Can zoos be redesigned for a more ethical generation?

[Techno-Druid]

(Source)

In the face of growing public antipathy, zoos may be ushering a new era – from an £18m playground for giant pandas in Copenhagen to virtual reality animal watching in China.

In early June, when animals were feared to have left Eifel Zoo in Germany after flooding breached the zoo’s fencing, you could hear the cheers echo around the world. A week later, a dream-like video emerged of an elephant walking through the small town of Neuwied, in the east of the country, having escaped from a local circus. Social media went wild. Public sentiment was defiantly on the side of these defectors, applauding their righteous break for freedom.

Zoos, circuses and safari parks are increasingly seen as places of kidnapping and imprisonment, and public antipathy towards them is spreading beyond the likes of Peta. Within the last few years Buenos Aires and Costa Rica have said that they will close their zoos and release the animals, and while the outcome of both plans is still awaited, they have been widely applauded for the statements alone. And closer to home, zoos have had a terrible run on the public relations, from the Black Isle Wildlife Park in Scotland, which was instructed to close down in 2016, to the South Lakes Safari Zoo in Cumbria, where a documentary called Trouble At The Zoo exposed that many animals had died, leading to boycotts from local schools. When the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria conference took place in Belfast in 2016, a local councillor called Chris McGimpsey compared the local Bellevue Zoo to a “Victorian peep show” where we “gawk at animals through the bars”. Some go further yet, likening zoos to slavery and colonialism, an exploitative format that is in its swansong.

All this zoophobia shows a growing disquiet towards the use of animal captivity as entertainment, says Ben Minteer, zoo expert and bio-ethicist at Arizona State University, and the lead editor for a new volume, The Ark and Beyond: The Evolution of Zoo and Aquarium Conservation, which examines the future of zoos. “After all, zoos have quite a shady past with menageries and we’ve all seen those woebegone animal displays,” he says. “Reputationally, zoos are becoming more and more difficult.” “Slum zoos”, dolphinaria and performing circuses are particularly despised and are being dropped by travel agents and tour operators: all part of a greater consciousness about animal sentience and suffering, as well as an awareness of captivity related pathologies, which are said to include cannibalism and malnutrition to the repetitive activities known as “zoochosis” – not to mention a growing concern for the rights of animals. Some of the new findings are disturbing. A recent study found that elephants in zoos live only half as long as wild elephants.

So can zoos survive in this more critical era? Yes, says Minteer. “The zoo concept is still highly popular.” But they’re having to change, and designers and zoologists are stepping up to reboot the zoo for a more ethical generation. In April 2019, Copenhagen Zoo opens trendy architectural firm BIG’s £18m panda house for two giant pandas from Chengdu, China. Built to emulate their habitat, it has walkways for visitors to feel as if they’re mingling with the pandas: but defiantly on their terms, not ours. BIG’s approach is to subvert the human gaze and challenge the zoo animal as a “foreign object in a new land” – it also hopes to assist the pandas’ notoriously patchy sex life by way of this “behavioural enrichment”. “To design a home for someone is like capturing their essence, their character and personality in built form,” rhapsodised Bjarke Ingels, director of BIG.

Indeed, Denmark seems to be leading the zoological charge. Givskud Zoo in Jutland is currently raising funds for a long awaited and much vaunted 300-acre project called Zootopia, which hopes to open in 2020 and reboot the zoo by losing walls and cages, allowing the human into the animal realm, rather than the other way round. After a futuristic proposal by BIG that included self-propelled glass and bubble vehicles were considered, the concept is now being refined and as Givkud’s director, Richard Østerballe says, it’ll most likely be “a pedestrian experience with sailing as an option”. But the immersion of human into animal space remains its big idea, and Givskud hopes to show the way to the zoological future.

“The whole setup of Zootopia is the idea that the animals in place have created their own free state in Denmark,” says Østerballe. “They invite us people in to hear about their lives and teach us humans to respect other universes and other ways of living on this earth”. Østerballe adds that it can only be credible if the design is driven from the perspective of the animals, and by “making human barriers disappear as much as possible”, which he admits is a huge challenge. “People desire proximity but with many animals this is a dangerous task.” (After all, look at Harambe, the gorilla in Cincinnati Zoo, shot in 2016 after a boy got into his enclosure, and the woman attacked by a polar bear in Berlin Zoo in 2009.) But it’s possible, he believes, and points to the beginnings of Givskud Zoo almost 60 years ago as a safari park – an earlier immersive paradigm that is now being rethought because of the use of cars.

I think eventually we will see a complete change in the way animals in captivity live, which I ultimately think is good.

I think the documentary ‘Blackfish’ did a lot to expose the treatment of orcas in captivity and SeaWorld's failure to adequately take in account the importance of cultures, communities and family. Honestly I think with sufficiently intelligent animals, they should be removed from zoos altogether and be placed in reserves.

[Nightstalker]

Once you increase the entry fees tenfold, yes.

[Huntingbear_grimbatol]

Zoos as an attraction park to make money is a thing of the past, Zoos as a public awareness and learning park is the modern thing ...which they've done in many parts of the world for several decades now. Lots of animals that are endangered because of habitat or climate change need to be in park with GUIDES teaching us about the animals and why they're endangered and what we can do to change our planet for the better.

[Techno-Druid]

Zoos as an attraction park to make money is a thing of the past, Zoos as a public awareness and learning park is the modern thing ...which they've done in many parts of the world for several decades now. Lots of animals that are endangered because of habitat or climate change need to be in park with GUIDES teaching us about the animals and why they're endangered and what we can do to change our planet for the better.

I don't deny that, we wouldn't have had species like the Pzrewalski's horse or scimitar-horned oryx, but I believe the article addresses the conditions the animals may have to negatively endore and have it effects their psychological health and how it appeals to their instinctual behaviors.

[eillas]

Zoos are awesome as they are now.

[Lochton]

Zoos can be in need of a much better hand but the sacrifice would be too big. It wouldn't be the commoner's attraction anymore, but that of the higher income if they were to reach what the strained opinions about ethics are today. Current zoos are operated fine as we speak, the animals have enough space and taken care of as they should - of course, some zoos does a worse job than others. Those in question, should be shut down.

[Huntingbear_grimbatol]

I don't deny that, we wouldn't have had species like the Pzrewalski's horse or scimitar-horned oryx, but I believe the article addresses the conditions the animals may have to negatively endore and have it effects their psychological health and how it appeals to their instinctual behaviors.

That's why Zoos for entertainment in my mind is bad, very bad. However "Zoos" that educate people and promotes a more "green lifestyle" in order to help our planet is a good thing, the animals kept there probably won't have as good of a life as wild ones but they can be used to help their species and the world in general. Not to forget that a lot of these animals can also be used for breeding programs, research and so much more. Wildlife sanctuaries in Africa actually allow trophy hunters to come and kill selected animals for a huge amount of money, that money is used to fund the wildlife sanctuary.

[craigw]

The animals in zoos are bored, fat, stressed and lack mental stimulation. Many of them are animals that travel hundreds of miles a day are now forced to stay in cramped enclosure to be gawked at. If a species is endangered and in need of human intervention, keep them in some sort of sanctuary where they have room to roam and breed. These "huge" enclosures zoos claim to have are not big; not to these animals. It's a cage where they get little privacy from the public.

There’s no need to keep animals that aren’t endangered. It’s inhumane, imo.

agree. sanctuaries should be where all animals that are in need of human intervention should be placed. zoos are just to small and quite often right smack in the middle of cities. six flags has more acreage here in st louis than the zoo that houses hundreds upon hundreds of species. our new polar bear exhibit that they said was gonna be huge is quite a disappointment. an animal that roams hundreds of miles a day in search for food is now in jail. and has a life sentence.

[Bodakane]

What most people don't know about a lot of zoos is that their main function is breeding....and not for reintroducing animals to the wild, but for profit.

For example, there are more tigers in captivity than in the wild.

https://www.livescience.com/62863-mo...worldwide.html

[Techno-Druid]

What most people don't know about a lot of zoos is that their main function is breeding....and not for reintroducing animals to the wild, but for profit.

For example, there are more tigers in captivity than in the wild.

https://www.livescience.com/62863-mo...worldwide.html

I've also heard that while zoos rarely do this, there are plenty of captive breeding going on between Siberian and Bengal tigers, which are currently considered genetically incompatible for conservation and reintroduction projects.

[Afrospinach]

Perhaps we should start putting people in zoos and let the animals have the planet.

[Bodakane]

I've also heard that while zoos rarely do this, there are plenty of captive breeding going on between Siberian and Bengal tigers, which are currently considered genetically incompatible for conservation and reintroduction projects.

The money is in the white tiger breeding.

[mvaliz]

What most people don't know about a lot of zoos is that their main function is breeding....and not for reintroducing animals to the wild, but for profit.

For example, there are more tigers in captivity than in the wild.

https://www.livescience.com/62863-mo...worldwide.html

This is very true.

I have a friend here who volunteered at our major zoo for over a decade and has now gotten the proper education to get a job there. She was telling me of how they rotate the animals year-round between zoos specifically for breeding and nurturing cycles to keep their species alive and to reintroduce many of the offspring to the wild when they get the chance.

[Zantos]

Many of them are animals that travel hundreds of miles a day are now forced to stay in cramped enclosure to be gawked at. If a species is endangered and in need of human intervention, keep them in some sort of sanctuary where they have room to roam and breed. These "huge" enclosures zoos claim to have are not big; not to these animals. It's a cage where they get little privacy from the public.

If we had the land to keep them there and the means to protect them, sure. The main problem with sanctuary places is that, no matter how hard they try, poachers can ruin it all. The only way to truly protect them is in a zoo environment or a Massive wall around a Massive area of land that would be heavily guarded at many spots to ensure poachers wouldn't get in. Its just not practical from any standpoint.

On the first point, most of the animals in the zoo were bred there. They did not get captured then suddenly forced to stay in a cramped enclosure. There are also zoos who try to reintroduce animals into the wild at some point when its possible.

At the article, those people applauding the escape of these animals are utter morons. That isn't ethical, thats idiocy at its finest. Yes, lets have a wild tiger running around a neighborhood. See how long before someone kills it to protect their loved ones. Or how quickly you get a bear stuck up a power pole and then electrocuted as it tries to get down, which has happened on multiple occasions. I get they want the animals roaming free, but not in a city with people.

The bottom line, Zoos serve many functions. One of them is trying to ensure the survival of a species. Want someone to blame? Blame poachers and the scum bags who hunted these animals to such a point that people feel the need to put them within these zoos just to ensure their safety and survival.

[Deleted]

The animals in zoos are bored, fat, stressed and lack mental stimulation. Many of them are animals that travel hundreds of miles a day are now forced to stay in cramped enclosure to be gawked at. If a species is endangered and in need of human intervention, keep them in some sort of sanctuary where they have room to roam and breed. These "huge" enclosures zoos claim to have are not big; not to these animals. It's a cage where they get little privacy from the public.

There’s no need to keep animals that aren’t endangered. It’s inhumane, imo.

Looking at some of the specimens, I agree with your point. You can see the despair in its eyes.

[Cruor]

A bad zoo sucks for the animals but a good zoo? I'd much prefer to be in one as an animal than the wild. I mean their food is made to be the best it can be for them, no predictors, of you get sick you get cared for. I saw a tiger who broke his fang had a freaking dentist come in and make him a new one... I think most animals would fight to the death to get into or stay in a good zoo. Maybe killer whales and eagles would prefer freedom... just about anything else would pick a good zoo all day. My tegu sleeps in a bed... I gave him a "natural" environment and he was like hmm... dirt and plants or cloth blankets... HMM... not rocket science. I watch this guy on YouTube who has a few big monitor lizards. He notices they like the couch... more than a log. Like hmmm.. ya dont say?

[gobio]

Perhaps we should start putting people in zoos and let the animals have the planet.

Nobody is interested in visiting captive human beings doing human things, I hope.
If you are talking about simply locking up humans for long time for minor offenses or simply nonsense, we are already doing it.

[jasonq]

Zoos are becoming more and more difficult...

[Afrospinach]

Nobody is interested in visiting captive human beings doing human things, I hope.
If you are talking about simply locking up humans for long time for minor offenses or simply nonsense, we are already doing it.

No, what I am alluding to is putting more productive enterprise into city limits like vertical farms and such, recycling to manage waste output and basically leaving the planet largely to nature.

To do all that we really do need a novel power source greater than anything we have today, ie fusion. Solar and whatnot is too energy intensive, that would be one of the big advantages of wind power. It does not compete so much for land usage.

As far as "Nobody is interested in visiting captive human beings doing human things, I hope."

What the fuck is reality tv, then We are so already there mate :P

[ParanoiD84]

Perhaps we should start putting people in zoos and let the animals have the planet.

Go watch reality shows and you will see human beings behaving much worse then animals.