needs and populations large enough to
provide a suitable gene pool and a natural social balance of the species,
with minimal human contact. Zoos and safari parks keep solitary or
unnaturally small groups of misplaced animals in substandard artificial
habitats, permanently on show, thousands of miles from where the animals
belong.

Animals become threatened because of a variety of environmental factors -
all too often, the destruction of their habitat by humans. Protection of
natural habitats can actually be cheaper than keeping animals in zoos.

It is estimated to be 50 times more expensive to keep an elephant in a zoo
than to protect sufficient natural habitat to sustain that elephant and many
other animals [18] <http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.
Major conservation groups do not think that captive breeding contributes
significantly to elephant conservation and that priority should instead be
placed on establishing more protected areas and enforcing anti-poaching
legislation.
What happens to surplus animals

Surplus animals are a problem for zoos. The sad truth is that in many cases,
zoo animals are bred simply to attract visitors and pressure on space and
resources means that some will be disposed of or killed at the end of the
season. CAPS estimate that at least 7,500 individual animals in European
zoos are 'surplus' at any one time
[19]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.


In the past, British zoos have sold animals to vivisection laboratories and
exotic meat farms. Animals are now more likely to be sold into the pet
trade, and British zoos buy and sell animals with wildlife dealers around
the world.

In 2002 a zoo in Cambridge sold four rare marmoset monkeys to a Belgian
animal dealer; the animals ended up in a Brussels pet shop
[20]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.
Several British zoos actually have pet shop licences to enable them to sell
animals direct to the public!

When an Essex zoo closed down undercover reporters were able to buy a
lioness for cash and drive off with her in the back of their van!
[21]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>

[image: Sealion performing in zoo]
*"Most visits to most zoos throughout history have served only as diversions
for the curious. Most zoo animals have traditionally been reduced to
caricatures of their wild cousins."*
*Zoo director David Hancocks*
[22]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>

[image: Elephant performing in Blackpool zoo]
Some zoos have become little more than a circus.
Education

Zoos claim that seeing a live wild animal gives an unparalleled appreciation
of the power and wonder of nature, but what are they really showing us?

TV wildlife programmes have ensured that our understanding of these animals
extends beyond these pathetic exhibits. Indeed, CAPS believes school trips
to zoos leave children with a distorted view of wildlife. A study of zoo
visitor attitudes found that after people saw animals in zoo enclosures that
were highly artificial they had "a significantly greater negativistic and
dominionistic attitude to animals."
[23]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>

Signs on zoo enclosures can often give little information, or even incorrect
details. A CAPS study of public aquaria in the UK found that 41% of the
individual animals on display had no signs identifying their species - the
most basic of information
[24]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>
.

Studies have shown that most visitors spend less than three minutes looking
at each exhibit, and sometimes as little as eight seconds
[25]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.


We don't need to be wealthy to see animals in the wild. Wildlife is all
around us, whether we live in a city or the countryside. From birds in the
garden to badgers and deer in the woodland, we can all explore wildlife in
its natural habitat with as little - or as much - effort as we want to put
in.

Zoos claim that they afford people the opportunity to see something that
many will never see in the wild. This is true; we will have to make do with
books, magazines and television. However, can a few minutes of entertainment
ever justify the tragedy of the disturbed behaviours and suffering we have
outlined?

Some zoos even present animals performing little more than circus tricks to
keep the visitors amused. CAPS have filmed elephants, sea lions and parrots
performing tricks at several British zoos. We even uncovered electric goads
being used on elephants during training. CAPS infiltrated a training session
in a major British zoo and filmed elephants being trained to lift their feet
and head, hold sticks in their mouths and jabbed with elephant hooks in the
shoulder and head.
Disease risks

As if zoos weren't bad enough for the animals they incarcerate, there is
also a risk to zoo visitors and staff. Zoonoses - the transmission of
diseases between animals and humans - is a growing concern worldwide.
Captive animal facilities such as zoos can play a major role in the spread
of zoonotic diseases.

Capture from the wild, handling, transportation and captivity all cause
increased stress in animals, which can damage their immune system and make
them more susceptible to disease.

In 2005, six children received hospital treatment for a stomach bug after
visiting a Scottish zoo. It is thought that contact with animals led to 24
reported cases of cryptosporidium
[26]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.
At the same time more than two-dozen people were hit with a kidney infection
after visiting a petting zoo in the USA
[27]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.


British zoos have been implicated in outbreaks of the dangerous e-coli
intestinal infection, with people being hospitalised
[28]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>
.

Several British safari parks slaughtered hundreds of monkeys after they
tested positive for Simian Herpes B Virus
[29]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.
Although harmless to monkeys, if caught by humans it is almost always fatal.

Psittacosis ('parrot fever'), West Nile Fever, tuberculosis, salmonellosis
and various forms of BSE ('mad cow disease') are just some of the many
zoonotic diseases found in animals in zoos.

While visitors and staff are more likely to be at risk through direct
contact with animals or their faeces, many zoonoses are airborne and can be
carried around on clothes, shoes, hair etc.

Avian influenza has created worldwide panic, and in one Indonesian zoo alone
115 zoo visitors had symptoms and several workers were hospitalised with
suspected HN51 virus
[30]<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>
.

[image: Puma enclosure]
In the wild, the puma travels over varying ranges in search of prey. What
can the zoo enclosure pictured above provide to keep such an animal occupied
for years? And if the standards of the Zoo Licensing Act have any meaning,
how can the orangutan enclosure below be legal?

[image: Orangutan enclosure]
The law has failed zoo animals

Zoos are governed by the Zoo Licensing Act 1981 and EU Zoos Directive 1999,
which set minimum standards for zoo management. CAPS believe that this Act
and Directive are woefully inadequate and fail to effectively take in to
consideration the psychological suffering of zoo animals. Thus we still see
tiny impoverished cages with little or no environmental enrichment, and
animals deprived of their most basic social needs.

In principle the law is policed by zoo inspectors but these are often zoo
directors or zoo vets.

Zoos are given advance notice of inspections. Roger Cawley, husband of
animal circus trainer Mary Chipperfield, was a zoo inspector. He only
resigned after being convicted of cruelty to a sick elephant whom he had
whipped to force her to move faster in a circus training ring [31]
<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/factsheet.htm#refs>.

CAPS want to see an end to the keeping of animals in zoos. Animals should
not be held captive for our entertainment; in addition, the law cannot
adequately protect zoo animals from the inevitable suffering of
imprisonment. In the short term a moratorium should be placed on building
new zoos in the UK, as well as captive breeding and taking animals from the
wild. In the long term, zoos should be phased out.
Please help captive animals

Remember: Zoos will close once people stop paying to see animals
incarcerated.

   - Don't visit zoos and safari parks - your money keeps them in
   business
   - Become a CAPS supporter <http://www.captiveanimals.org/support.htm>
   - Order <http://www.captiveanimals.org/merchandise/index.htm> a copy
   of the CAPS video/DVD Sad Eyes & Empty Lives
   - Send a donation <http://www.captiveanimals.org/donate.htm> to help
   our campaign

Click here to watch clips from our Sad Eyes & Empty Lives video
»<http://www.captiveanimals.org/zoos/video.htm>