All that follows are my personal opinions.
I am a zookeeper and have been for 7 years.
I have worked at 4 different places (3 zoos and 1 wildlife park)
I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology (emphasis in field biology/ecology) and a minor in Psychology.
The following are 10 broad generalizations of anti-zoo people logic that I've seen repeated over and over on various blogs, Facebook pages, etc. across the internet.
I realize that not all anti-zoo people will fit all of the categories and that all anti-zoo people aren't that extreme and maybe now people will be able to see how unfair it is when they lump all zoos into the inhumane category.
1. All zoos are created equal. To the anti-zoo individual this means that all zoos are the same. Whether they are big or small. Whether they are well regulated by the USDA, AZA, SSP, etc. they all get lumped into the same category of 3rd world type "zoos" that aren't regulated and don't try at all to have naturalistic habitats. It doesn't make a difference if the zoo is doing great things for the conservation of animals in the wild or if the zoo is keeping the captive population genetically viable for if/when animals go extinct in the wild.
All of the 1800 acres of space in the picture above for various exotic hoofstock at a wildlife park in the US is apparently the same as the picture below of a tiny cage in a zoo in Ethiopia.
2. Sanctuary = Amazeballs! Zoos = Internment Camp. To the anti-zoo individual this means that sanctuaries are WAY better than zoos. Often the only reason behind this is because they don't invite the public to view their animals for "entertainment". Forget the fact that because people can't view their animals they sadly often struggle to get the funds/donations to have the types of amazing enclosures some of the leading zoos in the world have. Apparently all zoos should just add sanctuary to their name. I am not putting down sanctuaries but I am saying that they aren't always better than all zoos.
3. What I feel is what the animal feels. To the anti-zoo individual anthropomorphizing is okay. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to anything other than a human being. So many times I see people and hear people say, "Oh, that poor animal. He looks so sad." ...Uhm, he's taking a nap. Lions sleep a lot in the wild too you know. That doesn't mean he's sad or depressed. It took me working with the animals daily for awhile before I was able to decipher each animal's individual behavior and cues. Not all animals are the same just as not all people are the same.
4. Changing a picture to black and white, cropping a picture so only a single animal is shown, and taking a picture during the winter are all fair and accurate portrayals of zoos. *Bonus if you can somehow have Sarah McLachlan music in the background* To the anti-zoo individual you can skew any picture to make it look sad. You can take a picture of a single animal in an enclosure even if 10 feet away there are 10 more of its group and you can take pictures of enclosures in the winter when all plant life is pretty much dead. Taking pictures this way shows definitively the exact "emotion" of the animal in the picture. Here's some picture proof:
Just look at the sadness on that jellyfish's face. Look how he just passively floats trapped in a glass case of emotion!
Isn't this just heartbreaking? Look at the jubilation in the frog but its horrible surroundings refuse to have joy and color and thus remain dull and gray scale!
Look at the butterfly below whose face is so depressed.
If only the above butterfly and his surroundings could be resplendent and colorful like the below butterfly. Look how excited the butterfly in the picture below seems!
Oh, melancholy cockroach in the below picture all alone and drab...oh, wait, that was cropped and drained of normal color...
You can clearly see below that he has lots of friends and looks super excited to be with his family!
5. Zookeepers are nothing more than glorified prison guards. To the anti-zoo individual zookeepers are basically "the man" keeping the animals down. They are "Nurse Rached" from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. They are Cruella Deville. They clearly must be abusing the animals and in it for the money! Forget the fact that zookeepers get paid very little while still having TONS in student loans from going to college. Many have second jobs AND sell their plasma, all to do a job that they love and are passionate about. They work weekends AND holidays, they come in when the weather is horrible and everyone with desk jobs are told to stay home, they are there for the animals pulling all nighters, and they are thinking up new and creative ways to raise money for various conservation efforts. Most would do all they can for the animals, literally giving their blood, sweat, and tears, and care for them as if they were a member of their own family.
6. Zoos are irrelevant because you can learn about animals in books and from the internet. To the anti-zoo individual this means that wild animals are being housed for no good reason. You can learn the exact same facts from the sign in the zoo as you can from books and websites. In fact, you can learn MORE from those! Forget the fact that zoos have education departments and zookeepers who specialize in certain animals, or that they have outreach programs, or that people learn differently. You can learn the same facts or more from books and the internet but can you smell what a tiger smells like (if you have, this may not sway you because they are quite odiferous)? Can you accurately visualize the impressive size of them? It's the sensory perceptions that engrave things into your brain. Don't certain smells trigger memories for you? A summer rain, a freshly cut lawn. Many of my co-workers contribute going to the zoo as to where their love and passion for saving animals started. Not books.
7. It's okay to own a pet and be a hypocrite. To the anti-zoo individual owning a pet is perfectly acceptable because dogs and cats have been domesticated over time so living in a house and walking on a leash and having little to no enrichment and stimulation is totally different than how zoo animals are "suffering" in their "cages". Heaven forbid zoos have anything less than an entire ocean or savannah or jungle for the various animals to roam because zoos are the devil. Zoos have enrichment programs in place to keep the animals entertained and stimulate natural behaviors. When was the last time you did that for your pet?
8. Animals in zoos would be better off if they were freed into the wild. To the anti-zoo individual animals have a natural instinct and would survive with little to no problems if air lifted back into their "real" homes in the wild. Forget the fact that a vast majority of these animals were born and raised in captivity and don't know how to hunt or defend themselves or what things to avoid to survive in the wild. Regulated zoos don't go out into the wild anymore and poach animals. The wild animals that zoos do get now a days are the animals that were rehabilitated but unable to be reintroduced back into the wild.
9. Habitat destruction has halted AND fixed itself AND poachers no longer exist. To the anti-zoo individual unicorns and rainbows abound in the wild and it's MUCH better to be a wild animal. Forget the fact that humans are continually encroaching on their habitats for various evil reasons. They're aware that these things are happening and that they are bad but their logic dictates that for some reasons zoos are worse than the problems going on in the wild. They don't see zoos as a place to keep wild populations genetically viable on the slim chance that humans will stop being greedy and zoos will be able to one day return these animals to the wild. They don't see that zoos are doing the best they can with what they have and if anti-zoo people took their energy and time and money and put it towards stopping the reasons we need to have zoos (I.E. deforestation, palm oil crisis, over fishing, poaching, etc.) that maybe we wouldn't NEED zoos but we DO NEED ZOOS.
10. To help the animals we must boycott zoos! To the anti-zoo individual boycotting zoos is the smartest way ever to help the animals because we all know that less money equals more probability for zoos to give the animals better care. Forget the fact that when you boycott the zoo because you don't like the size of their enclosure you're keeping money AWAY from the ANIMALS. The zoo won't be able to give the animals those bigger enclosures, better veterinary care, enrichment items, etc. You're keeping money away from the conservation programs zoos are heavily involved in. Besides the animals that are ambassadors for their wild counterparts at the zoo their wild counterparts need help too and zoos are a big part of getting them that help.
In closing, I sincerely do thank you anti-zoo individuals for the controversy. Zoos don't really need it because zoos are always trying to better themselves. Zoos know that their enclosures could always be better because zoos realize they aren't the wild. Zoos know animals need enrichment and genetic diversity. Zoos have conferences on various topics such as different animal species, behavior, animal management, exhibit design, conservation, etc. so that all the zoos can get together and network and brainstorm. Zoos realize that they may not know everything so by working together the zoos are getting better. Zoos are trying to make the best out of a horrible situation in the wild. I thank you for your controversy because it just adds to zoos drive for helping animals.
I know that the anti-zoo individual's heart is in the right place but now I just hope they can also realize that zoos aren't the enemy and working together we could accomplish so much more!
I am a zookeeper and have been for 7 years.
I have worked at 4 different places (3 zoos and 1 wildlife park)
I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology (emphasis in field biology/ecology) and a minor in Psychology.
The following are 10 broad generalizations of anti-zoo people logic that I've seen repeated over and over on various blogs, Facebook pages, etc. across the internet.
I realize that not all anti-zoo people will fit all of the categories and that all anti-zoo people aren't that extreme and maybe now people will be able to see how unfair it is when they lump all zoos into the inhumane category.
1. All zoos are created equal. To the anti-zoo individual this means that all zoos are the same. Whether they are big or small. Whether they are well regulated by the USDA, AZA, SSP, etc. they all get lumped into the same category of 3rd world type "zoos" that aren't regulated and don't try at all to have naturalistic habitats. It doesn't make a difference if the zoo is doing great things for the conservation of animals in the wild or if the zoo is keeping the captive population genetically viable for if/when animals go extinct in the wild.
All of the 1800 acres of space in the picture above for various exotic hoofstock at a wildlife park in the US is apparently the same as the picture below of a tiny cage in a zoo in Ethiopia.
2. Sanctuary = Amazeballs! Zoos = Internment Camp. To the anti-zoo individual this means that sanctuaries are WAY better than zoos. Often the only reason behind this is because they don't invite the public to view their animals for "entertainment". Forget the fact that because people can't view their animals they sadly often struggle to get the funds/donations to have the types of amazing enclosures some of the leading zoos in the world have. Apparently all zoos should just add sanctuary to their name. I am not putting down sanctuaries but I am saying that they aren't always better than all zoos.
3. What I feel is what the animal feels. To the anti-zoo individual anthropomorphizing is okay. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics to anything other than a human being. So many times I see people and hear people say, "Oh, that poor animal. He looks so sad." ...Uhm, he's taking a nap. Lions sleep a lot in the wild too you know. That doesn't mean he's sad or depressed. It took me working with the animals daily for awhile before I was able to decipher each animal's individual behavior and cues. Not all animals are the same just as not all people are the same.
4. Changing a picture to black and white, cropping a picture so only a single animal is shown, and taking a picture during the winter are all fair and accurate portrayals of zoos. *Bonus if you can somehow have Sarah McLachlan music in the background* To the anti-zoo individual you can skew any picture to make it look sad. You can take a picture of a single animal in an enclosure even if 10 feet away there are 10 more of its group and you can take pictures of enclosures in the winter when all plant life is pretty much dead. Taking pictures this way shows definitively the exact "emotion" of the animal in the picture. Here's some picture proof:
Just look at the sadness on that jellyfish's face. Look how he just passively floats trapped in a glass case of emotion!
Isn't this just heartbreaking? Look at the jubilation in the frog but its horrible surroundings refuse to have joy and color and thus remain dull and gray scale!
Look at the butterfly below whose face is so depressed.
If only the above butterfly and his surroundings could be resplendent and colorful like the below butterfly. Look how excited the butterfly in the picture below seems!
Oh, melancholy cockroach in the below picture all alone and drab...oh, wait, that was cropped and drained of normal color...
You can clearly see below that he has lots of friends and looks super excited to be with his family!
5. Zookeepers are nothing more than glorified prison guards. To the anti-zoo individual zookeepers are basically "the man" keeping the animals down. They are "Nurse Rached" from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. They are Cruella Deville. They clearly must be abusing the animals and in it for the money! Forget the fact that zookeepers get paid very little while still having TONS in student loans from going to college. Many have second jobs AND sell their plasma, all to do a job that they love and are passionate about. They work weekends AND holidays, they come in when the weather is horrible and everyone with desk jobs are told to stay home, they are there for the animals pulling all nighters, and they are thinking up new and creative ways to raise money for various conservation efforts. Most would do all they can for the animals, literally giving their blood, sweat, and tears, and care for them as if they were a member of their own family.
6. Zoos are irrelevant because you can learn about animals in books and from the internet. To the anti-zoo individual this means that wild animals are being housed for no good reason. You can learn the exact same facts from the sign in the zoo as you can from books and websites. In fact, you can learn MORE from those! Forget the fact that zoos have education departments and zookeepers who specialize in certain animals, or that they have outreach programs, or that people learn differently. You can learn the same facts or more from books and the internet but can you smell what a tiger smells like (if you have, this may not sway you because they are quite odiferous)? Can you accurately visualize the impressive size of them? It's the sensory perceptions that engrave things into your brain. Don't certain smells trigger memories for you? A summer rain, a freshly cut lawn. Many of my co-workers contribute going to the zoo as to where their love and passion for saving animals started. Not books.
7. It's okay to own a pet and be a hypocrite. To the anti-zoo individual owning a pet is perfectly acceptable because dogs and cats have been domesticated over time so living in a house and walking on a leash and having little to no enrichment and stimulation is totally different than how zoo animals are "suffering" in their "cages". Heaven forbid zoos have anything less than an entire ocean or savannah or jungle for the various animals to roam because zoos are the devil. Zoos have enrichment programs in place to keep the animals entertained and stimulate natural behaviors. When was the last time you did that for your pet?
8. Animals in zoos would be better off if they were freed into the wild. To the anti-zoo individual animals have a natural instinct and would survive with little to no problems if air lifted back into their "real" homes in the wild. Forget the fact that a vast majority of these animals were born and raised in captivity and don't know how to hunt or defend themselves or what things to avoid to survive in the wild. Regulated zoos don't go out into the wild anymore and poach animals. The wild animals that zoos do get now a days are the animals that were rehabilitated but unable to be reintroduced back into the wild.
9. Habitat destruction has halted AND fixed itself AND poachers no longer exist. To the anti-zoo individual unicorns and rainbows abound in the wild and it's MUCH better to be a wild animal. Forget the fact that humans are continually encroaching on their habitats for various evil reasons. They're aware that these things are happening and that they are bad but their logic dictates that for some reasons zoos are worse than the problems going on in the wild. They don't see zoos as a place to keep wild populations genetically viable on the slim chance that humans will stop being greedy and zoos will be able to one day return these animals to the wild. They don't see that zoos are doing the best they can with what they have and if anti-zoo people took their energy and time and money and put it towards stopping the reasons we need to have zoos (I.E. deforestation, palm oil crisis, over fishing, poaching, etc.) that maybe we wouldn't NEED zoos but we DO NEED ZOOS.
10. To help the animals we must boycott zoos! To the anti-zoo individual boycotting zoos is the smartest way ever to help the animals because we all know that less money equals more probability for zoos to give the animals better care. Forget the fact that when you boycott the zoo because you don't like the size of their enclosure you're keeping money AWAY from the ANIMALS. The zoo won't be able to give the animals those bigger enclosures, better veterinary care, enrichment items, etc. You're keeping money away from the conservation programs zoos are heavily involved in. Besides the animals that are ambassadors for their wild counterparts at the zoo their wild counterparts need help too and zoos are a big part of getting them that help.
In closing, I sincerely do thank you anti-zoo individuals for the controversy. Zoos don't really need it because zoos are always trying to better themselves. Zoos know that their enclosures could always be better because zoos realize they aren't the wild. Zoos know animals need enrichment and genetic diversity. Zoos have conferences on various topics such as different animal species, behavior, animal management, exhibit design, conservation, etc. so that all the zoos can get together and network and brainstorm. Zoos realize that they may not know everything so by working together the zoos are getting better. Zoos are trying to make the best out of a horrible situation in the wild. I thank you for your controversy because it just adds to zoos drive for helping animals.
I know that the anti-zoo individual's heart is in the right place but now I just hope they can also realize that zoos aren't the enemy and working together we could accomplish so much more!
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