Captivity for Conservation? Zoos at a Crossroads. (original) (raw)

Confinement for conservation: An ethical overview of zoos

Bulletin of Pure & Applied Sciences- Zoology, 2020

This work describes the workings of modern zoos and considers the core ethical challenges which face those who choose to hold and display animals in zoos, aquariums or sanctuaries. Using a number of normative ethical frameworks this thesis explores impacts of modern zoos. The impact of zoos include the costs to animals in terms of animal welfare, the loss of liberty and even impact on the value of animal life. On the positive side of the argument are the welfare and health outcomes for many of the animals held in zoos, increased attention and protection for their species in the wild and the enjoyment and education for the people who visit zoos. This paper concludes that zoos and aquariums are ethically defensible when they align conservation outcomes with the interests of individual animals and the interests of zoo operations. The impending extinction crisis requires large scale interventions which address human values and facilitate consideration of wildlife in decision making. Considering the long term relationship zoos have with animals, their extensive reach within communities and their reliance on animals to deliver positive experiences for people, it is appropriate that zoos pay back some of humanity's debt to wildlife by making a meaningful contribution to wildlife conservation.

Ethics of the Zoo

The animal world is under increasing pressure, given the magnitude of anthropogenic environmental stress. There is a global wave of species extinctions and declines in local species abundance. To stop or even reverse this so-called ‘defaunation’ process, in situ conservation (in the wild) is no longer effective without ex situ conservation (in captivity). Consequently, the zoo is to play an ever-greater role in the conservation of endangered species and wildlife. However, the integration of zoo-based tools and techniques in species conservation has led to manifold conflicts between wildlife conservationists and animal protectionists. Both sides view animals through different lenses and address different concerns. Whereas animal ethicists focus on individual organisms, and are concerned about the welfare and liberty of animals, wildlife conservationists perceive animals as parts of greater wholes such as species or ecosystems, and consider biodiversity and ecological integrity as key topics. This seemingly intractable controversy can be overcome by developing a bifocal view in which zoo animals are perceived as individuals in need of specific care and, at the same time, as members of a species in need of protection. Based on such a bifocal approach, the modern zoo can only achieve its conservation mission if it finds a morally acceptable balance between animal welfare concerns and species conservation commitments. The prospects for the zoo to achieve such a balance are promising. Over the past decade or so, zoos have made serious and sustained efforts to ensure and enhance animal welfare. At the same time, the zoo’s contribution to species conservation has also improved considerably.

Wildlife conservation, zoos and animal protection: a strategic analysis

1995

Opening Remarksfames Smith v What Do ''Wild" and "Captive" Mean for Large Ungulates 1 and Carnivores. Now and into the Twenty First Century-Michael Hutchins Discussion 19 Wild/Captive and Other Suspect Dualisms-Dale f amieson 31 Discussion 39 The Wild and The Ta mefuliet Clutton-Brock 49 Discussion 58 Naturalizing and Individualizing Animal Well-being 63 and Animal Minds: An Ethologist's Naivete Exposed?-Marc Bekoff Discussion Animal \"/ell-being in the \"lild and in Captivity-Stephen Bostock Discussion Preserving Individuals versus Conserving Populations: Is there a conflict? .

Sustaining the Ark: the challenges faced by zoos in maintaining viable populations

In the World Zoo and Aquarium Conservation Strategy, the world's leading zoos commit to focusing their efforts on conserving wildlife. Such a commitment is made as human activities are driving many species of wildlife towards extinction. The world's leading zoos aim to act as a counterbalance to activities that undermine the sustainability of wild populations of threatened species. However, to date, this same group of zoos has largely failed to manage its own populations of wildlife sustainably despite distinguished calls to action over the past 25 years, significant scientific input and much organizational effort. This paper explores the efforts of the global zoo community to bring sustainability and conservation value to its animal populations. It looks at where we have come from, where we are now and where we need to go from here.

Zooland: The Institution of Captivity (Stanford UP, 2012), Introduction

This book takes a unique stance on a controversial topic: zoos. Zoos have their ardent supporters and their vocal detractors. And while we all have opinions on what zoos do, few people consider how they do it. Irus Braverman draws on more than seventy interviews conducted with zoo managers and administrators, as well as animal activists, to offer a glimpse into the otherwise unknown complexities of zooland. Zooland begins and ends with the story of Timmy, the oldest male gorilla in North America, to illustrate the dramatic transformations of zoos since the 1970s. Over these decades, modern zoos have transformed themselves from places created largely for entertainment to globally connected institutions that emphasize care through conservation and education. Zoos naturalize their spaces, classify their animals, and produce spectacular experiences for their human visitors. Zoos name, register, track, and allocate their animals in global databases. Zoos both abide by and create laws and industry standards that govern their captive animals. Finally, zoos intensely govern the reproduction of captive animals, carefully calculating the life and death of these animals, deciding which of them will be sustained and which will expire. Zooland takes readers behind the exhibits into the world of zoo animals and their caretakers. And in so doing, it turns its gaze back on us to make surprising interconnections between our understandings of the human and the nonhuman.

Individuals Matter: Dilemmas and Solutions in Conservation and Animal Welfare Practices in Zoos

Animals

Compassionate conservation advocates for minimizing individual suffering in conservation practice and adheres to the principle “individuals matter”—intrinsically, in and of themselves. Our objective is to determine the extent to which, and how, zoos recognize the intrinsic value of wild individuals beyond their status as members of species or ecosystems. We analyzed discourses surrounding the Smithsonian National Zoo in the U.S.A., the zoos of the Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle in France, and the Seoul Grand Park Zoo in South Korea. Using existing literature on zoos, conservation, animal welfare, and rights, we distilled two discourses (justificatory and abolitionist). Through interviews with professionals in the zoo, conservation, welfare, and animal rights communities, we demonstrate how actors frame individual zoo animals as (1) sentient persons, (2) reproductive components, and (3) species ambassadors. Our analysis shows how actors’ views shape three zoo practices related ...

Keeping Wild Animals in Captivity – Traditional Entertainment or Modern Conservation Approach?

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2021

Growing global populations are increasingly dependent on natural resources, such as food, water and land to supply their demands. At the same time, urban environment has made its population curious of their surrounding nature, including wildlife. Zoos appear to be an appropriate tool to introduce wild animals to people in a safe and interesting way, providing new experiences and even education to several generations. With the development of animal ethics and nature protection, zoos started to play another important role as centres for wildlife conservation. International regulations were set in order to ensure standards for proper treatment of zoo animals. However, there are still places where wild animal welfare is in question. This paper aims to discuss the arguments for and against keeping wild animals in captivity and to emphasize the impact zoo conservation programmes could have on both animals and humans.

Zooveillance: Controlling Zoo Animals to Conserve

Surveillance Society, 2012

The last three decades have witnessed a dramatic shift in the governance of North American zoo animals. During this period, captive animal administration has transformed from a materially, geographically, and technologically limited enterprise--focused on the control of individual zoo animals within specific institutions--into an ambitious collective project that encompasses all accredited North American zoos and that governs more than a million zoo animals. Tapping into a sophisticated voluntary and collaborative self-monitored administration, zoos have been able to rely upon genetics and demography to achieve the ultimate goal of captive animal conservation. This essay frames this story of animal governance as surveillance. It identifies three layers that work interdependently to produce captive animal surveillance in North American zoos: elementary surveillance, which includes the naming, identifying, and recording of captive animals on the institutional level; dataveillance, or the global computerized management of animal populations; and collective reproductive control. What underlies these three modes of surveillance--framed here as "zooveillance"--are notions of care, stewardship, and conservation. Based on a series of sixty semistructured, in-depth interviews conducted with prominent zoo professionals in North America between May 2009 and April 2011 as well as observations of zoo operations and of professional meetings, this essay explores the relevancy and importance of applying the framework of surveillance in the nonhuman context of zoo animals.