Zoo killings: We all need to ensure that we are not part of the problem

In the last few weeks, the zoo industry has been subject to scrutiny in a way that we have rarely seen before. For once, this scrutiny has not come about as a result of an exposé or undercover investigation by an animal protection organisation, but as a result of a number of very public admissions by members of the zoo industry.

Longleat bred, and killed,
lion cubs to ensure a steady
supply for paying visitors

First Copenhagen Zoo killed Marius the young giraffe, before publicly dissecting him and feeding his body to the lions. Next Jyllands Zoo announced that they too may kill a healthy giraffe to make way for a breeding female (a plan which now appears to be on hold for the time being). Days later and a spokesperson for EAZA admitted that around five large mammals were killed by each of the zoo industry body’s members annually; meaning that thousands of animals are deliberately killed in European zoos each year. Yesterday, it was announced that Longleat Safari Park had allowed breeding of their lions to get “out of control” to the extent that animals were killed on more than one occasion. The breeding, it was confirmed, was carried out in order to ensure a steady supply of cute cubs for zoo visitors to look at.

The news has, rightly, caused outrage amongst members of the public who, for so long, have been told that the zoo industry is vital for the survival of species and that animal welfare is its top priority. Disillusioned and angry, compassionate people are looking for a way to bring these zoos to justice. Petitions to oust the Director of Copenhagen Zoo sprang up immediately after Marius died. Then another to stop Jyllands Zoo from killing the second Marius appeared. Now Longleat and EAZA have been targeted as people demand answers and action.

These petitions do serve an important purpose – they let the zoo industry know that killing healthy animals is not acceptable. They warn these businesses that they will not be supported and they allow people to come together to raise awareness and spread the word. But we must remember that Copenhagen, Jyllands and Longleat are not alone in their actions. The killing of healthy animals is rife across the entire zoo industry – the zoos that have “gone public” in the last few weeks are the messengers, but not the only culprits.

With deliberate breeding programmes, a limited gene pool within captivity, confined living conditions, unnatural social groupings and the ongoing demand for zoos to display baby animals to the paying public, the killing of animals in zoos is not only likely, it is inevitable.

Please do sign petitions, please do attend demonstrations and please do demand answers and action. But please also remember that giving any zoo your custom makes you complicit in the suffering of animals like Marius and the family of lions killed at Longleat. Let us take what we have learned in the last few weeks and use it to ensure that we are not part of the problem going forward. The solution is simple: do not visit the zoo.

Want to help?
 
Whilst it is too late to save poor Marius and the family of lions, you can still help raise awareness of his plight and that of the thousands of other animals in zoos, during Easter Weekend when CAPS will be holding the annual Zoo Awareness Weekend. We will release more information shortly but for now please let us know if you want to be involved and we can send you materials to help. Thank you.

When zoo babies pass their sell-by date

We all love baby animals. Even the hardest of hearts will melt at the sight of a litter of puppies or kittens taking their first shaky, uncoordinated steps in the world. The gangly gait of calves and foals is a delight to see and the interaction between patient parents and boisterous youngsters reminds us that maternal and paternal bonds are not just the domain of humans. Perhaps at the pinnacle of baby animal appreciation are those baby animals born in zoos. Those that we know will grow up to be imposing ungulates or dangerous predators all start life as vulnerable babies. Our obsession with baby animals in zoos is perhaps exemplified by the worldwide (and extremely damaging) practice of using zoo babies as “photo props”, where people pay hundreds of pounds at a time to pose with a lion cub on their lap or a tiger cub nuzzling their ear.

Not all zoos allow visitors to handle their baby animals but, without known exception, the captive animal industry knows all-too-well how to cash in on the pitter patter of tiny paws. Zoo births are the holy grail of publicity with institutions sharing their delight with the press and zoo-going public about the birth. These stories to press generally share a combination of predictable components: 

1. Cute pictures of the babies
2. Adorable anecdotes about how the babies are exploring their home, loving the attention of being on show to the paying public or developing their own individual characters
3. Proud testimony as to how the mother is coping brilliantly with her young
4. The all-important statement about how the birth is not just great news for the zoo but is making an important contribution to the survival of the species.

Copenhagen Zoo welcomes a baby giraffe in 2012

Cue the pitter patter of visitors’ feet and the ringing of cash registers as people pay their entrance fee to come and see the new arrivals. It’s a tried and tested publicity stunt which the media is all too keen to endorse (a google search for “baby born at zoo” brings up tens of thousands of stories within seconds).

But what happens to these animals as they get older and they lose their newborn appeal? What happens when they just become another member of the pride, troop or herd?  

As the tragic death of Marius the giraffe has shown us, not all zoo babies get the chance to grow up.

When a baby giraffe, thought to be Marius but unconfirmed by the zoo (which never formally names its animals, according to the director), was born in 2012, Copenhagen Zoo was quick to promote the new arrival to their visitors. The zoo published an album of photographs on their social media page to “welcome” the little giraffe to the zoo. The photos had the desired effect, with members of the public posting below that they were looking forward to visiting.

Just over eighteen months later and Marius’ corpse was publicly dissected and fed to the lions.

In October 2009, Royal Zoological Society Scotland, which owns Edinburgh Zoo proudly announced the birth of two red river hog piglets, saying on its website: “We are pleased to announce that two red river hog piglets were born on the 14^th August. Red river hogs have been at Edinburgh Zoo since 2004 but this is the first year they have bred successfully. Young adults, 5 year old Belle and 3 year old Hamish are now very proud, first time parents to a boy named Sammi and a girl named Becca!”

Just over a year later and the zoo killed the piglets because, like Marius, they were deemed useless for breeding purposes.

Shockingly, the zoo kept breeding these animals, and three months before Sammi and Becca were killed, the zoo was celebrating the birth of three more piglets. With a spokesperson announcing:

“We are delighted that for a second year our adult pair has produced piglets. At almost a month old they are really playful and have been chasing each other around their enclosure. At this age they are particularly cute so it’s a really good to see them.”

The birth of white lions is a great photo opportunity

Predictably, just over six months after the zoo shared its delight at their birth, the three youngest little pigs were threatened with death as Edinburgh Zoo admitted that, they too, could be surplus to requirements. Following a public outcry, the zoo promised to try to rehome the hogs but their eventual fate remains unclear.

At West Midland Safari Park, the birth of white lion cubs always provides a perfect photo opportunity (despite the fact that there are very serious welfare concerns surrounding the keeping and breeding of white lion cubs in zoos). The zoo states on its website that: “The pride of White Lions at West Midland Safari Park has been deemed as one of the Park's greatest animal exhibits in its 37-year history”. 

However, like giraffes and red river hogs, it seems the “aah factor” of white lion cubs has a sell-by date as, in 2010, four cubs were sent by the zoo to a well-known circus trainer. The lions were trained up and sent on to a Japanese circus where all but one remain today. The other, said to be suffering from an illness which caused his mane to fall out, was moved to another zoo.

When the "aah factor" was gone, so were the lions

Of course, not all animals in zoos are killed, and not all animals in zoos are sent off to join the circus, but nor are animals in zoos (with very, very few exceptions) ever released to the wild. Is it better to live a short life and be prematurely put out of your misery, like Marius, or to endure decades of life in captivity? The fact that neither of these options sounds in the least bit appealing suggests that the problem is the zoo industry itself.

While there is demand to see animals, whether newborn or otherwise, in captivity, the zoo industry will supply those animals. If you do not want to be complicit in the ongoing suffering of animals in zoos, please do not give the zoo industry your custom.

Visit www.captiveanimals.org to find out more.

We all need to look at the bigger picture when it comes to "zoo surplus"

Having been travelling over the weekend with no internet access, I was caught on the back foot when I received a call from a journalist asking for my views on the killing of a young giraffe in Copenhagen Zoo and an entire family of lions at Longleat Wildlife Park in the UK. I spent the evening when I returned home trying to make sense of the decision to kill seven apparently healthy animals who had been deliberately bred and put on display to the paying public.

Young Marius was killed yesterday in Copenhagen Zoo

I tried to make sense of the claims of the need to preserve genetic diversity (in the case of the little giraffe who was killed with a bolt gun on Sunday and then dissected in a macabre public display for zoo goers before being fed to the lions). I tried to make sense of the arguments that lions have to eat meat anyway, so why not feed them the baby giraffe? Indeed, to do anything else would be a waste. I tried to understand the arguments that giraffes die all the time in their natural habitat and surely this is a kinder end than starving to death or being eaten alive by predators.

I tried to make sense of the decision to kill an apparently healthy family of lions to prevent fighting. Fighting which, we are told, occurs when numbers in zoos increase due to increased breeding.

The director of the European Association of Zoos and Aquariums (EAZA), Leslie Dickie, suggested that people would “see the bigger picture” if they were aware of the facts. This somewhat patronising statement suggested that any concern over the fate of the animals was simply misguided – that if only the paying public understood the clever, complicated science behind captive breeding programmes, they would support these actions wholeheartedly.

But after reading all the excuses, the pseudo-scientific explanations and the suggestion that, if only we really understood the difficulties of managing animals in captivity, we would accept the fact that Marius the giraffe, Henry the lion and his entire family had to die, my feeling of disgust remained the same.
As Ms Dickie rightly suggests, rather than focus on these individuals, it is perhaps better to look at the “bigger picture”. But in looking at the bigger picture, rather than concluding that the zoo industry was correct in its actions, I hope that people might instead realise that the reason for the deaths of these innocent animals was not due to complicated genetics or unpredictable violent behaviour at all. Their untimely deaths were a direct result of their captive situation. In short, the zoo industry itself is to blame.

Marius was never destined to be released to the wild and nor were Henry, his mate or her cubs. They were bred to spend their lives in unnatural, manmade surroundings because zoos make money from showing off exotic animals to people who like to see them. If there was overcrowding at the zoo, it was because the animals were not given enough space. If there were fears over inbreeding at the zoo, it was because the zoo had not taken measures to prevent that happening.

Animals in zoos being considered surplus to requirements is a common occurrence. Edinburgh Zoo admitted killing almost 40 animals between 1992 and 2011 and, in 2010, a German zoo was criticised for killing tiger cubs deemed to be “genetically impure”. In 2011, Knowsley Safari Park came under fire for culling animals. And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

A CAPS study carried out in 2003 found that at least 7,500 animals – and possibly as many as 200,000 – in European zoos are ‘surplus’ at any one time.

We should mourn the death of Marius, Henry and his family. We should be angry and demand change. But boycotting Copenhagen Zoo or petitioning Longleat will not be enough. Whilst the zoo industry maintains the support of the general public, animals considered to be surplus to requirements will continue to be killed.

There are many possible arguments and debates surrounding the finer details of these sorry stories but whether detailed analysis is necessary is debatable. Sometimes the simplest answer is the best.

I agree wholeheartedly that we should all look at the bigger picture. If we are concerned about the protection of animals, the conservation of habitats and want to prevent further needless deaths, the answer is simple. Do not visit the zoo.